Let’s find a little niceness in our hearts

Attorney General Marlene Malahoo Forte has nudged Jamaicans to be a little gentler this Christmas.

That note of caution comes after the coronavirus pandemic upended normality for millions of Jamaicans. Violent crime has also been top of mind, with 1,227 people murdered up to December 5, 1.8 per cent fewer than for the corresponding period in 2019.

“The truth is, I’m just really wishing that we find it in our hearts to calm down. Those who would think about committing the crimes, they would step back, and some way, somehow, find a little niceness in our hearts,” the St James West Central member of parliament told The Gleaner as she made her way to Parliament on Tuesday.

Malahoo Forte, who hails from Westmoreland, says she will be reflecting on the gift of Christ.

“It’s also a time for family. Family for us as parliamentarians is not just our immediate family, but it is also our political family and our constituency family,” she said.

But those expecting the two-term MP to be engorging herself on a platter of meats that usually adorn dinner tables for Christmas may be mistaken.

“I don’t eat goat. I don’t eat red meat at all,” Malahoo Forte said, laughing at the suggestion that she might fancy curried goat.

“I absolutely love the sorrel, a little Christmas cake, and the general pickings that come [with the season].”

With COVID-19 causing misery for many, Malahoo Forte said she hoped that her countrymen would find peace at Christmas.

“I hope that Jamaicans have a blessed Christmas. Lord knows it has been challenging year on so many fronts,” the attorney general said.

“I wish health and safety and peace for all my fellow Jamaicans.”