Seaga wants Supt Adams out of West Kingston

By David Williams, Freelance Writer

JLP LEADER Edward Seaga yesterday blasted Senior Supt. Reneto Adams, head of the Crime Management Unit, who led Saturday's operation in West Kingston, accusing him of having a political agenda and a history of terror, and calling for his removal from front-line duties in West Kingston.

He was speaking yesterday at a news conference at JLP Headquarters, Belmont Road, Kingston.

"We ... want Mr. Adams to have nothing further to do with West Kingston because of what he represents in the police force and what he represents to the people of Jamaica," said Mr. Seaga, who expressed concern that "high-powered weapons never before used in Jamaica" and "weapons not used normally in civilian conflict" had been brought into play by the security forces in West Kingston.

"The number of 11 killed yesterday (Saturday) I believe must be the largest number of deaths in any single day in violent conflict in Jamaica's history. I cannot think of another occasion in which there has been that number of deaths in Jamaica's history," said Mr. Seaga.

Stressing that his party did not condone criminal activity, Mr. Seaga denounced what he said was "indiscriminate fire by the police".

"You cannot take advantage of a small community in this manner focusing 2,000 rounds of ammunition from 200 members of the security forces, slaughtering individuals and causing members of the security forces to be killed as well because it does not make sense, and it is wrong, and it is causing suffering that we need not go through."

He said that the bodies of at least six people shot dead on Saturday were still lying on the spots where they died, slowly bloating in the afternoon sun, because persons attempting to remove them from the street were being subjected to sniper fire from the police.

He said it was "an atrocity of the worst order", that no respect was being shown for the dead, and that civilians were dying because police sniper activity was preventing them from reaching the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) for treatment. Two men from Tivoli Gardens reportedly died because they were unable to go to KPH, one of whom is said to have bled to death, he said.

The Jamaica Labour Party also charged that the policeman and soldier killed in Saturday's gun violence in west Kingston were likely to have died at the hands of other members of the security forces.

At the press conference Derrick Smith, spokesman for National Security, called for the police to make public, the pathology reports on Corporal Mark Henry of the Police Anti-Crime Task Force, and Jamaica Defence Force Lance Corporal Kevin Lawrence, who were fatally shot on Saturday morning.

"Information reaching us is that the bullets that killed those two individuals are from a SLR, which strongly suggests that it came from a weapon belonging to members of the security forces", Mr. Smith said.

He repeated earlier charges which implicated the security forces in a plot to assassinate Mr. Seaga, on the evidence of two transmissions allegedly made via police radio on Saturday morning.

According to Mr. Smith, the first transmission, at 8:30 , called for "forces in the field to assassinate the Opposition Leader", and the other, at 11:20, was "to disarm Mr. Seaga's bodyguards so as to assassinate him".

"The Jamaica Labour Party is very concerned that this should be happening by way of communication through the state security forces", Mr. Smith told the media.

He added that Police Commissioner Francis Forbes had effectively confirmed one of the transmissions during a television interview on Saturday night, although he "tried to explain it away".

"I don't think Jamaica accepted the explanation", Mr. Smith said, calling for the Commissioner to clarify his statements on the issue.

Efforts to contact Commissioner Forbes yesterday evening were unsuccessful.

"I am quite satisfied with my security and I trust them completely", Mr. Seaga said to applause from party members. He was, however, quick to admit that no security arrangement is ever perfect.

As a result of the unrest, the JLP was forced to postpone its public meeting scheduled for Riversdale Square in the St. Catherine North East constituency on Saturday. The Election Court declared that the seat was won by JLP candidate, Abe Dabdoub, and not by Phyllis Mitchell of the PNP who was declared the winner of the election which took place on December 18, 1997.

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