Downtown Kingston

The threat to legitimate businesses is not confined to these areas, as important areas of national life such as the commercial banking system, the Bank of Jamaica,  the Jamaica Stock Exchange, the ports of entry, tourism, manufacturing have all experienced reduced activity and thus reduced revenues over the last four days.

Every day legitimate businesses are forced to operate for only fifty percent of a day, the economy loses billions of dollars.

The legitimate business community needs to work closely with the security forces and the political directorate to work out strategies to ensure normality quickly. Do something proactive and stop talking!

The country’s economy is precariously perched and though Jamaica passed the first quarterly IMF test, it’s just breathing room and thus no time for complacency.

We need to hear from agencies such as the Bankers Association, the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica and the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce on the precise toll on businesses, triggered by the brazen confrontations between criminal elements and the security forces.

This is a sequel to my blog yesterday entitled ‘All hands on deck’ for which I was taken to task by some and told simplistically to stick to business reporting.

The fact is that, in this atmosphere there is an inverse relationship between increased criminal activity and business and so when the economic cost is counted the price of the present tension could well be more than we can bear as a nation!

Jamaica is also now the target of carpet-bagging international news organizations, which thrive on sensationalism and erroneous ‘news reports’ and that too carries an economic cost, particularly to tourism.

It’s heartening to hear that the Jamaican government has set up a central area to give journalists regular briefings on what’s happening in this period of national crisis. It needs to go on the offensive to counter the disinformation strategies which appear geared towards regime change.

It’s also heartening to see the stance of the parliamentary opposition which is supporting the anti-crime initiatives, but with the caveat of respect for human rights.

It’s our country! We must do all we can to save it!

God bless Jamaica land we love!