Westmoreland residents march for peace

With 124 murders committed across Westmoreland since January, stakeholders in the parish on Thursday held a peace march in Savanna-la-Mar. 

Lyndon Johnson, chairman of the Westmoreland Neighbourhood Watch group said law abiding citizens are fed up of the mounting incidents of murder in the parish. 

Johnson expressed disappointment that members from the 10 churches invited to support the initiative did not show up.

However, he noted that the more than three dozen citizens, including the Custos of Westmoreland, Bishop Hartley Perrin, were enough to make a positive impact on the lives of the youth in the parish.

At the same time, Bishop O'neil Russell, pastor of the Ark of the Covenant Holy Trinity Church, urged residents of Hudson and Dalling streets in the capital to resolve their disputes through dialogue, instead of resorting to the use of guns. 

Joan Graham, a senior citizen of Hudson Street welcomed the peace march but said the problem of the parish's crime must not be blamed entirely on the youth, but on the system of governance and distribution of the country's assets, such as land, which has left out young people.

- Albert Ferguson

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