Garth Rattray
I DELAYED expressing my concerns about a statement made by Dr. the Honourable Omar Davies, Finance and Planning Minister, Member of Parliament for South St. Andrew, former People's National Party presidential and Prime Ministerial aspirant, because I was mindful of the presidential election staged on February 25. I did not want to raise these concerns just before the contest lest I be mistakenly perceived as having ulterior motives.
In a CVM TV (8:00 p.m. news) item aired week before last Friday evening, Minister Davies (while speaking on Thursday February 16, in Black River at a function in honour of outgoing South West St. Elizabeth Member of Parlia-ment Donald Buchanan) said regarding the crime problem in his constituency, "Many persons including some well-meaning comrades have told me to take the easy road and put in place a don to run things". Dr. Davies made it very clear that he could not succumb to the urgings of his "well-meaning" comrades and others, and he must be com-mended for taking this moral stance, especially in the face of such overwhelming social and political pressure.
Perhaps Dr. Davies is simply an honest and outspoken individual, but he has once again made public utterances that have serious implications and generated much cause for reflection. Now, he has perhaps inadvertently shed some light on one of our most trouble-some, deadly yet enigmatic issues; the ascension or placement of dons.
RISE OF THE DON
In analysing the minister's statement, I find two very important things:
(1) Many persons and especially some of his 'well-meaning' comrades (fellow politicians and party faithful) are not only aware of the practice of putting a don into place, they actually subscribe to it.
(2) Politicians (at least some of them) not only know how to but also possess the power to put in place dons within their consti-tuencies (something that they hitherto vehemently denied).
This new revelation has led me to do some revision of my concept of how dons come into being. In my Gleaner column published on December 11, 2001, entitled 'The origins and role of dons' I postulated that dons came about because of the vacuum left by politicians who formerly encouraged dependency upon them (for handouts and jobs with a view to reaping votes as a show of allegiance and gratitude). It was my view that when the political sources waned, the forlorn poor turned to their area leaders for protection, justice and financial support. Dons, therefore, garnered much fealty among the poor. The proof of this is in the frequent anti-social, violent and disruptive demonstrations in Spanish Town and in any other area where dons and civil society come into conflict.
I thought that these strong-arm enforcers gained autonomy through diversification into non-political ventures like extortion, trading in guns, drugs and perhaps other 'businesses' and that their political affiliation became vestigial and only of real importance to the politicians who now needed the dons to retain their control over the grass-roots people.
WE DESERVE ANSWERS
But, Minister Davies' statement suggests that some MPs play a direct role in how dons come into power by handpicking them. This revelation raises a few questions.
(a) Are we to understand that other politicians and people with political influence have the wherewithal to put dons in places of power within their communities?
(b) Given the ruthless nature of dons, are we to understand that their 'business' practices and methods of controlling the populace sit well with (some of) our politicians? And,
(c) Are we therefore left to conclude that there is an ongoing intimate (close and secret) relationship between dons and (some) politicians?
We deserve answers.
Dr Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice.
