Dudus better for Tivoli than Bruce, cops

The Editor, Sir:

It seems that the people of Tivoli were better off under the leadership of their infamous don Christopher 'Dudus' Coke. If the reports coming out of Tivoli are true then Mr Coke was doing a far better job than what the Government and the police are able to do.

The Government, and to a lesser extent the police, have failed to capitalise on the opening to rebuild the community, and prevent it returning to its former state. As their failure begins to become clearer the police are busy trying to convince us to believe them instead of the citizens while in the same breath they are hastily putting up military-like cordons around the community.

The police and the Government have dismal track records where truth is concerned and either of them will have an extremely difficult task convincing us that the measures being instituted are preventative rather than reactionary.

It brings into sharp focus the quality of leadership being provided by the Government and in the police force. While they find time to get passionate about a speech made by the chairman of the Jamaica Police Federation they fail to come to grips with their core function of finding ways to protect the citizens of the country.

ideal hypothesis

Tivoli has provided an ideal hypothesis to test the leadership of our government and security forces. From my perspective the current crisis in this inner-city community is indicative of the poor quality of the leadership of their member of parliament. Among the people representing inner-city community he appears to be the worst of them. Indications are that he is out of touch with the residents.

If Mr Golding continues to flaunt his eloquent goody-too- shoes attitude, he runs the risk of becoming a greater political liability to the Jamaica Labour Party than his predecessor. All party faithful of the JLP are quite aware of the value of Tivoli Gardens as the sole Labour party stronghold among the several garrison communities.

Furthermore, Tivoli keeps the party competitive during an election. If the People's National Party is able to wrest control of Tivoli from the JLP, then that party will become the sole ruler of Jamaica for well beyond the 18 years it held power.

The Tivoli issue needs to be addressed immediately to avert this foreseeable danger.

I am, etc.,

HUNMIN CAMPBELL

hunminc@yahoo.com

May Pen PO,

Clarendon