By Howard Campbell, Gleaner WriterSIDEWALK VENDORS hold their wares aloft and bellow to potential buyers amid the hustle and bustle of Orange Street a typical day in West Kingston's commercial district. But for a few hours last Wednesday it was an entirely different scene.
Buyers and vendors vacated the area after news circulated that gunmen from Tivoli Gardens, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) stronghold, were planning to 'invade' nearby Matthews Lane in retaliation for the death of Kemel Duffus, a JLP supporter.
Word on the road was that the Tivoli strongmen linked Duffus' death to gunmen from Matthews Lane which has strong ties to the governing People's National Party (PNP). But in separate interviews with The Sunday Gleaner Wednesday, community leaders Donald 'Zekes' Phipps of Matthews Lane and Justin O'Gilvie in Tivoli, said they had no knowledge of any hostility.
On Thursday things were back to normal in West Kingston. Most people filed into fabric stores hunting for back-to-school bargains while others crammed haberdasheries to stock up on household items.
NOTHING NEW
This sudden change in climate is nothing new to West Kingston residents or persons who do business there, like Norman Powell, manager at Liberty Fabric Company Limited. He has operated at Orange Street since 1978 when his mother opened shop there, and has seen a lot of violence, but even he says he was scared by Wednesday's developments.
"It was frightening because we didn't know what was happening. I heard one or two shots but no rapid fire," he told The Sunday Gleaner. "But the place was empty."
As eerie as the situation was, Mr. Powell said he kept his store open until its scheduled 2:00 p.m. closing time on Wednesdays. On Thursday when he spoke to The Sunday Gleaner, Mr. Powell was doing what he does after another tense episode damage control.
"When you have violence it impacts terribly on your business because customers call and ask if downtown is okay, even when nothing is happening," said Mr. Powell, disclosing that he was forced to close his business several times last year due to violence. That has not been the case so far this year and he credits improved relations between West Kingston's usually hostile factions for the decline in warfare.
Kingston Mayor, Desmond McKenzie, has been West Kingston's Councillor since the late 1970s and is reportedly one of the persons responsible for this prolonged peace. On Thursday, he said that the truce was not under threat, blaming the "media and some business persons" for the hoopla of the previous day.
SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS
"We have made significant progress over the past five years and it came with some pain but eventually it worked. I wouldn't get overly alarmed about yesterday's situation which I think was taken out of proportion," he said. "What that has done is create a certain level of uneasiness in the area...we don't want to go back to the days where wi coming from."
The West Kingston Mayor McKenzie speaks about is a far cry from the one many Jamaicans have associated with violence for close to 40 years. It has had the same Member of Parliament, former Prime Minister Edward Seaga, since 1962 and has been a hamlet for hardcore enforcers like Claudius 'Claudie' Massop, Winston 'Biah' Mitchell and Lester Lloyd 'Jim Brown' Coke who ruled with an iron grip.
According to Mr. McKenzie, the area leaders throughout the constituency have co-operated with police to transform West Kingston into a model community, making it a prototype for other politically-divided areas such as Spanish Town and South St. Andrew.
"Downtown Kingston has the lowest crime rate in the entire country, the crime rate has gone literally down to zero," he stressed. "There is a level of maturity and understanding that has been developed among the communities and the police. Community policing has worked in West Kingston and I believe if many other communities adopt this it will go a far way."
COMPLETE TURNAROUND
Sergeant Hopelyn Henry is one of three persons responsible for sharpening the West Kingston police's people skills. Gradually, she says, constituents warmed to the police, a complete turnaround from a few years ago when many of them criticised the lawmen of unprofessional behaviour and brutality. According to Sergeant Henry, this change has come largely through the establishment of youth clubs and a civic committee comprising police officers, residents and business persons.
