(Jamaica Gleaner) Despite less-than-unanimous confidence among Jamaicans that its Government has the will and ability to collar crime on the island, CARICOM leaders on Monday gave a ringing endorsement to Prime Minister Bruce Golding to lead the regional fight against lawlessness during his tenure at the helm of the grouping.
Golding assumed the chairman-ship of the 15-state regional body on Sunday at the official opening of the 31st CARICOM Heads of Government meeting.
Before he sat in the chair, there was already concern in St John’s, Antigua, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, Bridgetown, Barbados, and all the other regional capitals, that Golding would not have time to address pressing CARICOM issues while leading a massive campaign against crime in Jamaica.
The army and police in his homeland are trying to staunch the haemorrhage of more than 835 lives this year, and Jamaica is a key drug trans-shipment hub in the Americas.
Support for Golding
But these fears were rejected on Monday when immediate past chairman of CARICOM, Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, and Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer faced the regional media.
“Dominica, and I believe all of us, have no objection to Prime Minister Golding leading CARICOM at this time,” Skerrit said.
“What he is doing in Jamaica is supported in terms of fighting criminals, and all of us, heads of government and citizens of the region, must play our part because crime is a societal problem and a government problem,” added Skerrit.
Blessing in disguise
He argued that Golding’s elevation to the CARICOM chairmanship could be a blessing.
“So at the regional level, he could also push that particular agenda, which is needed in the other islands.”
This was supported by Spencer, who noted that Golding would lead CARICOM for the next six months at a time when the entire region was grappling with a crime problem.
“It is a positive development and we don’t have any concerns. Jamaica will be helped by this process and I am sure that CARICOM will equally benefit from this situation,” said Spencer.
Golding, who is also Jamaica’s minister of defence, has led an islandwide clampdown on crime since late May when the security forces stormed the west Kingston community of Tivoli Gardens in search of alleged drug kingpin Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke. Seventy-three civilians, gunmen allegedly among them, were killed in clashes. Coke has since been extradited to the United States.
The Jamaican Government imposed a state of emergency in Kingston and St Andrew before extending it to St Catherine in an attempt to flush out gangsters and seize firearms and ammunition.
