By Claude Mills, Staff ReporterTHERE WILL be no state of emergency in the near future to stem the country's mushrooming crime and violence problem.
Speaking yesterday at the official opening ceremony of phase 1a of Highway 2000 at the Vineyard Toll Plaza in Old Harbour, St. Catherine, Prime Minister P.J. Patterson dispelled any notion of the Government declaring a state of emergency, an extreme measure which has ignited much debate this week.
"I'd like to set everyone's mind at ease. I am not about to announce or endorse any state of anything other than a state of celebration for the nation," the Prime Minister said to guffaws and laughter from the audience.
SIGHS OF RELIEF
Kingsley Thomas, chairman of the National Road Operating and Constructing Company Limited (NROCC), who, earlier this week, delivered a controversial speech at a Rotary Club function advocating a state of emergency, wiped his brow theatrically, while a broad, good-natured smile spread across his face.
Even as the Prime Minister praised Mr. Thomas for his role in Highway 2000, he delivered a mild reprimand of his controversial address by saying that the work on associated projects was not over so there was no need to feel obliged to "digress into certain areas that are maybe intended to stimulate thought and are of great concern."
"We have to find ways of dealing with the problem of crime and violence as a result of the combined national will of every Jamaican," Mr. Patterson said to a smattering of applause.
Yesterday, the Council of the Farquharson Institute issued a statement declaring that it was opposed to the idea of a state of emergency in the country because it was "unwarranted and would impose unnecessary restrictions on personal freedoms."
THE PROBLEM OF EXTORTION
The Prime Minister also addressed the problem of extortion.
"We are not prepared as a Government to be involved in any project where we are expected to pay extortion money. Whenever the private sector and contractors are threatened with a demand for extortion money, we can't react if you pay it and keep it as a secret to yourself, you have to pass the information on," he urged.
The Prime Minister pointed to his intervention with the use of the army in cases of extortion, and also stated that "where the threat of extortion is rearing its ugly head, we must wipe it off once and for all."
He beamed as he spoke of Highway 2000, the centrepiece of the Millennium Projects he proposed a few years ago.
