Kingston is a city where a group of Salvation Army representatives is held up and robbed. These are people who have given of their time and money to make the miserable life of the poor better. This is a country where many people are literally living in fear. But, how did we get to this state?

Ganja

This is 'ganja country'. We use it at home to make ganja tea. We smoke it in public. We have been trading this drug for years. While studying in the USA in the early 1990s, I realised that ganja had become a major, if not the major, source of foreign exchange. We were warned that with the drug trade came the guns and crime and, so it did. As the ganja trade expanded, we started to barter for cocaine and guns and this developed into a major cocaine epidemic in Jamaica. In addition, the country became increasingly armed and the gangs moved in to control the drug and gun trade.

The guns

You can go into any inner-city community and beg, borrow or buy a gun. I overheard a group of children talking one day and they were very knowledgeable about the guns. They knew them by name. They could identify them by their sounds. It was frightening. These were children of war. The police are now saying that it is very difficult to control the gun trade. It is no longer our relatives and friends who are sending the guns in barrels and in appliances from the USA. A sophisticated drugs-for-guns trade has now developed between Jamaica and Haiti. Our borders are very difficult to control and the drugs and gun traders are equipped with the latest technology and fast boats. When the guns land here, they are controlled by the gangs in the garrisons.

The gangs

I was shocked two weeks ago to see, on television news, members of a gang giving a press conference. These gangs have developed over the last 30 years. Some of them are associated with political parties. They are controlled by dons. These gangs are among the most vicious and bloody in the world. The police report that there are over 150 gangs operating in Jamaica and, of this number, 12 account for most of the crimes in Jamaica. We must control and contain these gangs. The political parties and the politicians must break their association with these gangs. We are in a state of terror.

The garrisons

Security forces patrol the White Wing community in Olympic Gardens

The garrisons are inner-city communities affiliated with political parties. They are neglected communities with very high crime and unemployment rates.

In these communities, guns are easily available, ganja is traded freely and the gangs are in absolute control. In fact, in many garrisons, each road has its own don. The people are controlled and they live in absolute fear. I recently visited a garrison and I was shocked; we had to get permission to enter and, as we did, they removed the barricade to allow us in. The dons wield greater power than the politicians and, in many instances, even the politicians must seek the permission of the gangs and dons to enter some communities. This is a state of terror.

We must take a zero-tolerance approach to ganja and drugs. The drug trade must be controlled. The gun trade must be contained. The gangs must be destroyed. The garrisons must be dismantled. We must redevelop the garrisons to create jobs and generate hope for the citizens. Politicians must sever their affiliation with the dons and gangs. Let us end the state of terror.