The Government should be commended for inviting public comment on the draft terms of reference for the commission of enquiry into the security forces’ operation in Tivoli Gardens in May 2010.

The process, we believe, can only be enriched by this kind of approach to governance, especially in matters that affect the entire country.

To be clear, we don’t hold the view that every decision the Government needs to make must be open to public commentary before action is taken. That would reduce governance to a crawl, worse than now exists, and result in frustrating the populace. Certainly, though, the idea of consultation is good for building consensus and gives the public ownership of the policies implemented.

The draft terms of reference are, in our estimation, reasonable and should, we hope, provide us with answers to many questions that have been nagging this country for years.

That, of course, depends on witnesses being truthful to the commission. For we recall only too well that a witness told a previous commission of enquiry, into violent events in Tivoli Gardens, that he had never before seen anyone in that community with an illegal gun. Never mind that this particular witness had reason to be in that community quite often.

We are, therefore, anxious to learn what this commission will find when it seeks to determine the truth of the “allegations that persons were especially armed to repel any law enforcement effort to capture the fugitive, Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke”. For there are some Jamaicans who still have their heads in the sand in relation to the existence of illegal weapons in that community that, before May 2010, operated as if it was a state within a state.

Those who would wish for us to ignore that reality cannot escape the fact that prior to the security forces entering Tivoli Gardens, gunmen staged unprovoked attacks against the forces of law and order, killing two policemen and torching two police stations in the Corporate Area in the process.

Those who would wish for us to ignore the reality that men inside Tivoli Gardens were armed, cannot contest the fact that it took the security forces two days to eventually take control of Tivoli and return normality to the capital city.

We have heard allegations that residents of the community were executed by police and soldiers after the fighting ended. If that is true, we hope that the enquiry will be able to point to those who committed such heinous acts, for they should be made to pay for such crimes. In the same breath, we expect that the probe will identify how many of the more than 70 civilians killed were actually combatants.

We reiterate that the country owes it to the relatives and friends of the dead, as well as the injured and their loved ones — some of whose lives have been destroyed — to provide not just material redress but an opportunity for psychological and emotional healing.

We hope as well, that any useful suggestion made by the public that holds the potential of making the enquiry meaningful to the country will be accepted by the authorities, regardless of who may be compromised.