THE St Catherine Chamber of Commerce (SCCC) has accused the Peace Management Initiative (PMI) of taking a hands-off approach to strife-torn Spanish Town, and urged the PMI chairman, Bishop Herro Blair, to give the parish capital the same attention given to Mountain View Avenue in Kingston.

“I want to see Mr Blair and his team in Spanish Town, so that he may get a first-hand view of the lives some of these people live, so that the social intervention programme may not just be talked about, but is also acted upon,” said Dennis Robotham, the SCCC president.

Robotham, who has become increasingly outspoken since the most recent outbreak of violence in the old capital, insisted that the PMI should make itself more available to implement the much-heralded social intervention programme for the town.

In an interview with the Observer, Robotham said that while he was heartened by the presence of the police, there still existed a need for the PMI and other social partners to play a more active role in the redevelopment of the town.

The cry for a social intervention was made more urgent when a meeting between the police high command, interest groups in the town, the Church and other interested parties signed off on a renewal plan as the vanguard against the violence that has plagued the town and to fill the avoid to be left after the warlords have ben removed.

Spanish Town has seen sporadic outbeaks of bloody violence, triggered mainly by clashes between rival gangs – the People’s National Party-linked Clansman gang and Jamaica Labour Party-linked One Order gang – both fighting for domination of the town’s lucrative extortion business.

“I still believe there can be much more done to help in the social aspect of Spanish Town, because when you look at a Mountain View for example, that the PMI had gone in there. Why are they not seen here?” Robotham asked.

“Are they (Mountain View residents) more important than the people who reside and work in Spanish Town? I would love to see more being done on the social level,” Robotham urged.

The same interest that was shown during the flare-up of violence in the Mountain View community should also be shown in Spanish Town’s case, he said, adding that Spanish Town was in need of urgent renewal, in order to get the town back to a place where it was no longer regarded as the murder capital of the island.

Blair, for his part, referred to the Father Richard Albert-led Crime and Violence Committee, saying that while it was noticeable that Spanish Town faced some hard challenges, it was not in his style to impose his will on an already established committee looking into the problems of crime and its prevention there.

“We want to be proactive; But we have set up committees in several communities now like in Spanish Town and others in places like Montego Bay to look into these problems,” Blair said.

“What we want to do is to work alongside them, and if it comes to our attention that the thing needs our assistance we certainly will go in and do that,” he added.

Father Albert, in the meantime, said that his committee had been having extensive dialogue with the national security ministry and the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), and would be hosting a meeting on Thursday next week, which would also include the Chamber of Commerce.

“That will hopefully go a long way in having the social intervention plan established in the town,” Albert said. “We have been meeting with a lot of community groups in all the different areas, in Homestead, March Pen, Ellerslie Pen, and we have submitted some proposals that will make some concrete social interventions in the very near future.”

“Many of these people are tired of the cycle of violence that plague them, especially the innocent children,” Albert told the Observer. “They are seeking an outlet. I have had nothing but cooperation from every group we met, whether PNP or JLP,” he added.

But Robotham insisted that Blair and his PMI should get more involved in the social intervention programmes for Spanish Town and should “not leave all to a committee, even if it is of a noble reputation and cause”.

“I just believe that Spanish Town has not gotten its full share of the economic pie and funding that is required at this time,” Robotham remarked.