Rasbert Turner, Gleaner Writer

SPANISH TOWN:

Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), Bruce Golding, has chided the Government for what he claimed is its poor administration of the country's security.

Golding, who was addressing supporters in Bog Walk, St. Catherine, on Saturday night, said the plans to rationalise the district constable model is a step in the wrong direction.

"Derrick (Smith, Opposition Spokesman on National Security), I am asking that you check out this one; it is very serious and we need to know what is happening."

The Opposition Leader said the Government should instead provide adequate training and resources so that district constables could deliver optimal performance, particularly in light of the wave of praedial larceny and other crimes rife in the country. Golding rubbished claims by PNP General Secretary Donald Buchanan that only 4,000 houses were built during his tenure as Minister of Construction.

"Twenty-five thousand houses were built, and if it was not for the bad state that we had taken over the government in 1980, we would have done far more," he argued.