Building a Better Jamaica

published: Tuesday | May 13, 2008
Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter
Jamaica Gleaner

Derrick Smith, who shadowed the former government's ministers of national security for the better part of two decades, was yesterday shuffled out of the security ministry in favour of Colonel Trevor MacMillan, who will be sworn in as government senator and minister today.

MacMillan will replace Ian Murray, who will give up his seat in the Senate.

Mining, telecoms

Prime Minister Bruce Golding's swift decision to replace Smith came at the end of a 12-day period which saw at least 75 murders.

Last Saturday, Smith was at his upper St Andrew home preparing his presentation for the Sectoral Debate as minister of national security.

Less than 24 hours later, The Gleaner confirmed that any presentation made by him in the Sectoral Debate would focus on something other than the country's security crisis.

Smith will now become minister of mining and telecommunications, increasing the 17-member Cabinet by one, with Clive Mullings maintaining the energy portfolio.

Smith, who is still on sick leave, will retain his position as minister with responsibility for electoral matters and leader of government business in the House.

Golding's decision to move the senior deputy party leader out of the security ministry and replace him with MacMillan has been met with mixed reactions, but for security analyst Harold Crooks, the prime minister made the right decision.

"The appointment of MacMillan will bring a clear strategic direction to policing and national security," he said.

According to Crooks, Smith did not present the nation with a clear outline of the Government's crime-fighting policy.

He argued that MacMillan has the experience and knowledge to do a better job.

"MacMillan is a strategic thinker with the needed experience, although I don't expect anything more than a marginal reduction in crime," Crooks added.

Crime rose under Macmillan

Sociologist and university lecturer Charmaine Tapper is also not sure the new security minister will make a big difference.

Tapper noted that during MacMillan's stint as police commissioner, there was an increase in violent crimes.

According to Tapper, the official figures show that, in 1992, the country recorded 49,000 crimes. During MacMillan's three-year period as commissioner, there was a steady increase and, by 1996, the official figure was approximately 56,000.

"I don't know what he is planning now and what tricks he has up his sleeve, but the past does not guarantee that he will be a saviour," Tapper added.

She said the approach to tackling crime over the years has been deficient.

At the top of the list, Tapper placed the failure to address the social conditions which breed crime.

"The social services have not been addressed. We need to include the social agencies in an effective organised way to fight crime," she said.

Shadowing the ministry

The Cabinet shifts brought a sudden, if not unexpected, end to a short stint as national security minister for Smith.

He has been under pressure from the start with many persons questioning the prime minister's decision to choose him as security minister following the Jamaica Labour Party's victory in the general election last September.

However, Golding expressed confidence in the man who spent years keeping tabs on former security ministers K.D. Knight and Dr Peter Phillips.

While announcing the members of his Cabinet, Golding brushed off the detractors and claimed Smith was the right man for the job.

But with a little more than four months gone, the murder toll is headed in the wrong direction and the calls have been increasing for Golding to take action.

On Sunday, the murder total for the year was 564. This was 10 per cent higher than the total for the corresponding period last year.

arthur.hall@gleanerjm.com

Murder stats under national security ministers of the last 40 years

Roy McNeill - Minister of Home Affairs and Justice

Year Murders

1970 152
1971 145

Noel Silvera - Minister of Home Affairs and Justice

1972 170
1973 227
1974 195

Keble Munn - Minister of National Security

1975 266
1976 367
1977 409

Dudley Thompson - Minister of National Security

1978 381
1979 351

Winston Spaulding - Minister of National Security

1980 889
1981 490
1982 405
1983 424
1984 484
1985 Unavailable

Errol Anderson - Minister of National Security

1986 449
1987 442
1988 414

K.D. Knight - Minister of National Security

1989 439
1990 542
1991 561
1992 629
1993 653
1994 690
1995 780
1998 953
1999 849
2000 887

Took office in February 1989

Dr Peter Phillips - Minister of National Security and Justice

2002 1,045
2003 975
2004 1,471
2005 1,674
2006 1,340

Took office in October 2001

Derrick Smith - Minister of National Security

(October 2007-

May 11, 2008) 1,028

Took office in September 2007