Family structure contributing to the cycle of poverty in Jamaica

People say time hard yet I see Jamaicans wearing expensive clothes and hairstyles. I cannot understand how you can afford to maintain a particular appearance and yet your children cannot go to school nor can you provide their nutritional needs. 

I am of the opinion that we need to establish a statutes that precludes women of a certain financial background from having a certain amount of children. This might sound prejudicial or even classist but it is consistently factual that our lawless young men are often from a background of a struggling single mother with too many children. 

It simply means that the mother who fails to adequately provide for her children will often lead children to find creative and illegal ways of fending for themselves when they are old enough to understand their economical situations. Look at it this way. The woman who lives in the one room house with the five children has a higher percentage rate of. Inadvertently contributing to the crime rate in the next ten years. 

Her son will become ashamed of the one room house that he lives in by time he attends high school. He will try to hustle to change or improve his mother's and siblings financial status. This is one of the reasons why we have so many teenage scammers. The teenage boy will most likely stop going to school either because he cannot afford it or his new found "job" is providing so much money that school now seems obsolete. 

This "job" that he gets will in most circumstances be illegal. His mother might it may not be cognizant of where he is getting money from to feed their family. Chances are he will end up in jail or in the morgue by way of his own circles or police officers. This mother might lose several sons to criminality and lawlessness because every younger son will attempt to either improve or undone what the eldest died for. These boys have a misconception about masculinity. They believe that their manhood is defined by how dangerous they appear to society. 

There is a flip side to story. The single mother's daughters will leave home early to live or sleep with an older man who can assist in financing her eduction. The mother will allow this because she cannot afford to supplement the needs of the teenage daughter including clothes and school money. If the teenage daughter is not smart or the man involved does not love her. She will get pregnant and bring another mouth to feed into her mother's house to feed.

The cycle of poverty continues threefolds and spans generation until someone decides to put and end to it and start another family history. 

The cycle is perpetuated by the teenage daughters children who might end up like herself or her brothers. Young men who die from a life of criminality often leave children behind who has mothers similar to their own mothers. We have a family with career criminals and matriarchal family structure that is transgenerational in Jamaica. 

My beef with women in Jamaica that have too many children or who do not pay specially attentions to the needs of their children is that they are creating menaces to society without even knowing it. I know our women can do better because I know women with several children who made sacrifices to ensure that their children become good adults and have better futures than they did. 

People Mistakes and some

Of us have to make them several times before we understand  fully understand the scope of our choices. You have no choice in the consequences of your actions but you must remained committed to improving your life and that of your children. 

Be careful what you do with your child. What you teach him and the type of behaviors that you encouraged. The rest of the world will have the live with that person that you created. If he becomes a liability to his society the you will surely bury him. 

Lessons Learn in the Jamaican Ghetto Life

The Buddha asserts that in every experience holds a blessing that one just needs to find it. 

It was last night, I was remembering a time when I was really broke. I went to a friend's house early in the morning and asked for a borrows to go hustle on the road. My friend told me that she would check me as soon as I get home. I waited the entire day and my alleged friend never turned up. 

An epiphany struck me at the end of the day because I managed to survive that day without the money I wanted to borrow. In my mind asking for that money was irrelevant in the first place because I did not get and still manage to survive that day without it. I never borrowed or begged anyone anything again. 

If god can provide for the birds and the animals much less me a macroscopic organism created as claimed by chacurist in his very own image.That is how I lived my life since. Committed to the belief that god will provide. 

I have another friend of recent who we were discussing my HYIP Fund.  He told me that he would give me a 100 dollars USD to invest for him. The next day. He reneges on his intent and told me he had several bills to cover. That was under stable and so i let it go. Now what I found rather irritating and downright unconscionable is that the same person would like me to invest a quarter million dollars now in a hedge fund. This person could not invest ten grand with me but wants me to invest quarter million with him. Something was awfully wrong here. 

The problems in our society can easily be fixed if we become less of a selfish people. I have discovered that people are largely about themselves. Nobody wants to lose their money and nobody wants to lose their time doing any ground work. Everyone wants guarantees and every thing " ready done". 

Don't they think for a moment that there were not people out there who wished they had invested in bill gates ideas before he became a billionaire. I know there must a be a lot of people who missed out on great opportunities because they transferred the doubts they have in their own abilities onto others, making them insecure about the capabilities of others. They missed out on a big opportunity to own a good amount of shares in Microsoft. 

