Prime Minister Andrew Holness says if Jamaica’s first National Hero Marcus Garvey were alive today, he would be displeased with the state of crime in the country.

Mr. Holness who was speaking at a ceremony in Seville Heights, St. Ann yesterday (December 19) said Garvey’s teachings would counter some theories being circulated today.

The Prime Minister said one such theory is that lottery scamming is a means of correcting the wrongs which were meted out to enslaved Africans.

Mr. Holness said he believes that Marcus Garvey would not have agreed with that claim.

Mr. Holness said most of the crimes being committed in the country are against black people by black people.

He noted that many of these crimes are taking place in Garvey’s native parish, St. Ann, in which a state of public emergency has been declared, as a result.