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Prime Minister Andrew Holness is calling for political consensus in dealing with the matter of crime in Jamaica.

Speaking at the public presentation of the National Commission on Violence Prevention held at the Banquet Hall, Jamaica House, on August 11, Prime Minister Holness noted that “we haven’t been able to get to political consensus”.

“We are attempting it. We have a framework in place, we have the Crime Monitoring Oversight Committee (CMOC), but we haven’t reached genuine consensus on how to tackle crime,” he said.

Holness said it is hoped that once the political class is confronted with factual data, recommendations, and conclusions from the Commission, which is an independent body, they “would then have to look at it and come to a reasonable understanding as to what we need to implement”.

The Prime Minster noted that reaching an agreement is important in ensuring continuity of policy measures when administrations change.

“There are some things that you can put into law, but governments change and the priority for enforcement can change. But… once you have that underpinning consensus, then you can really make the change,” he contended.

Prime Minister Holness pointed out that the entire country benefits from the agreement on a strategy that effectively treats with crime and violence.

“So, I am using this platform to say to our counterparts in the Opposition, let us create a space in which the treatment of violence is not contested politically and that we share in the victory of overcoming violence. That is going to be a signal achievement for the country, and it doesn’t have to be anybody getting political benefit off it,” he added.

The Commission, which is chaired by internationally renowned researcher, Professor Maureen Samms-Vaughan, is mandated to conduct a continuing comprehensive review of all existing public and private violence-prevention programmes as well as the strategies of the Government.

Its purpose is to identify gaps in the prevention and intervention services and to make recommendations with respect to violence prevention and intervention programmes.

Professor Samms-Vaughan, in her presentation, said that nearly 80 per cent of the population live in communities where there is trauma.

“The majority of the communities that have zero crimes are deep rural communities. We have a lot to learn from them,” she pointed out.

Providing statistics on how violence plays out in children’s daily lives, she said that before a 12-year-old in urban Jamaica leaves home, he/she would have witnessed an act of violence.

“Two out of three see and hear verbal abuse, one out of three see adults throwing objects and hitting each other, one out of five see adults beat each other, threaten or use a gun or knife. The prevention arm is dispute resolution and addressing gender-based violence, intimate partner violence and family violence,” Professor Samms-Vaughan said.

She noted that children also have personal experiences of violence before they leave home.

“Eight out of 10 get verbal aggression, eight out of 10 get hit. So, the prevention aspect here is parenting support, including mental health [assistance] and legislation to ban corporal punishment,” she noted.

“All of this has to be based on public education that brings everybody together… to discuss our harmful cultural norms, to discuss the impact of violence on our children and to discuss specific prevention mechanisms,” Professor Samms-Vaughan said.

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China Railway Construction employees supervised by police remove furniture and other belongings from a home at Crompston Trace, Storebay Local Road, Bon Accord Tobago on Thursday. – David Reid

Wickedness to the highest order.

This was how some angry Tobago residents on Thursday described the attempted eviction of two families in Crompston Trace Extension, off Silk Cotton Trace, Bon Accord.

This is one of the communities to be acquired for the $1.2 billion ANR Robinson airport expansion project.

Most of the families in Crompston Trace and its environs have already settled with the State and agreed to be relocated to either the Cove or Shirvan estates.

The government had secured a loan of some $300 million to pay residents for the properties which were to be acquired.

National Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (Nidco) is the project manager for the airport expansion project and China Railway Construction Ltd is the main contractor.

Tyrell Percy (black jersey) points in dismay as his family’s belongs are removed from their home at Crompston Trace, Storebay Local Road, Bon Accord, Tobago, on Thursday. – David Reid

There were some heated moments as residents clashed with police and several of the workers from the construction company while the evictions were carried out.

Most of the THA secretaries and assemblymen, including Canaan/Bon Accord representative Joel Sampson, were also on hand to support the residents.

But after several hours of intense confrontation between police, residents and Chinese workers, the families were allowed to stay in their homes temporarily until the matter is fully ventilated in the courts.

Later, a release from the Office of the Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly said the residents and their attorney had obtained an emergency court hearing later Thursday at which they planned to file an injunction against the eviction.

The drama unfolded around 7 am when a group of Chinese workers and other people entered the homes of Tyrell Percy and another family and began removing appliances and other items, which were placed on the side of the road.

The action elicited a heated response from residents, some of whom were relatives of those being evicted.

At one point, community activist Leroy George, a former candidate for the Innovative Democratic Alliance, tried to put the families’ belongings back into their homes, but was prevented from doing so.

One irate resident said, “This thing has been badly handled from day one. I don’t know what they want people to do. Where they want people to live?”

Another angry resident shouted, “This is real wickedness to the highest order, boy. People really eh have no compassion again.”

One woman, who has been at the forefront of the airport relocation issue, complained about the way it was being done.

“We are willing to move, you know, but allow people to put the right system in place so that we could move out in a human manner. That is all we have been asking for,” she said

“When we seek to communicate with Nidco, they ignore us. From day one they act as though is dogs they dealing with. When you communicate with them, they do not answer, but they just put things in the media.

