Last Wednesday a breath of fresh air blew through the Jamaican Parliament. In a rare show of bipartisan support, the Lower House of the people’s representatives worked collaboratively to pass the special zones crime Bill which, among other things, is intended to cauterise the rampant murder rate that has placed the country in great fear. One may not have considered this bipartisanship possible, given the rhetoric that preceded the debate on the Bill from the Opposition. Indeed, Leader of the Opposition Dr Peter Phillips had declared the Bill oppressive, and the general impression was that the People’s National Party (PNP) would not support it.

But public support and the heavy pressures of an increasingly articulate and feisty social media democracy no doubt forced the Opposition to do an about-turn and acknowledge the relative merits of the Bill. It is now on the way to the Senate, where it is certain to meet approval by a majority of the members there.

It is significant that there should be this bipartisan support, for the greatest existential threat that Jamaica faces is the runaway murder rate that has brought the country to a tipping point. Today, more than ever before, Jamaicans are cowering in fear. Social life is being cauterised as people have become fearful to go about their daily routines.

Furthermore, Jamaicans have become fed up with the posturing of politicians about crime; knowing well that neither political party comes to the table with clean hands and pure hearts where the politicisation of crime is concerned. Many who have lived through the trauma of murders in this country from 1976 to the present day know that both political parties have been equal opportunity contributors to the mayhem we see, having sponsored violence as a means to win, hold and execute political power.

They would know well the horrible effects that the cancer of political tribalism, in its struggle for scarce benefits and spoils, has had on the Jamaican body politic; how the culture of gun violence has been aided and abetted by these two “gangs” of Gordon House; how the dominance of dons in deprived communities has led to the denial of freedom and human rights to Jamaicans caught in these hellish environments; and how these environments became incubators for the kind of criminals we see in the society today. Today the society is being savaged by “shottas” and others who have gained independence from the political directorate which, in any event, no longer has the resources to support them. Now they have technological tools at their disposal to communicate, while maintaining borders that have more holes than a sieve to allow guns to flow freely into the country with impunity.

The people know instinctively that no amount of political point-scoring or finger-pointing can put one bullet back into the gun of the murderous gunman. They have had enough of the political posturing on both sides and desperately want to see their political leaders working collaboratively in the fight against the crime scourge. The PNP leadership sensed this and this explains their quick retreat from their early intemperate opposition to the crime zones Bill.

No Bill is ever perfect, but one can see that the Government agonised over this one to ensure that the human rights of Jamaican citizens are not abused by the security forces. They undoubtedly had the infamous Suppression of Crimes Act of 1974 at the back of their minds. So too the recent egregious assaults of these forces on the rights of the ordinary Jamaican citizen. Against this backdrop the role of the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) must be enhanced to improve its ability to give oversight. As I have appealed in previous articles and do even more so here, given the powers allowed to the security forces in this Bill, INDECOM must be given expanded resources of staff and other resources to improve their work in the field.

This is so notwithstanding the fact that the mechanisms of accountability for the security forces have been carefully worked out in the Bill. So too is accountability by the prime minister in council. The prime minister cannot declare an area a special zone unless he has been advised to do so in writing by the joint command of the forces. This was an important insistence of the Opposition given the long and sad history of political interference in the operations of the security forces. There is a chain of accountability and responsibility running throughout the whole Bill that we have never seen in previous regulations, and for this the Government must be commended.

One of the more difficult areas of the Bill that has to be carefully policed, if you will pardon the pun, is the deployment of social intervention mechanisms in areas declared special zones. It is one thing for the security forces to move into an area with overwhelming force, hold and clear the area of criminals, but it is quite a different thing to indulge in the difficult task of building the kind of social infrastructure that will redound to the long-term good of the community. The authorities would be well advised that the cautious approach will not work. Neither will the piecemeal, cosmetic nor Band-aid approach that has been attempted over the years in various communities have the desired effect. There has to be a comprehensive and robust response with the appropriate resources, capital and human, expended to ensure good results.

And this will take time and patience with great resoluteness. There is a tendency in Jamaica to start something on a grand scale and then for things to fall apart as the nine day’s wonder wears off. But in communities that have been held at ransom by marauding criminals and dons, a great deal of psychological rehabilitation has to work hand in hand with the improvement of the social infrastructure. If atrophy is allowed to set in because of a lack of sustained interest, it will not be long before these communities return to a state worse than that from which they would have been liberated.

Dr Raulston Nembhard is a priest and social commentator. Send comments to the Observer or stead6655@aol.com.