More Deliberate Initiatives and Initiatives Through the Church to Bring Peace to Jamaica
“We’re going to have to treat this issue of peace in a deliberate and non-political way. We have to join together to treat with peace because our society is in conflict.”
– Prime Minister Holness
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Prime Minister Andrew Holness says the issue of peace will be handled deliberately in a non-political way involving all stakeholders in society including the church. “We’re going to have to treat this issue of peace in a deliberate and non-political way. We have to join together to treat with peace because our society is in conflict, we have personal conflicts, we have conflicts at the workplace and conflicts in the community. When we analyze the murder statistics, we find that gang murders have gone down and interpersonal crime resulting in murder is going up. It tells a story that personal conflict is resulting in the violent loss of life. So, we have to, as a government; as peers, JLP and PNP, join together to deal with this issue of violence,” said Prime Minister Holness.Importantly, the Prime Minister noted that though the murder rate in 2023 declined by 7.8% and serious crimes were at the lowest in 22 years, at 4500, compared to being as high as 9000 reported serious crimes; interpersonal conflicts leading to violent deaths have increased in the society.Speaking on Wednesday (January 3, 2024) at the annual National Day of Prayer, Heal the Family, Heal the Nation at the Power of Faith church in Portmore St. Catherine, the Prime Minister underscored that faith-based initiatives will be used to treat violence in the nation.The Prime Minister stated: “I have consistently said that one place that we can start joining together is the church. I’m now at the point where I have received the preliminary results from the National Violence Prevention Commission. We’re going to start working on those, to see how we can incorporate everybody. We will have many faith-based initiatives to treat this issue of violence. Crimes are going down, but violence is too much now for us in our society.”At the same time, the Prime Minister pointed out that though the economy is doing well and murders are on the decline; what people are being exposed to particularly on social media, is having an impact on their mental health and how they perceive their well-being.In the meantime, the Prime Minister urged the church to continue to unite in prayer for Jamaica.