THE FREE flow of guns in the violence-torn South St. Andrew constituency is making the prospect for peace even more difficult, Member of Parliament Dr. Omar Davies says.
"There is just a basic problem (of) too many young men with guns," says Dr. Davies, who spent yesterday at the Jones Town Community Centre. He told The Sunday Gleaner that "there is still tension and people don't feel totally comfortable, although there is a clear desire from everybody that this thing has to end." He said although he was able to have a good meeting with residents, the turn-out was not satisfactory. When The Sunday Gleaner visited the community centre at about 4 p.m., the few residents present were playing dominoes and eating and drinking with their Member of Parliament.
The South St. Andrew MP, who is also the Minister of Finance and Planning and one of the contenders for the presidency of the ruling People's National Party (PNP) explained that an agreement for the meeting yesterday afternoon was reached following several tours of the constituency earlier last week. However, "we didn't have a (wide) cross section; the representation was not what we wanted."
In the meantime, Dr. Davies said he will continue to pursue his zero-tolerance approach against dons and handouts-style of leadership to bring change to the community.