I have heard many old people talk about when land was being sold for hundred and thousand dollars. They often rue not buying many more because they never assumed the value of land would escalate this astronomical. 

People with money would share  with those whom they feel threatened by. There are many people with money who if you should beg them, they won't give it to you but will very quickly hand over thousands of a dollars being an ingrate to someone important or to some dude who might stick a gun in their face. 

Now I understand clearly the point the commissioner makes about illicit money funding crime. I've observed that scammers would rather "pay dues" to individuals who create mayhem and murder than give a woman with a hungry child a thousand dollars. That within itself is a harsh reality. Money in the hands of fool will only brook chaos. 

These young men in the ghetto who make money through illegal activities, god probably knew why they were not born in money. 

Imagine that a lot of them would rather pay extortion money to some murderer and criminal whilst the people who live around them live in poverty. You can't even beg them a thousand dollars and get it. What does that tell you about the way that they think? 

Gussy would never turn away a hungry child or a mother in need. He was probably born the wrong place. I see the son of a governor get a scant wake and grave digging considering the fact that he is wealthy and important. Gussy, the child of a street side seller and a promiscuous father who deserted him from he was a preschooler received a historical celebration of life. Your life should be an inspiration to others. 

There is nothing wrong with the universe because it always restores life to its tantric balance. I see a mother through arbitration denied another mother to right bury her child who died in an accident on a plot of land because they wanted money for it and some ongoing dispute. 

I remember going to see the mother and hear her leave a voice message for the opposing family after they stopped taking calls from her. She said, tears steaming down her face " a hope none a unoo pickney no dead". She cried so hard that morning. 

People can be truly heartless. But in the midst of wickedness, the wicked always forget that they too have a fragile existence. They don't spend enough time rationalizing hence they make irrational decisions. As the powers that maybe will have it. The opposing mother's son died three months later. He was electrocuted at his work place.  I have every confidence in god or the power of the universe or whatever one might call it. Not one bad deed had gone unpunished in this Universe. 

I believe fixing this country is easy. Get rid of this personal ambition quest For superiority and start thinking about our collective interest. What's the sense you get rich and then you have to build fortress to keep the beggars out.

Agrarian societies were more peaceful. Capitalism has only fueled a materialistic world and egoism.

Respect begets respect Police Officers

I  see the relationship between the police and citizens as a two way street. You respect the civilians and they will respect you. Respect begets more respect so the civilian too must also mindful of how we deal with the police. Gussy's death taught me two things about police. You have good cops ones that held constant dialogues with the community after Gussy was killed and you have bad cops who come and point them gun inna you face and talk bout " who dead dead already and we have nuff more fe kill... Me left mi heart a mi yard"... Now tell me which onlooker, friend or family would not be angered by such an utterance after the killing of someone you knew your entire life. Now people look down on poor people behavior with contempt, but don't witness firsthand the ignominable behavior of members of the security forces. 

This notion that police have to use bad man tactic to get people to cooperate is a myth. The real bad man don't need to bad up people, him just need fe expose him gun and people will cooperate. No one will ever challenged the man with a weapon. 

We cannot have the people who are suppose to be endorsing law and order behaving like common criminals. This is a significant social element why citizens do not respect the police. 

But then you can't blame police in Jamaica because the police and the criminals are shaped from the same mold. The same culture, probably similar upbringings and exposure to a decadent culture. What we end up with is men with license to shoot with a depraved sense of morality. 

I don't understand how police officers can approach people like marauding gun men. The police thinks we live in a criminal state and the citizen believes that they live in a police state. In a criminal state, every citizen is suspected of doing illicit activity and can only be vindicated by the probe of a police officer or the courts. In truth we are all guilty until proven innocent. Which means any one of us can be shot down at anytime and labelled as a criminal with a gun. 

I do not support crime and violence and anyone who knows me know that me no keep bad man friend. I don't even like see them. And people always tell me I should not make my contempt that obvious but I can't help it. It is the nature of my humanity. I despise those who have no regard for human life, bad man or police. 

If you see life's answer to our problems as blood for blood then we will never reach anywhere. We won't get any long standing results. We will breed a nation of people carrying grudges for the death of their family members. 

Kill for kill is not the answer... Never was and never will be. I don't understand how people see death as some form of punishment when we all will die. Death, involuntary change is inevitable. So death within itself is no form of penalty... 

Is every one from the Ghetto a criminal or supporting criminality?

