Garth Rattray
ACCORDING TO the Mirriam-Webster dictionary, the noun 'rumour' has Latin roots and comes from the word rumor meaning clamour, gossip. It is defined as "talk or opinion widely disseminated with no discernable source".
It's very difficult to separate fact from rumour and, usually, because of the triviality of the matters being rumoured about, it really doesn't matter one way or the other. However, in the case involving the life and death of reputed (a rumour-based word) People's National Party affiliate and leader of the Clansman gang of Spanish Town, who was killed in an alleged (another rumour-based word meaning to assert without proof or before proving) shoot-out with the police in Rock River, we must separate fact from fiction if we are to get to the bottom of matters such as these.
GOOD SENSE OF RUMOUR
I don't know about you, but I am tired of hearing about reputed people and alleged events. This country certainly has a good sense of rumour. Like most people, I don't have the hard facts, all I have are the rumours (which may or may not be factual). Politicians consistently deny any links with ill-reputed area leaders and/or dons. They brush all such allegations away as rumour. Whenever they attend the funerals of these wonderful, socially conscious and altruistic human beings (according to them), they praise them as good, decent individuals who only serve their communities and uplift their fellow Jamaicans. All the rumours of racketeering, drug-running, extortion and murders fade away in the bright light of their (alleged) goodness.
In spite of all this, it has been rumoured that whenever these alleged do-gooders get too big for their breeches, step on the wrong toes or threaten to be an embarrassment to their reputed protectors and friends, they suddenly get assassinated, killed in alleged shoot-outs, shot to death while their hands are raised high in the air or spontaneously combust while sitting in a high-security prison cell. But, all these are reputed to be allegations and nothing else.
MORE THAN A PM
As for ill-fated Donovan (Bulbie) Bennett, the fact is, whatever else he was reputed to have been, he was more than a Prime Minister to many people in Spanish Town. Like other reputed dons, he protected and supported thousands of inner-city dwellers. I wonder if the Government is listening whenever any of these alleged gang leaders is arrested or killed. The people (whether Jamaica Labour Party or People's National Party supporters) always ask (1) who will protect us from rapists and killers now? (2) Who will maintain the peace? (3) Who will put food on our tables? (4) Who will send our children to school? I've repeatedly said that until the Government does these things, the dons (no matter how ruthless they may be) will always find favour among the people.
But, how do these dons/area leaders raise the kind of funds needed to support such a large segment of our destitute society? Well, it is rumoured that they extort, steal and trade in guns and drugs to fund their alleged empires. It is also rumoured that they operate under the auspices of one political party or the other. And so this brings us to the allegations of Superintendent Kenneth Wade (commanding officer for the St. Catherine North police).
VEHEMENTLY DENIED
He has made allegations against certain unnamed elected politicians, asserting that they had been supporting the deceased reputed gangster Bulbie. Of course, the politicians have vehemently denied that claim and rebutted by challenging the superintendent to produce names.
Where there's smoke, there's fire, and I don't want to add fuel to that fire but rumour has it that Bulbie was fairly visible during his 10 years on the lam. It is also rumoured that he recently paid $3 million to persons unknown to maintain his freedom. These are all rumours that have been circulating around the Old Capital. So, perhaps Superintendent Wade wants to consider looking not only far, but also near, for alleged cohorts of the deceased.
Criminality persists because of corruption at many levels in society. Our people are literally dying for our officials to come clean, denounce gangsterism and renounce any association with racketeers.
Dr Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice.