Kenroy Thomas, a neighbour of Tyrell Percy, passionately vents his anger over the Percy’s attempted eviction at Crompston Trace, Storebay Local Road, Bon Accord Tobago on Thursday. – David Reid

“So we don’t wish to fight with the State, I am just wary of this kind of operation.”

A confused-looking Percy, who said his family had not yet settled with the state, told Newsday he was about to get ready for work when the people came to his home and told him the family had to leave the premises.

“They told us that we were supposed to receive an eviction notice, but I don’t know anything about that. I have not received anything. And that is the downfall here right now. I don’t know what to say.”

Eviction notices were sent to the residents in early May.

Percy said he did not know what his next move would be and couldn’t explain his feelings.

“This situation is just a mess right now.”

Sampson condemned the action.

“We stand in defence of the people of Tobago, because this is very inhumane. We have people now coming into the people’s homes to move their stuff out,” he said.

“Look at what is going on, the Chinese…. I want persons in the diaspora to see what is going on this is sad and I don’t agree with it.”

Sampson called on the Prime Minister, as a Tobagonian, to intervene.

Superintendent Junior Benjamin, right, who supervised the attempted eviction of two families at Crompston Trace, Storebay Local Road, Bon Accord, Tobago, speaks THA Secretary Ian Pollard, left, about the situation on Thursday. – David Reid

Snr Supt Junior Benjamin told Newsday the police were called out to uphold law and order.

“They (residents) had due time to follow due process and we are going to ensure that the court order is executed. The court right now takes precedence. It is not just about serving notices at this stage, but taking possession of the land,” he said.

Benjamin claimed the residents had had more than enough time to get an injunction if they so desired.

“So we just have to ensure that the court order takes effect. I am here to ensure that that happens.”

When contacted, Nidco chairman Herbert George said the company does not have a position on the evictions.

“If it is happening at all, it is all part of making the site available for the intended works, which is being done not by Nidco per se but by the State, following the laws that they have in place for that. So Nidco is not involved there, ”he said.

On May 7, 2022, Crompston Trace residents accused Nidco and China Railway Construction Ltd of trying to displace them without compensation for their properties.

They made the accusation after segments of the roadway at Silk Cotton Trace Extension were blocked with boulders, which residents claimed was done to forcibly remove them from their properties.

George said then that even before the acquisition process for the airport expansion started, the Government had taken a loan of $300 million to pay residents for the properties to be acquired.

“That was done, so it is incorrect to say that we are displacing people and inconveniencing them by blocking the road and we have not paid them. That is not totally correct,” he told Newsday then.

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In this file photo, PSA 1st vice president Felisha Thomas addresses angry WASA employees about the possibility of retrenchment at their Farm Road, St. Joseph headquarters on June 30. – Angelo Marcelle

THE NATIONAL Union of Government and Federated Workers (NUGFW) and the Public Services Association (PSA) have urged Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) workers to be brave as they prepare to enter “the fight of their lives.”

But mere hours before they joined several other unions to begin a protest at the Brian Lara Promenade, Port of Spain, NUGFW offered the Prime Minister an olive branch in the hope of coming to an agreement that would reverse the impending retrenchment.

If this offer is ignored, WASA workers will gather as part of a mass demonstration on Friday, in their case to reject the government’s decision to furlough hundreds of managers in an ongoing restructuring process. Other state-agency employees are protesting against the wage increase offered by the Chief Personnel Officer.

In a media report in July, Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales said in the first phase of the transformation plan, all positions within WASA’s existing structure would come to an end, making them redundant. He further said there would be new job descriptions for all managerial positions.

In July Gonzales said Cabinet had approved a transformation plan for WASA, to attract the “best and brightest talent” for new management posts

At a meeting hosted by NUGFW and the PSA on Thursday morning at the Valsayn Community Centre, scores of daily paid workers declared, “It’s war” as NUGFW’s first vice president Andy Crichlow addressed them.

Crichlow cautioned the workers that the future of their livelihood will depend on their response to the call for workers to flood the streets of Port of Spain.

“We don’t want words of comfort – they gave workers of TSTT and Petrotrin this. We (are) not accepting this. We going to fight for our lives. It’s not about politics. We moving at one pace, one movement, one timing.

“The day of reckoning is at hand, the fight for survival is here. Don’t be afraid, we are protecting you. You have nothing to be afraid of. Stand up and don’t get weary.”

Crichlow went on to accuse the government of disparaging “hard-working WASA workers who have dedicated so much over the years and during the pandemic, to keep operations at WASA going.”

In a message to Dr Rowley, Crichlow said, “We are offering you an olive branch. Failure to take it, you’ll bring this country to a state of war.”

He then turned to the workers to declare, “We cannot be afraid of 21 people (PNM MPs). We will take the fight to them and bring them to their knees.

“WASA cannot even be defined and they want to restructure it. WASA is a service, it was never a business. Water is essential and every government is expected to provide citizens with this basic necessity. Let us know our power, let us exercise it.

“The day of reckoning is at hand, we have been humiliated, disrespected and pushed us the door, ridiculed, demonised and subjected to all kinds of vile acts by the government.”

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PARAMARIBO — Er is nu al een toeloop van patiënten met het Rotavirus bij de poliklinieken van de Stichting Regionale Gezondheidsdienst (RGD)

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