THE HIGHS and lows of 2002 have left challenges and opportunities for the new year. The nation felt pride at a superb achievement in staging the World Junior Games in athletics; but the world-ranking murder rate soiled the national image and led us into a war on crime.
One of the revelations of this continuing battle is the exposure and 'surprise', to some, of the degradation and squalor in the Kingston ghettoes. The more palatable label of "inner city" is now used more frequently, perhaps to hide what some have dubbed as the reality of the 'two Jamaicas'.
But even policemen pursuing the current anti-crime campaign have expressed surprise to discover the squalid living conditions their own community policing has hitherto bypassed.
In fact it was re-discovery, because after the deadly West Kingston episode of July 2001, private sector and church-led excursions evoked similar exclamations of surprise.
Prominent politicians of both tribes have presided for years atop constituency enclaves of utter degradation. Some improvement projects have built concrete walls which make some communities look better from the street - and effectively shield the shacks inside.
Indeed, one of the more revealing disclosures of life in the inner city came last year from Political Ombudsman Bishop Herro Blair. As head of the Peace Management Initiative, he saw some of the seamy sources of the crime and violence which plague this nation.
Bishop Blair told one session of our series of Editors' Forums about the mini dictatorship of dons in some constituencies which had not seen their MPs for years. Into that vacuum of leadership the don, for example, commands sexual favours of young girls at will - among other aberrations of summary "justice" imposed with impunity.
We have sought to focus on these revelations of 2002 which may seem depressing for the start of a new year. But we think it is important to know some of the roots of what ails the society.
Forty years of tribal politics have still to make one people out of many. A PNP administration starting a record fourth term in office has yet to win its war on poverty, even as it pursues a war on crime. The 'surprises' discovered in the inner city are a daunting challenge and opportunity for new resolve in year 2003.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
