Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer
IN THE eight years since she was elected Member of Parliament, Sharon Hay-Webster has seen a lot of bloodshed in her South Central St. Catherine constituency. Following the death last Sunday of Donovan 'Bulbie' Bennett in Clarendon, the 44-year-old backbencher was thrust once more into the lion's den.
Bennett, reputed leader of the Clansman gang, was killed in the district of Rock River by a party from Operation Kingfish. Wanted by the police for more than 10 years, the 43-year-old Bennett had a rap sheet as long as Highway 2000.
The police say he was involved in many murders and ran a lucrative extortion racket.
But he also had his share of supporters, many of them residents of Ms. Hay-Webster's constituency. On Monday, several of those backers blocked roads and lit fires throughout Spanish Town, demonstrating anger at their area leader's death.
Superintendent Kenneth Wade, commanding officer in the St. Catherine North Police division, turned up the heat Monday when he said Bennett had strong ties to representatives from the People's National Party (PNP) which the Clansman faction supports.
This was strongly denied by Ms. Hay-Webster and Colin Campbell, the PNP's deputy general secretary, who demanded that Superintendent Wade provide evidence to support his allegations.
Last Friday, Ms. Hay-Webster had cooled off. The two-term Member of Parliament said she has spoken to Superintendent Wade since his damning statement, but that discussion had to with constituency matters; she spoke to his superior about his comment.
"I went over his head and spoke to the commissioner," she said.
On Friday, police Commissioner Lucius Thomas supported Superin-tendent Wade, saying he could not have made such a comment without prior knowledge. It was déjà vu for Sharon Hay-Webster, who was criticised in February 2003 by political opponents and Heather Robinson, her PNP predecessor as MP, when she said she was unaware of her party having links to criminals in her constituency.
Ms. Hay-Webster gets annoyed when talk of violence in South Central St. Catherine comes up. She believes little attention is paid to the improvement of infrastructure and implementation of social programmes there, or the strides made in finding peace with its bitter rivals in neighbouring Central St. Catherine.
One day after doing the rounds in South Central St. Catherine, Ms. Hay-Webster reported that her constituents were still coming to grips with the furore that followed Bennett's death.
"People are hurt, they have their feelings which they have expressed and you have to deal with that as the MP," she told The Sunday Gleaner. "We have to ensure that there is stability and continue with our programmes to deal with some of the social healing that must take place."
COOLING HOSTILITIES
According to Ms. Hay-Webster and her Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) counterpart in neighbouring Central St. Catherine, Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, progress was being made in cooling hostilities between the Clansman gang and their bitter rivals, the One Order Gang, which backs the JLP.
Both women had met on several occasions with members of the Peace Management Initiative (PMI) and police in the area to bring peace between Spanish Town's fractious communities. The peace meetings hit a snag in early October when a convoy in which Ms. Grange was travelling was shot up shortly after they left a meeting with Ms. Hay-Webster at the St. Catherine Parish Council.
Omar 'Ticarus' Campbell, who was travelling in Ms. Grange's party, was shot and killed. Another man was also shot but survived.
Ms. Hay-Webster, a divorced mother of two children, would not comment on the fate of the peace talks now that Campbell, reportedly a One Order member, and Bennett, are out of the picture. Priority, she stressed, must be given to the healing process her constituency, and
neighbouring communities, need more than ever.