Earlier this year there was a case in the circuit court involving Jodian Pantry whose estranged lover paid Gun Men to kill her. Her being pregnant at the time and her child's father a very popular radio broadcaster. Who would not deem this man a "law abiding citizen". There are many law abiding citizens in Jamaica, who do not stick up people with Guns but they stick up people with their mouth. There are people , our law abiding neighbours, family members and friends who hire these young men and offer them money to get rid of some us. Few if any of them are ever persecuted. The ones who pulled the trigger are punished but the trigger mouths almost always get away.


Some people think that anyone who defends poor people are basically complicit with and are purveyors of their lumpen culture. 

I do not go around attaching labels to people base on where they were born. I quickly realize that if I was not as smart as I was then certain people would not even bother to deal with me. Simply because I had the misfortune to be borne a certain place and spawned from a certain type of people. 

Someone has to live within the realms of poverty to understand that people don't necessarily have time to rationalize when them hungry . A hungry man is an angry man and not just by maxim. 

Just the other day a very well meaning attorney at law said to me that " do you know that many of these people you trying to empower and defend may not want to get out of their situation?"

This crusade you are on may be futile. These very same people without notice, at any moment can hurt you or kill you because of the values that they embrace and encourage" 

He may be right. 

But I often think about the white people who were lynched among with the blacks for being a "nigger lover". I learnt that your very own will hate you if you can no longer support their myopic perspectives.  

Unity is a fallacy in any society. It's about conformity and choosing sides. You are either on our side or you are not. There is no neutrality, you cannot be the mediator between the soldier and the warrior. You are either lumpen or bourgeoise, there's no in between, no plateau, no high ground. 

Read through this conversation and inbox me your perspectives 

Original Post on Facebook

"So I was reasoning with Gussy younger brother last night using Dudus Coke as analogy to emphasize the lessons about our society. With all the money that Dudus had, he was still considered a liability to society and deemed removable by the powers that may be.

If high society thinks you are a threat to traditional values or the statusquo of this nation then you become a liability to society. Your very existence is seen as detrimental...you become dispensable..."



Observer: What values are you defending? It it the one that supports the lifestyle and practice of criminal who strive on the fear of every individual in society. And then subject then and their families to extreme brutality?


"Purveyor": No. I was not defending Dudus Coke. I was merely pointing out to this twenty year old boy who is extremely vulnerable to the same fate of his older brother that he should strive to become an asset to his society. He should never live his life in such a way that people would rather see him dead than alive. I was merely showing him that even money does not make you immune to prosecution or even death if you are deemed a threat to civil society.

Observer: I believe all criminals should die. No chances. Switzerland has the second lowest crime rate jn the world. You kno why? Becaz even the possession of illegal fire arms and the attempted use of same is punishable by death. That is a society that defend it's citizens. It's not criminal who are the drivers of driver but the law and by extension the people. This is arrogant but I prefer a known criminal to be shot down by the police than a single citizen be subjected to the brutal deaths as committed by a "gun man".


Purveyor: i heard a similar perspective from several people of late. I do not know if I give anyone the impression that i defend or support "criminality". I have been disavowing crime and violence from before it landed on my doorstep. There are many types of criminals in this society, some just a lethal as the man who stick you up with him gun cuz them stick you up with them mouth. Think about the law abiding citizens who hire hitmen to kill people... Most of this criminals are never prosecuted or gunned down as you put it. Haven't the police been doing that here terry? Haven’t they been shooting down gun men from way back when and then ten more rise up again... It signals that there are deeper social factors behind crime than people simply having an inclination to be diabolic.


Well as Dr Aadesh Cunningham told me last night at our vigil that there are many who will misperceived your message and that is only natural. I was encourage and I am committed now to make my messages more lucid. Perception is a hell of a thing cuz you, Tyrese ferrari, Andrew get that impression while most ghetto people think I despise their culture and lifestyle. They actually think I believe that I am better than them and here you are telling me that I am a supporter deviant culture of Donship ...Smh...can't win eeen???


Right side think you defending the anomalies of the Left side not knowing that the left side don't even subscribe to your ideologies because they see them as bourgeoisie.
Ghetto People get offensive, my in laws, my mother and even child's father gladly curse me if i ever said anything negative which in many cases are facts about lower class people and the ideologies that they hold. I now realise why people uptown will never understand people down town and it is because they both fail to understand the dynamics of those separate culture.

