I support the five recommendations made by Public Defender Earl Witter. Many of our public servants are given baskets to carry water, then we blame them for not delivering the water on time.
Last Wednesday, I watched Opposition Leader Andrew Holness reject the recommendation for a commission of enquiry into the May 2010 Tivoli Gardens killings. He claimed that previous commissions have been used for political purposes, and what was needed was compensation.
See here, Mr Holness, don’t joke!
Apartheid South Africa was highly bureaucratic and commissions of enquiry were often instituted either to justify actions taken against opponents of apartheid or to provide government with justification for acting against its opponents.
For example, by the 1980s, the government had long viewed the South African Council of Churches (SACC) as a major opponent of apartheid, which it was. In an attempt to curtail its activities, the government appointed a commission of enquiry in 1981 into the SACC. The aim was to undermine the SACC’s work and use certain financial irregularities to embarrass the organisation.
Desmond Tutu, the general secretary of SACC, was one of many who testified. In the end, it turned out that the commission’s work served to vindicate the SACC rather than undermine it. The minutes of evidence given at this commission is 4,996 pages, but it is well worth reading, Mr Holness. Despite the original intent, information from these commissions constitute an important piece of the history of the struggle for freedom
The community of Tivoli Gardens has been vilified, abused and blamed for every evil for decades. Its main offence, really, seems to be its success in providing for itself the kind of security that our leaders have failed to offer for anybody but themselves.
Attempts have been made to justify this carnage by persons who should know better, saying that Tivoli women marched in support of Dudus – saying they would die for him.
And why not? As far as they know, this is the man who enables them to sleep with their doors open, while the rest of the nation is forced to sleep with its eyes open
good for the country?
There is a fool-fool story in circulation that this event was a good thing for the country. Perhaps an enquiry will help sceptics like myself to understand this position.
This country has enough resources to surround and search the entire Tivoli in one hour. No one with half a brain, being hunted by the State, would put oneself in a place where one could be easily cornered. Everyone but the security forces knew this. If one were to be generous to them and use their own statistics to do an analysis, one would find that their figures and their facts contradict each other, leaving one to harbour serious doubts about their account of events.
We need to hear more!
Keith Clarke could not be faulted for feeling secure. A decent, upstanding citizen living in a secure home in an upscale area, light years removed geographically, socially and physically from west Kingston and these events. But he was brutally slaughtered by the very forces he would have called on to protect him.
Those of his ilk are wondering and worrying.
The most critically affected are the most vulnerable group in that community – the children. In other countries where this type of brutality takes place, up to 80 per cent of children suffer from behavioural problems related to attachment issues, and emotional and cognitive problems.
These children carry heavy emotional, social and spiritual burdens associated with death, separation, victimisation, destruction of homes, and disruption in the normal patterns of living.
Has anyone checked the schools to determine how these children have been affected? Beset by these problems, children may just not turn up for school. So we need to look first at the attendance register. Does anyone in authority know the story that this is telling? I know.
The need for a commission of enquiry is urgent. The people of Tivoli need to tell their story to the nation. Talk is therapeutic – especially when one knows that one is being listened to.
This enquiry could open our eyes to the need for a comprehensive mental-health service in west Kingston. The people are struggling to cope with this new life.
The nation is tired and terrified of this culture of brutality with impunity within the ranks of our security forces. There is much that we need to know and understand about this horrible event.
– Glenn Tucker is an educator and sociologist. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and glenntucker2011@gmail.com.