LETTER OF THE DAY: None has clean hands

The Editor, Sir:

I don't think Prime Minister Bruce Golding and Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller are doing enough to purge the apparent links that politicians have with gangs and criminals in Jamaica. How can you arrest the situation of crime if those leading the charge are unwilling to break their party's bonds with criminals?

It is inconceivable that such levels of criminality could exist in certain constituencies without being known by their representatives in Parliament and the parish councils. I am not suggesting that politicians are criminals, or vice versa. It is clear, though, that they have done little to stop the bloodshed.

I've had enough of politicians blaming each other instead of accepting personal responsibility for the country's ills. Moral or ethical misconduct by some politicians and other leaders is demoralising this country and its once-proud heritage of great leadership.

crime monster out of control

Neither party has clean hands when it comes to garrison communities. If we are honest, both parties helped to create the crime monster that is now out of control and seems unstoppable. The well-organised crime syndicates have grown so strong that they not only threaten peace in Jamaica, but in other countries as well! The very criminals the politicians are facilitating continue to subdue and destroy the inner-city communities and have spread to other areas throughout the country. Both Jamaica Labour Party and People's National Party governments have already failed to defeat this threatening force. The crime monster is no longer subject to the laws of Jamaica and is free to rule over certain parts of the country.

gang violence

It is the poor communities, whose residents are struggling hardest to move into the middle class that pay the highest price for the epidemic of gang violence in Jamaica. They're living in a 'prison' that's dictated by these murderous gangs. It is no secret that in most inner-city communities it is the area don or gang leader who is judge, jury and sometimes executioner. There's no doubt these images affect the children. The biggest fear is that the scenes playing out across Jamaica are so common that they will eventually lose their shock value among the young, making killing an expected, even acceptable, part of life. There is a lot of collateral damage.

The future of Jamaica is now under serious threat. Unfortunately, while the strengthening of the criminals in Jamaica makes Golding and Simpson Miller nervous, it's not clear if it makes them nervous enough to finally realise the monster they helped to create might end up destroying them as well.

I am, etc.,

NEVILLE CARNEGIE

New Jersey