THE EDITOR, Sir:
I AM responding to an article published in The Gleaner on Wednesday 12, July 2006, entitled 'March Pen Road warring factions bury the hatchet.' Frankly, I am not impressed, nor am I fooled by this public charade. Far too often we have seen this kind of so-called truce. However, what good are truces in these communities when the tools of destruction are still in the hands of the warring factions?
Over the years, more truces have been called by members of the inner-city gangs in Jamaica, than have been called by the warring factions of Somalia and The Democratic Republic of Congo combined. Interestingly, however, although those hand-shaking and shoulder-patting events were, on most occasions, attended by the respective Members of Parliament in whose constituencies the violence-riddled communities are, I am not privy to information that there were ever any voluntary handing over by gang members of illegal weapons to the police, neither were there any sincere pleas by MPs and community leaders that illegal guns be turned in.
I don't mean to sound pessimistic. On the contrary, I am very optimistic about the future of my country. However, I cannot ignore the fact that none of these truces has ever outlived the dispersing of the gathering that witnessed them. Such truces are usually binding until a member of that community is suspected of being a so-called police informer or the spoils from a
robbery or drug deal are not evenly distributed. Even more common, and by far more worrying, the day one is suspected of crossing the political divide, then all hell breaks loose again.
Considering our history of blatant disregard for truces, how then can we, even at this early stage after the so-called truce, hail the citizens of March Pen Road as exemplary to the rest of the nation? Maybe we should first ask the citizens of March Pen Road, who are seemingly so sure they now have the formula for peace, to collect all illegal weapons in the community and hand them over to the police. Then and only then should we begin to consider acclaiming the March Pen Road event as a truce.
It is not my intention to belittle in any way Monsignor Richard Albert and the others who were present at March Pen Road when the truce was called. Monsignor Albert especially has been working tirelessly in our inner-city communities trying to bring about peace and improve the lives of the citizens. However, he and the others, I believe, have also witnessed several failed truces. Hence, they should have pressed for further conditions to the March Pen Road truce such as the handing over by the citizens of illegal weapons. Monsignor Albert, you and the others are truly people of faith!
Recently, Fae Ellington wrote an article in the Jamaica Herald in which she asked that a weapons buying back programme be looked into. To my mind, this is a brilliant idea and every effort should be made on the part of Government to explore and pursue such a programme.
By handing over their illegal guns to the police, March Pen Road residents would convince me and maybe other sceptical Jamaicans that they have not only buried the spent shells, but have also disposed of the guns and live ammunition.
I am, etc.,
CLIVE PECK
titaray200@yahoo.com
Zugdidi
Georgia Republic
Via Go-Jamaica
