Show guts in crime fight – Mahfood

THE USUAL complaint that crimefighting efforts in Jamaica are hampered by a lack of resources is being challenged by businessman John Mahfood, who is of the opinion that the problem really rests in the Government’s lack of guts, and its failure to make bold decisions on crime. While speaking with The

Gleaner on Sunday, Mahfood, the chief executive officer of Jamaican Teas, also cast blame on the private sector, for its failure to mount pressure on the Government and insist that the crime monster be tamed.

“I’ve been calling on the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) and the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) to use their influence to call the Government and opposition together. They are the ones who fund elections and that is the thing that most inspires politicians. They do not use the power that they have to get things done, so they are partly to blame for the same problem affecting the economy. It is a very serious situation,”said Mahfood.

“The people who pay them the money to be re-elected, those are the people who have power and those are the people who are not using it. All the big companies on the stock exchange pay massive amounts of money in political contributions. These organisations need to come together and put a strong position to the Government and Opposition, and say, unless you are able to come together and do this, we are going to withhold political contributions, or we are going to give it to the party that shows that it has a crime plan,” he said.

“These are tough decisions, but you have to have guts to do it.”