Dear Editor,

Mavado and Vybz Kartel and their Gully and Gaza empires took centre stage this week as they commanded the attention of the prime minister, four Cabinet ministers, the Peace Management Initiative, the National Transformation Programme and the media in a high-level meeting at Jamaica House. Much has been said about the impact of the Gully-Gaza conflict and its negative repercussions on our youth, schools and communities.

In dealing with problems, we have a tendency to focus on the peripheral rather than on the fundamental issues. We have a tendency to focus on personalities and symptoms rather than root causes. A closer examination of the Gully-Gaza conflict will indicate that it is a mere symptom of the serious identity and leadership crisis that has characterised the Jamaican society for some time now. It is obvious that there is a dearth of effective leadership at all levels of the society, from the home to the school and from the church and to the Parliament. A significant portion of our youths have no sense of self, their heritage nor what it is to be Jamaican.

In this regard, the Gully-Gaza craze is just another phenomenon that occupies the leadership and identity vacuum in the society. Gully and Gaza are like sponges sopping up the hearts and minds of thousands of young people who are searching for leadership and their identity. Gully and Gaza are playing a similar role to the one being played by the dons, gangs, lotto scam, and skin bleaching. Gully,Gaza, Mavado, Kartel and others of their ilk will continue to capture the hearts and minds of our youth as long as parenting and family life remain weak, churches and pastors remain indifferent and irrelevant, service clubs and uniformed groups remain dormant and political parties and their leaders remain visionless and uninspiring.

Orville Plummer

oaplummer@yahoo.com