THERE is nothing in the revised political code of conduct that bars a politician from meeting with people suspected of criminal involvement, if the object is to attain peace, says political ombudsman Bishop Herro Blair.

“The word is absolutely no,” Blair told the Sunday Observer when asked if the October 6 meeting in Spanish Town had violated the code of conduct signed September 20, committing politicians to shun violence.

But, there is disagreement with his assertion from within the Peace Management Initiative (PMI), a group that Blair heads, and which has the role of dampening tensions in violence-prone areas.

Horace Levy, a member of PMI, said as vital was the method used to stem tensions and bloodletting.

Blair in fact praised the effort of members of Parliament Sharon Hay-Webster, from the ruling People’s National Party’s (PNP) and the opposition Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange to barter peace between the rival One Order and Klansman, two politically affiliated gangs that operate in and around Spanish Town, St Catherine.

The October 6 meeting was clouded by controversy, after gunmen attacked the motorcar in which Grange, the member of parliament for Central St Catherine had left the meeting.

A man following on a motorcycle was killed in the attack, which the police later allege was launched by a Klansman gang member.

The Klansman gang is aligned to the PNP, and One Order to the JLP.

“I have to commend both members of parliament and the councillors who were able to initiate that meeting. It was attended by members of the security forces and so if there were wanted men then there would have been easy access for the security forces,” the ombudsman said.

The problem would come, he said, if there was prolonged association to gain political mileage.

“Where a politician knows for a fact that a person is a criminal and uses such individual for the advancement of party or political work, that definitely would be a breach of political code,” Blair said.

But Levy, a social scientist and lecturer at the University of the West Indies (UWI), disagreed, contending that it was not enough to look simply at the goal but also the means to attain it.

“It is not enough just to say that if the goal is peace that any contact is thereby legitimated. One has to introduce the issue of the means to the peace. If the discussion is over steps to stop and curtail criminal activity, which is damaging peaceful relations, there can be no quarrel with this,” said Levy, who has also undertaken research on community violence.

“If, however, the discussion is about, for example, dividing up terrain for purposes of extortion then the mere fact it is for peace does not legitimate that kind of discussion. That is a very unstable foundation for peace.”

Levy noted that a move to achieve peace through negotiations with alleged area dons was made in 1996, over a hospital contract, only brought more problems in its wake.

“The allocation of the security contract to two leading dons connected with the refurbishing of the KPH in 1996, led to a cease fire agreement between the dons and this in turn had two effects,” he recounted.

One spin-off was positive. It influenced, said Levy, peace making in other communities across the capital.

But, it also presented the dons with the opportunity to further divide up downtown Kingston into their respective areas of control, and extortion, he said.

“That extortion effect reverberated across the country, encouraging other gangsters to similarly carry out extortion methods in areas like Red Hills Road and Spanish Town,” Levy said.

Criminologist Professor Bernard Headley supports Blair’s position, going even further to suggest that politicians had a duty to engage the criminals.

“It is easy to pick on politicians and say that they should not have that kind of association with people who are known gang members because of the tribal nature of our history and the political culture that we have,” said Headley, also a lecturer at the UWI, and the leading academic voice on the criminal mind.

“As a citizen and an advocate for a common good, I would have to say that anyone in the society who commands a sphere of influence – whether that person has a role as a preacher, a teacher, social worker or politician – if within that sphere they are able to influence behaviour or cause a turn-around in behaviour, it should be welcomed.”

The professor said, however, that the odds of achieving lasting peace through negotiations with gang members were virtually nil.

“Anything to do with peace between Klansman and One Order has been known to just breakdown because the fundamental reordering of the political culture has just not been seriously addressed,” he said, adding that perhaps the long time call for a truth and reconciliation commission should be taken up by government.

Blair cautioned against uninformed rhetoric based on perception of the meetings between politicians and people suspected of criminal involvement, saying the criticisms could prove a deterrent to peace.

“One has to be careful that perception does not destroy the whole peace process,” said the PMI head.

“It must be noted that if a person is wanted by the security forces, even though that person is wanted, (it) does not say that person is a criminal,” Blair said.

Blair clarified, however, that PMI does not support meetings with such individuals, “unless the meeting is to encourage the individual to turn himself in.”

On the issue of the political code, Blair says he will not hesitate to invoke it when, on clear evidence, he determines that a breach has occurred.

“I will not be guided by presumptions or perceptions. I believe that perception is at this point creating a problem to the extent where more people are afraid to come out and serve our nation,” he said.

The PMI meetings, he added, will continue.

“I am involved in meetings to achieve peace and will continue to be. I will work even if there are perceptions. My only deterrent would be fact,” he said.

williamsp@jamaicaobserver.com