Kingston’s deputy mayor says tackling Corporate Area murders should be a priority in 2022

Noting the rate of murders in the Corporate Area, Deputy Mayor of Kingston, Councillor Winston Ennis, has called for councillors of the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation to make fighting crime their priority in 2022. 

Speaking at today's final council meeting for the year, Ennis said tackling crime should be given the same priority as the current battle against COVID-19.

“We must take on crime. Crime is mushrooming and getting out of hand. We have some people in our country who have no heart,” Ennis said. 

He continued, “The criminals of this society, we must put them on the run. Within the Corporate Area, we need to see how best we can assist the police to solve crime and push back on these criminals.” 

His call was supported by Venesha Phillips, Councillor for the Papine Division, who called for the reinstatement of the death penalty to bring Jamaica's crime monster under control.

“The right to life is a qualified right, it's not an absolute right,” Phillips argued.

She charged that when the country starts to have real discussions about how to deal with crime and violence “then we will realise that there is no way we can exclude from that, a form of punishment that will serve as a deterrent.

“The only one we know of right now is one that will also deny the right to life to those who take the lives of our citizens,” Phillips said. 

She added, “I believe that we're at a junction in Jamaica where there are two discussions happening. There are those of us who want to talk about human rights but we don't want to talk about it in the context of the rights of the average citizen and the victims of this country.” 

- Ainsworth Morris

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