When i defend poor people's plight, the law abiding citizen of our country interpret that as an endorsement of the lumpen culture. When I try to proselytize and convert lower class people to seek social empowerment or even to illustrates some of the ills of culture of the lumpen class, I am met with quarrels, disrespect. People down town are often offended by what I say...They often respond in umbrage intonations that "me must galang lef yah". They are not interested in change, they are only interested in not being seen as inferior.

My intellectual friends see my writings as a defence of the criminal culture of poor people and most poor people see my stance as a criticism not of the social elements of the ghetto but a critique, a disparage of circumstances that they have little or no control over. They think I am ridiculing them, most if not all believe that I think I am superior to them yet I clamour everyday for their cause. Some of them do not even like me because of what I represent, the way I think,my ideologies reflect those of the people that they believe are oppressing them and keeping them in their indigent state. I am seen as a traitor.

People treat you differently because of where you come from. I know that. Many people I went to school with don't even fart pon me because I have failed to detach myself away of the circumstances I was born into. I often ask them that if Gussy had lived uptown and came from a good family that police would come kill him and drive away with him.

Most of my peers and family would start quarrel how GUssy woulda dead same way. They do not think they can be safe anywhere else than where they are. They do not like rules. They would prefer to play loud music at any time of night. They basically love slackness and in certain communities, slackness is not the norm and they hate having people police their behaviour.

Young Gussy's Life should be a Lesson to Us

We as a nation of people are not largely introspective. It is fine time that we begin to look into ourselves and see that the methods that we have been using to fight crime and violence are redundant. The ministry of security must realize that the tactic of murdering criminals have created more social maladies now than it did thirty years ago. We have a fractured justice system and an inept legislative process that often exonerate criminals therefore leaving the police officers with no other choice than to exterminate alleged murderers. 

Innocent people like Gussy get caught up in these melodramas because even though people claim Kirky was a bad boy, he was never prosecuted by the courts in all his suspected cases, in the eyes of the law, he is still an innocent man. 

Police have been killing murderers from I was child and yet we have brook a society of more criminals. It signals that the technique of crime fighting is at its best ineffective. Until we address the social maladies that breeds criminals then we will be doing this process over and over again. 

Police Officers are merely slaves who were given guns and now feel as if they are masters and so to feel truly important in this society they must enslave others. Their guns and badges does not make then a master, they are still slaves with only a driving whip and a free pass. They are the agents of change and they are not using this weaponry effectively. 

We have proven that killing our young men only stalls the crime rate for a few years until our pubescent boys become adults face the same pressures of those that are gone before them. They have not been socialized how to deal efficaciously with peer pressure , lack of available employment, covetousness and masculine validation. Every young man wants to feel important in his community. He wants women to love him, his elders to admire his accomplishments and his peers to envy and worship him. Our young men are not schooled on how to be adult men of virtues. 

Gussy father deserted him and his brothers when they were children. Gussy was never accorded proper values by a male role model. His father abandoned his sons and left them to their own plights. 

His mother hustled on the street side to send them to school. They lived in abject poverty. People did not even want to take a glass of water from their house to drink primarily because of how the place reeked of squalor. And Gussy managed by means unknown to rise out of his derelict state to become a true gem in our communities. 

People claim Gussy was a scammer, he may have been but that is the course that most of our young men are force to  take because our government, leaders and people like even me have failed to create avenues for employment and occupation for our disaffected youths. 

We have failed our children. We failed Gussy. People said Gussy had options, I believed he didn't have much. Imagine growing up in house with too many children and feeling embarrassed as a teenage about where you live. Gussy's mother never turned away any child from playing with her children. Gussy wanted more for his family and scamming may have allocated him the avenue to do so. 

A lot of money comes with great responsibility. Money attracts people, it is a compelling concept and a magnetic factor. Money is such a powerful tool in Jamaica. People want money more than religion or anything else. Money is the machinery to survival. Money make people want to be your friend. The good, the bad and the indifferent. We have to choose wisely who we are and who we allow to be in our company. Having money does not insure us from certain demise. Money only seems to create more problems. 

Gussy may have needed someone to teach him how to effectively utilize his money and how to guide his financial future, I would have opted to be that person if only he had requested that I did. But Gussy is still young and easily distracted by momentary gratification in his life. He probably thought me like most people wanted his money and were only pretending to care about his well being. 

