Leadership deficit cause for Jamaica's bloodletting - bishop
Published:Monday | May 17, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Nadisha Hunter, Gleaner Writer
THE UPSURGE of violence in Spanish Town, St Catherine, has caused church groups to call for political and police intervention to quell the bloodletting.
Chairman of the Spanish Town Ministers' Fraternal, Bishop Roy Johnson, said a leadership vacuum in Jamaica had led to swirling chaos and mayhem in communities and the mushrooming of thug fiefdoms.
"Lack of leadership is the main reason for the violence in society today. Every street has a don, as a result of the significant void in the leadership, so these persons are just stamping their authority in society," he said.
His concern came in response to a wave of shootings in the Old Capital since last week.
Spanish Town, which was rocked by a quadruple stabbing homicide on May 5, lies in the volatile St Catherine North Police Division which has recorded 75 murders from January 1 to May 9, a 50 per cent leap over the corresponding period last year.
Since the town exploded last Thursday with the killing of a man affiliated with the One Order gang, gunmen have wreaked havoc.
Shortly after midnight Saturday, 38-year-old Truise James was shot dead and his 28-year-old female companion injured in Gordon Pen.
According to the Constabulary Communication Network, four gunmen kicked in the door and opened fire, hitting the two. They were taken to hospital where James died while being treated. His companion was admitted.
This followed the late-afternoon pandemonium in the town centre which caused Saturday shoppers to scurry for cover as gunmen ran amok. Thirty-five-year-old Michael Morgan, a higgler of Old Harbour Road, St Catherine, who was shot in the mayhem, died at 8:42 that evening while undergoing treatment at the Spanish Town Hospital.
Residents afraid
The Spanish Town Ministers' Fraternal boss said residents should take a stand and rid their areas of gunmen. According to Johnson, this has not happened because residents are afraid.
"People will not come forward to give details because the system that is there to protect them is not working, and the authorities are not doing enough to protect the country from crime, so they fear for their lives," he told The Gleaner.
Similar sentiments were echoed by Rowan Edwards, president of the Association of Full Gospel Churches, who said the scourge of crime must come to an end.
"There has to be a way to fight against crime. Whether the authorities are going to be sending the army or importing persons from overseas, whatever way it is, crime must be fought," said Edwards.
"The spate of lawlessness which grips the nation, coupled with the increase in persons failing to obey God, is affecting the area badly.
"This can't continue. People can't walk on the streets. A lot of families have to move out of their houses because of the level of discomfort due to the violence," he added.