Are you feeling like a sardine yet?

Daniel Thwaites

IMAGINE FOR a moment that Professor Don Robotham is correct. Then the recent standoff between heavily armed gunmen and the security forces in West Kingston is our home-grown equivalent of the sort of borderline disputes that take place in Colombia.

Like in Colombia, the druggists simply control a part of the territory and do not recognise the state as having any legitimacy over that terrain.

According to that theory, politicians provide cover. Their job is to use tactics foul and fair to make the security force desist from intruding into the lairs of the druglords. Hence the politician might insist that the territory be left untroubled. He might encourage roadblocks to dissipate the efforts of the security forces. He might order the removal of officers daring enough to cross the border into rebel acreage. He might even offer 'safe passage' out of the alien territory. Does any of this ring a bell?

And who is to say whether or not the Professor is correct? But there are ominous signs that he may be on to something when he points to how all the political antics may just be a convenient sideshow to frustrate the security forces. We know that the remnants of Jamaica's Cold War-induced civil-war machinery - politically monolithic communities with well-armed thugs - can be a welcoming nest for those interested in the pursuit of other criminality.

And politics and political affiliation would therefore become mere foliage to camouflage criminal intent.

Indeed, in a particularly helpful "Letter of the Day" on Wednesday, one W. Lofters noted that the Tivoli Gardens Security Forces (TGSF) is "a well-equipped, heavily-armed, highly-trained and disciplined private militia" that engaged members of the constitutional, though apparently less well-trained and less well-armed, Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

Add to that, the 'dons of Tivoli' request for a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair as was reported in the Times of London and it starts to become clear why in short order you may just need a passport to enter or leave the western end of Kingston. If the report is true, the headquarters of the internationally renowned fearsome Shower Posse is asserting itself at a level and in an arena normally reserved for sovereign states.

On a radio programme last week Mr. Seaga said that the people of Tivoli have created their own "defence" and "justice" system, certainly a revealing observation by someone who has been in power there for longer than most Jamaicans have been alive, some 40 years. That admission would tend to confirm the hypothesis that there is an independent republic of Tivoli Gardens.

The foreign coverage of the West Kingston debacle has been bad for tourism and investor confidence, but it does have one inescapable salutary feature. Foreign journalists are not subject to the psychic bruising that Jamai-cans have become accustomed to, and so they simply assume some things and treat them as given. For instance, they just assume that the security forces must be allowed to go anywhere in the country in the lawful pursuit of their duties.

Many Jamaicans, in something of a Pavlovian reaction, will still harbour doubts, feeling that an apology of some sort ought to be made, or some permission sought, before entering Tivoli Gardens. Ask yourself why.

Which is one reason why the proposed Commission of Enquiry ought to have terms of reference that go beyond the last shoot-up. Specifically, its timeline needs to allow for the accumulated experience of many who understand the history of Edward Seaga and West Kingston to explain what fellow columnist Delroy Chuck has described as "the strong, integral bond between himself, his constituency, his party and his country". Perhaps somewhere in there will be an explanation of Mr. Seaga's latest radio reminder that he cares more for Tivoli than the rest of Jamaica. Which itself may have something to do with why so many citizens of Jamaica feel under siege themselves, cowering from crime and sensing that they are rather like sardines locked down so tight not even rain can get in.

A law unto themselves

The Integrity Commission report of widespread non-compliance with its rules tells us how little the fear of public censure guides the actions of some of our representatives. They knew that an unflattering report would be forthcoming, but that by itself was not enough to get them to submit their returns and answer queries with timeliness. It is like trying to get a student to worry about failing an exam when there seems to be absolutely no consequences for failure.

In fact, the Commission reports non-compliance to the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the Speaker of the House, and the President of the Senate. But two of these four, the Opposition Leader and the House Speaker, are themselves in the bad books of the Commission.

They are joined by a whole host of members from the government side, and a few from the Opposition, including two of my favourite Labour Party MPs, Mike Henry and J.C. Hutchinson.

The Prime Minister needs to step in, as he once appeared willing to do, and engineer consequences for those who flout the law with shamelessness in full public view.

Daniel Thwaites is involved in teaching and writing.

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