Gussy like many young people think that the accumulation of wealth should be used for chaos and funding criminal networks. Money should be used for the advancement of our society and community. If some of these scammers were venture capitalist, funding talents and entrepreneurial ideas within our communities, we would not have to bury so many of these scammers. But it all chalks down to values. The values one embraces ultimately decides what choices we will make as an individual. 

I hope Gussy's life is a lesson to our young men that this bad culture is only a temporary gratification. All gangsters must die. Do not become collateral damage. You should never put your self in precarious position that people can reason out you to be a liability to society and are for we by circumstances to annihilate you. 

I see his friends mourn for him and I know the lessons learned from his death may be short lived. They feel fiercely about the need for change because his death is recent, as time goes by and the hurt palliates, they too may fall back into old habits. People do not change overnight but I hope Gussy's death was a lesson to them. 

Why Jamaican's diss the police but respect the Gun Man: Under the Mango Tree Philosophies

THERE ARE SO MANY LESSONS THAT I HAVE LEARNT SINCE I WAS A CHILD FROM THE VERANDAH DISCUSSIONS TO THE UNDER MANGO TREE EXPLOSIVE ARGUMENTS.

These trees have stories to tell...here is one more...


We were sitting underneath the mango tree discussing the recent upheavals within our community when a very intellectual member of our community made a stalwart remark. He said " Ghetto people nuh easy eenuh because danna dead, and people are afraid to talk yet if a did police murder danna, then we woulda have big demonstrations, vandalism of public property and riot" Yet when people within our own communities murder our neighbours we are afraid to publicly denounced what is happening with illegal firearm".


He posed his question to me...

It is something that had troubled me since I was a child and moreso recently and it is a question of why most Jamaicans will publicly crucify the police when innocent people are murdered but turn a blind eye when citizens kill civilians.

I remarked that it has a lot to do with accountability and the culture of hatred that has been recycled over generations for the police force. This abhorrence of the police force stems from slavery when the militia was often called upon to repress the slaves, suppress uprisings and revolts. We have a socio-anthropological detestation of the police force that is inherently cultural and socially programmed.
It is reinforced during the years of colonialism when we fought for our independence and many died by the hands of the police in civil unrest. Our garrison communities are often plagued by extra judicial killings and police brutality therefore children are socialised to respect the Gun man as a protector and justice executor and to loathe the police man as a corrupt, distrustful and abusive representation of the system of oppression.

The police enforces the ideologies and policies of the state which is often spearheaded by members of the ruling or upper class in society. Police officers are regarded as traitors, they have betrayed their community to work for the oppressive system.


There are many rumoured instances within society where "informers are killed because they gave information to the police. This has compounded the distrust that citizens often feel for the police who for many lower socio-economical individuals have failed to protect the majority of its people. Gun men often fire shots to ward off intruders from other areas signalling that the district is protected, offering the citizens a sense of security that the police officers have failed to engender over the years. Popular notion is that if you are friend with police officers, you are labelled an informer and informers within the Jamaican society are assured a swift demise.

Why are Bad Men reverred?

Every body wants to be a badman but no man wants to be a police officer. Bad man culture is revered and the bad man respected by members of the community mostly out of fear than anything else. It is only natural that we will develop a fixation and admiration for the man who deals in what we fear most..death. Not that we do not respect police men, we very much tremble in the presence of the "bad man"police officers that acts more like a rogue cop. The bad men fear the rogue cop because they know the rogue police man will if necessary break the law in his carrying out of justice.

He exudes a level of fearlessness akin to the that of the Bad man. It is this level of unaccountability that makes the bad man feared and the police man disregarded. Ordinary citizens do not fear the bad man police because they know that he serves the purpose of being as ruthless as the neighbourhood gun man. And the average civilians understands that the Gun Man only fears the "bad man' police.


When last has someone been convicted of murder in Jamaica? Most Bad Men roam free until they "rake up the wrong ants nest" and are killed by their own people or the police. All bad men have a bad end. The police is accountable to the states, the government, the judiciary and legislative institutions and most of all to the people that they swore to defend, serve and protect. The gun man has no loyalty to anyone. He fears no one and is not answerable to any governing body. He is loyal to his gun as his bread maker, security and emblem of power. A community knows this albeit not in so many words but this is the central reason why people within an area will know of a crime and are afraid to talk about it because unlike the police the Bad man rarely takes prisoners.

