The Editor, Sir:

Please allow me to direct an open letter to the Prime Minister Hon Bruce Golding.

Dear Prime Minister:

Having failed to arrange a meeting with you through the normal channels, or to talk to you on 'Jamaica House Live', I use this public medium to address the number one problem facing the nation, crime and violence.

Permit me to make a few suggestions. As prime minister and minister of defence your first obligation is the safety and security of your citizens. All else is secondary. If you can bring this one under control, all else will begin to fall into place.

Go for the greater good

I believe that you will have to treat this matter in the same way that you handled casino gambling. You have to focus on the greater good, and go for it. I don't think that it is necessary for you to give us a lot of information about what you are doing.

There are those among us who can't wait for you to make an announcement, to oppose it. What we are more interested in is the results. You will never be all things to all people, anyway.

When we all start to experience peace and safety, those of us who didn't like it, will get over it. As it stands right now, not even the criminals are safe, and many of them, are themselves, victims of circumstances.

What is for sure, is that you cannot not tackle this problem with your hands tied behind your back. It is like asking Don Quarrie to catch Usain Bolt. With the best will in the world, he will not succeed, and while he is trying, the casualties are mounting, and we may never know the great value of the lives being lost.

I believe that all that you need to succeed is already at your disposal and with God's guidance, you can rescue your people, but more importantly, save the generations to come from this awful scourge.

I am, etc,

VICTOR E. NUGENT

PO 206

St Ann's Bay