Mark Wignall | Who is retreating, killers or the government?

Recent statements from the Prime Minister (PM) have me concerned about his ability to finish the race. It was not exactly along the lines of an appeal to God, the sort of a rut that seems to affect security ministers when the barking of criminal guns defines our paths to fighting our crime monster.

A long-standing friend of mine, a lawyer who works and lives in Florida, has attempted to place Mr Holness’ human side into some understandable context. The PM was talking at a National Housing Trust ceremony in St Catherine, where the political directorate was presiding over the usual handover ceremony.

According to the PM, he has moved far ahead of needing popularity and favour. “I am still to figure out what he means. His mind is now on legacy.”

I do not have a problem with the prime minister thinking legacy. But legacy must be pursued after a basic minimum is laid out. Have we transformed the education system to make our schools the envy of others in the region? No.

Has our homicide rate plunged to a rate that operates in tandem with our new-found ability to grow our way of the problems of the last 50 years? And then some. Is our name called in DC and in European centres of business in glowing terms?

Has there risen in the last 20 years a new Jamaican who conducts himself as a positive force (like our athletes) wherever he is? No!

According to my friend, “A PM must lead, set an agenda for growth and development, pick a sold, competent Cabinet, hold the Cabinet accountable and make sure they work hard, challenge the people to work hard and establish a prosperous, fair, safe country, lead in challenging times, offer hope when there is doubt, be tuned into the nation’s needs, sell the brand Jamaica abroad, among other things.”

“His remarks about rule of law and land are somewhat disingenuous. Politicians from both parties have ignored Jamaica’s laws, and especially land laws, for decades. The issue of land ownership has been a huge problem for decades. Both the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and People’s National Party (PNP) have bulldozed poor people from land in the past. Neither this PM nor prior PMs have dealt with it because powerful interests have not wanted it dealt with and for political reasons. To invoke rule of law for the recent problems at Bernard Lodge is disingenuous. The bulldozing is occurring because the powerful are not in favour of illegal construction on private land. The owners of Bernard Lodge may well have a case. But illegal construction on private land has occurred all over Jamaica, and successive governments have allowed it.’

The last few weeks have really tested the PM. Those pushing back against the rule of law appeared to have the security forces on the run. If the huge numbers of YouTube clips are anything to go by, it was the streets that had the power.

The PM stated that street forces loyal to the Clansman Gang were in the forefront of seizing lands at Bernard Lodge and illegally selling the lots. An obvious question forces itself on us. Years ago, the power positions between gangs and political parties had Clansman as offering notional support to the PNP. What is the present arrangement at this time as many key gangs have found many ways to fund themselves while ignoring the PNP and the JLP?

We ought to ask the PM when he was made aware of this.

GANGS FLOSSING AND DARING COUNTRY TO ACT

In the last week or so, I have noticed that the ‘offensive’ arm of the Jamaica Constabulary Force has been pushing back more than usual. The fact is that young men with weapons of death are seemingly parading on YouTube as if the rule of law has ceded the public space to them.

At a time in the early to mid-2000s, two garrison communities in St Andrew were at each other’s throats. I was closer to one community than the other even as they lied to me about shootings. One late afternoon, I was at a bar in the community a few months after a terrible mass killing had taken place. I was in conversation with “senior” members of the garrison spot.

These senior members were no longer required to utilise their weapons but that never quite explained to me how the transition went. Then it was unfolded to me. It was about 5:30 p.m., and in the space of five minutes, it happened. About eight or 10 boys entered the bar. They looked wild and haggard. Their T-shirts were badly crushed and they hardly spoke.

They required hot Guinness. I got them their requirement in the hope that a conversation could be opened up. It didn’t happen. “They are our soldiers,” said my main elder contact. “They, basically, do not talk,” he whispered in my ear. “They kill - just that.”

In about less that five minutes, they disappeared into wherever they had come from.

The situation has changed radically. The prime minister knows that the face of the killer gunman in 2022 is one who dares death to smile back at him. So they will inflict pain and feel little remorse about it. These are the irredeemable that Omar Davies spoke of in the late 1990s.

And they deserve forceful pushback. It is pretty much the only language that they understand.

Mark Wignall is a political and public affairs analyst. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and mawigsr@gmail.com.