Two days ago in our editorial column, we urged the leaders of our political parties to set the right tone among their supporters in their electioneering, and to give clear and unequivocal support to the work of the Peace Management Initiative and the work of the Political Ombudsman.

We find it necessary to repeat the recommendation in light of the contretemps in West Central St. Andrew between the JLP's Andrew Holness and his supporters and Bishop Herro Blair, the Political Ombudsman, on Wednesday. We repeat, it is better to work through and make complaints to the office of the Ombudsman and allow him to address concerns rather than to pour fuel on smouldering embers with intemperate statements and actions. The planned demonstrations to coincide with Mr. Blair's visit to West Central St. Andrew are ominous in their implications. The orchestrated demonstration suggests a lack of good judgement and restraint as well as a commitment to working to defuse tension.

At the same time, the churlishness of Mr. Holness should not be allowed to overshadow the issues about which he has expressed concerns - namely, that it is quite easy for people to lend their support to the symbolism of peace marches without addressing the things and persons undermining community harmony. Where people in communities have a sense of being aggrieved, they need to be assured that appropriate action is being taken to address the matters, and quickly. Failure to act encourages reprisal action.

Clearly too, the recent developments should alert the security forces to the likelihood of conflicts descending into more violent confrontations. They need to ensure that their intelligence is functioning at such a level as to nab lawbreakers, and move quickly to pre-empt the troublemakers whose jobs it is to create mayhem and murder in the name of politics.

We must insist, too, that the party leaders hold their caretaker/ candidates accountable for any provocative action and statement. Too often, despite the evidence of clear wrongdoing, the leaders are wont to become ultra-defensive. Their paramount interest becomes one of saving face and defending their party. The country needs strong, integrity-based leadership at this time and this is incongruous with the tendency to stand by the party and its representatives, whether they have acted appropriately or not.

We would have hoped that after decades of political violence, our politicians would have realised by now that the country is tired of the grandstanding, tired of the murder and mayhem, tired of the continuous 'cass-cass,' and tired of the shameless exploitation of people for political gain.

Bruce Golding as leader of the Jamaica Labour Party and Portia Simpson Miller as president of the People's National Party need to call their candidates together and lay down specific rules of engagement within their constituencies and across the island. These rules must embrace respect for people with differing views being allowed to express those differences without fear of physical harm. The gathering political storm clouds seen over the past few weeks need not become a full-strength hurricane - not if our leaders and the security forces act with determination to stop in their tracks those who are committed to a lifestyle of war and not of peace.