Dear Editor,

The word “Dudus” seems to have successfully eclipsed “recession” as the most widely used word in the country. The Dudus affair has generated much interest, resulting in all and sundry pronouncing on the matter.

The US law enforcement agencies have spoken through their unsealed Grand Jury indictment accusing Dudus of gun running and drug dealing. Dudus’s lawyer, Senator Tom Tavares Finson, has spoken up in defence of his client, stating that Dudus is an upstanding businessman who is focused on taking care of his family and developing his community. The government, through Prime Minister Bruce Golding, has spoken in defence of Dudus’s human rights, indicating that the government will not facilitate the extradition request because America has breached Jamaican law. The Opposition has spoken, mainly through former national security minister, Dr Peter Phillips, accusing the government of political interference. Civil society, including the PSOJ and the Jamaica Council of Churches, has spoken, urging the government to allow the courts to deal with the matter. Some of the country’ legal minds have spoken in favour and against the government’s handling of the matter.

However, the most profound statement was made by a group of women from Hannah Town. The women, who indicated that they were PNP supporters, spoke on national television and proclaimed in a worship-like manner that “Dudus next to God”. Before we rush to condemn these women, let us examine why they ascribed near divinity status to Dudus. They said that Dudus assisted their children in going to school, provided funding for their businesses, provided protection and maintained the peace, among other things.

The women’s statement that Dudus is next to God provides a critical insight into our prevailing social and political order. For those women in Hannah Town and thousands of Jamaicans in several communities across Jamaica, their dons are next to God, because traditional values, the established social order and legitimate leadership are crumbling before our eyes. Dudus and his counterparts throughout Jamaica will continue to be acclaimed as next to God as long as parenting and family life remain weak, churches and pastors remain indifferent and irrelevant, civil society remains dormant, and political parties and their leaders remain visionless and uninspiring. If we continue to cede parcels of the country to strongmen and outsource law and order to others rather than the police force and the courts, then all Jamaica will soon be forced to worship at the altar of lawlessness and criminality and join the women of Hannah Town in praising the dons as gods.

Orville Plummer

oaplummer@yahoo.com