JDF’S Camp Wareika to Move Forward in New Financial Year

Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) will be moving forward with the establishment of the Camp Wareika Forward Operating Base in the upcoming financial year.

The facility will be situated on approximately 100 acres of land in Wareika Hills, Kingston at an estimated cost of $5 billion.

The base is in response to the growing trend of criminals creating hideouts and camps in very remote or uninhabited areas, from which they launch attacks on communities and then escape back to these areas.

It will serve as a strategic location from which the JDF can take control of the mountain range and conduct operations in support of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and other national security goals.

“It will enhance the JDF’s territorial dominance of the Liguanea Plains through enhanced strategic communications and situational awareness,” the Prime Minister said in his contribution to the 2026/27 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on March 19.

Camp Wareika will play a key role as Government strengthens measures to combat gang violence and protect communities.

Dr. Holness noted that there has been an “all-out assault on gangs” spearheaded by the Joint Anti-Gang Task Force.

“Gangs are the engine of Jamaica’s violent crime. They control territory, they traffic narcotics, they extort communities and they kill. Dismantling them is not a policing challenge – it is a national security imperative,” he pointed out.

“We are pursuing it with the full integration of investigative capacity, financial intelligence, information operations, legislative reform, and multi-agency coordination,” he added.

The Prime Minister cited the major decline in murders and violent criminal activities as “clear evidence” that sustained intelligence-led security operations and deliberate legislative and institutional strengthening are transforming the national security landscape.

The number of murders recorded in Jamaica declined from 1,147 in 2024 to 673 in 2025, representing a 43 per cent reduction in a single year.

It was the first time in 31 years that Jamaica’s murder toll has fallen below 700.

The momentum has continued into 2026, with murders declining by a further 29.4 per cent between January and March 14, compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, Dr. Holness said that even as the Government strengthens crime fighting it is also addressing the social violence that pervades daily life.

He noted that domestic violence, child abuse, violence in schools and institutions are deeply embedded in the social fabric of the society, and they will not be resolved by security operations alone.

“It is precisely this broader understanding that led this Government to rename the Ministry of National Security as Ministry of National Security and Peace, a deliberate signal that our mandate extends beyond crime suppression to active sustained cultivation of peace in communities. It is something that the Government must address, civil society must address. It is becoming a real threat to our civilization – the level of incivility, crassness and bad behaviour; it is troubling,” the PM told the House.