LEFT: Heather Robinson. RIGHT: Jamaica Defence Force soldiers guard a Jamaica Urban Transit Company bus which was set ablaze by angry residents yesterday in Spanish Town, St. Catherine. They were protesting against Sunday's killing by the police of a community leader, Donovan 'Bulbie' Bennett. - PHOTOS BY RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
TOO MANY children without fathers; too many children who do not know their fathers; too many children who will never know their fathers and too many children whose fathers have been murdered.
This is the most poignant memory that I continue to have of Spanish Town.
Up to the time of my resignation in June 1996, there were some 50 murders that had been linked to Donovan 'Bulbie' Bennett and his 'Clansman' gang.
I do not have any recollection of mothers being murdered. I have recollections of mothers burying their sons, and in these last nine years, the murders have continued and I would not like to guess what the total number is today.
ELUDED POLICE
On Sunday morning, 'Bulbie' Bennett met God, and is now on his way to wherever God determines that he should go. While here on earth, this criminal was able to successfully elude the police for over a decade.
This elusion must have clearly had the support, blessing and cooperation of citizens and corrupt members of the security forces.
Whether citizens assisted this gangster willingly or were coerced and forced into positions of overt support is not too important now. What is more important today is how, as a country, we can convince these same citizens that they now have a moral responsibility to assist the honourable police officers of the Jamaica Constabulary Force in returning St. Catherine and its environs to a peaceful society.
For 12 years, some Jamaicans have got too accustomed to doing what is wrong. This habit-forming lifestyle has resulted in them offering protection and cover to criminal activity.
It is wrong to benefit from the work and efforts of persons who have laboured honestly for their income. Living easy off ill-gotten gains is dishonest and criminal.
It is illegal to murder someone simply because that person was not willing or no longer supportive of your criminal activity.
Look at the seven bedroom mansion that this most wanted man was able to construct for himself. In what type of house do you now live? Is it made of bagasse or plywood, with a view of Spanish Town's 'Town Gully' instead of the meandering Rio Minho?
CITIZENS SUFFER MOST
Residents of Spanish Town who are hell bent on physically destroying what is left need to understand that when they do this they are the ones who will suffer most. Jamaicans with no real purpose or business in Spanish Town do not need to visit that place.
When Spanish Town becomes a real ghost town, haunted by the ghosts of 'Buba' and 'Bulbie' and the many persons whose deaths they were and are responsible for, these residents are the same ones who will be calling on the Government for relocation. And which decent person in Jamaica will want you as a neighbour?
Port Royal was once labelled the wickedest city in the world. Today, it is a peaceful seaside village with perhaps the lowest crime rate in the country. Thousands flock to Port Royal for its annual fish festival.
Can Spanish Town with its rich history ever become a place where thousands will willingly go to enjoy themselves? Who are the agents of change that can assist with the re-birth of Spanish Town? Who will willingly relinquish their connections with the criminal underworld and sacrifice their business or political development?
Who is willing to return to the Parish Council's office and denounce criminality in all its forms and use his or her 'connections' for national good and demand an end to the mayhem, murders and extortion that have prevailed in Spanish Town? Or have all persons in leadership lost the moral authority to do anything more than follow behind criminals and acquiesce to their demands?
DAWNING OF A NEW DAY
Each day dawns with the rising of the sun. Those who know and cherish this fact must see this as an opportunity to end forever the rule of criminals in St Catherine, and may it become a contagious cause.
May God continue to bless all those police officers whose integrity cannot be questioned, and any politician who can lead the people of St. Catherine into the dawning of a new day, and does not, may the devil welcome you. Jamaica is watching, and may decency be victorious.
Heather Robinson is a life underwriter and a former Member of Parliament.
