Ninja Man, Bounty Killer help to boost police morale
MEMBERS OF the police force, alongside representatives from other government agencies, were yesterday given the opportunity to absorb strong motivational messages from two grass-roots dancehall stars, who delivered very simple but practical suggestions on how to stem Jamaica’s crime problem.
Desmond ‘Ninja Man’ Ballentine and Rodney ‘Bounty Killer’ Price were well received when they took to the stage at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston, as part of an attempt by the national security ministry and acting Commissioner of Police Novelette Grant to boost the morale of the nation’s crime fighters.
Both entertainers, who have had runins with the law, placed special emphasis on each citizen having a role to play in bettering Jamaica, and the need for the Government to ensure that vast opportunities exist for youth development.
EVERYBODY’S BUSINESS
Looking out for each other and returning to the days when the village raised the child were important topics touched on by the dancehall DJs.
“Crime fighting is everybody’s business. Let’s give a helping hand to all the idle hands. The parent of crime is poverty. Until the Government starts to battle poverty the right way, you will always be locking up people. Let’s start to make the village raise the child again. Everybody have this get-rich-quick mentality,” Bounty Killer stressed.
He continued: “The youths are not into religious thoughts anymore. Di likkle youth dem more into devilish thoughts. We need to make them go to church. Sunday school a di first golden rule.”
Ninja Man, who kept the audience buzzing with laughter, suggested that the security forces would steer clear of corruption if they were being properly compensated, financially and otherwise.
“If mi nuh have a Benz and mi nuh live nuh weh, (but) mi can par wid a man weh hype, them will do whatsoever it takes to make the hype go on. Mi a guh live my life because mi naa go get up every day wid gun pon my hip and a run dung thief and naa eat nothing. First stage of cleaning up crime is to make your police independent,” the DJ highlighted.