Cable TV has without a doubt contributed to the fascination that we have with men who perpetuate and flirt with death. We are enthralled by how someone could bring about what most of us cannot even envision ourselves thinking. Some people say that young men become assassins because of needs and wants. Killing someone is just a job to them. It gives them an increase level of confidence,control and leverage to know that people fear their ability to take a fellow man's life. The more savagery that they exhibit with their murderers, the higher the respect that they get up the bar.

What turns an innocent baby boy into Murder?

Some experts claim that Childhood Abuse, Mental Incapacity and a criminal culture are the central factors that turn little boys into murderers, rapist and psychopaths.

Many experts attest that most killers are mad in the sense of the word and gain thrill from seeing the life expend from another. Some murderers simply do what they are good at, and if killing gives them a sense of social importance in society. People might not like them but no one will ever disrespect them, people will fear them.

The cost does not outweigh the benefits of the being a contract killer because in a country like Jamaica, a contract killer will never get caught. He will most likely be murdered by members of his organised crime culture, or a young aspirant seeking to stamped his name in the crime culture.

"A big attraction of violence is that the criminal likes to feel that he is acting like God; the thrill of possessing God's power to kill someone is a big attraction"

THE CULT OF THE MAN WHO KNOWS DEATH

We feel contempt, anger, and disgust for the maniacal madman who hysterically kills humans out of sadism, perversion, or just lunacy, and we feel equal contempt for the person who kills in anger or by accident. Yet, perversely, our society stands in awe of those who have the ability to kill while coolly in control of themselves.

" why we romanticize bad men and hit men: they are men who control death. No one is the equal of the man who knows death, uses it, and does not flinch. Look at Patton, James Bond, Bugsy Siegel, Vito Corleone…

I often wonder if Gun men do not think about the fragility of their own humanity when they are taking another life. I beg to envision that with each death there comes a certainty that his/hers individual demise is imminent. Everything goes up in Jamaica except the price of life.

Conflict Resolution to fight Crime in Jamaica

I was watching the news last night where a family member was murdered because she controlled a family house and there was an ongoing dispute over it. I think one of the biggest catalyst for crime and violence is domestic disputes and until we can find effective ways to resolve our issues than resorting to murder then we will never have a peaceful jamaica. As a youth politician I believe that we need a rigorous conflict resolution programme that engages our community and we need mediators who can help to settle disputes before they escalate into body bags and funerals.




We have to build community programmes and outreach centres where mediators are placed within communities that have several flare up of intermittent violence to assist in helping citizens alleviate some of the disparities and frictions that often arises during their day to day associations.

People in Jamaica are not taught to apologise. This is a central issue within our society where people refuse to admit and acquiesce whenever they are wrong . We need an overhaul of our morality continuum. I heard that the minister of education, The Honourable Ronny Thwaites purported that a tolerance subject be added to the school curriculum.

I believe that our school needs an ethics class where children are encourage from youth to be tolerant of people, to understand that someone's opinion will differ from yours as people have divergent views and different experiences. People who do not conform to your beliefs should not be ostracised, murdered or maimed because you are offended. Children are encourage to always seek mediation instead of "chucking" violence whenever you and someone have a misunderstanding. We must emphasize the value of human life and relay the notion that murdering someone does not solved any problem in hindsight, it creates more violence such as reprisals etc.

We must also encourage our children in this curriculum to learn that walking away does not mean you are coward and even so cowards will always live to see another day. We should teach them also that sometimes the only way out is to stand up for what you believe in. Do not let anyone cower you into fear and submission by duress. We only submit to people that we respect and value their existence because it complements our humanity.


We need to rebuild our trust in the police force. Crime and Violence escalates because people with knowledge of criminal activities and perpetrators are afraid to give information to the police because most crime lords are alleged friends and allies of Police Officers. Until we get a collaborative effort between citizens and police officers we will not be able to eradicate the stench of criminality within our communities.


Politicians often think that crimes are committed on the basis of needs and wants. This maybe true but there is a growing dynamism within communities in Jamaica where the prevalence of guns and the accessibility
to guns for many young men has made assassins wealthy and parlours a very thriving business. There are bigger issues because in areas where Member of Parliaments and Councillors are absent than young men murdering and stealing. Where they are not role models, governance, young men easily become soldiers for the wrong set of people.


Our children especially our young men should be persuaded not to carry out people's dirty work. When I was a child we went to church every Sunday. We need to get back to our roots, Most of our values and morals are stemmed from our Christian principles we were taught as children. Our children need to go to bible school so that they can be morally shaped.