In Jamaican parlance a “leggo beast” is an undisciplined child running wild. In other words, a deviant, uncontrollable youngster — usually male — who is untamed and oftentimes wreaks havoc on the society.

At present, Jamaica has a large number of leggo beasts who are committing various criminal acts, including murder, rape, scamming, robbery with aggravation, just to name a few. Picture letting go a beast to run amok…that is the scenario facing the society today.

Sometime ago, Dr Michael Coombs, founder of the National Association for the Family (NAF), at its launch, stated that “85 per cent of Jamaican children were born out of wedlock”, which was perhaps the highest in the world. He further noted that, “Research done in the United States and here in the Caribbean indicates that fatherless children are 11 times more likely to display violent behaviour, nine times more likely to run away from home, twice as likely to drop out of school, nine times more likely to become gang members, and more than twice as likely to experience teen pregnancies.”

This is a most apt description of what is happening in this troubled paradise called Jamaica, a situation that has been further aggravated by the novel coronavirus pandemic and has led to a great deal of displacement, truancy and breakdown in family life.

Perhaps influenced by the slavery experience, common-law relationships have become the norm in Jamaica, with monogamy being the exception rather than the rule. In this vein, many women end up having several children for various men who, in most instances, end up being absentee fathers. As a result, there are thousands of fatherless children out there who only grow up knowing their mothers, and in the particular case of boys, the lack of a strong male influence has helped to create wayward, heartless leggo beasts.

Against this background, there are frequently two factors at play: the curious issue of the “jacket” phenomenon and rampant homophobia.

Recently, St James Central Member of Parliament Heroy Clarke raised eyebrows when he proposed that mandatory DNA testing may be the solution to the age-old jacket problem that has led to many cases of domestic abuse, breakup of family units, and the proliferation of delinquent fathers who feel humiliated and betrayed by their spouses.

One company that provides DNA testing disclosed not so long ago that, in 70 per cent of their tests, the men who were named as fathers had nothing to do with the paternity of the children. Talk about “shame and scandal in the family”.

While this is but a microscopic view of the problem, it is safe to say that there are too many unwanted children in the Jamaican society and this is undoubtedly one of the driving forces behind the high levels of crime and violence in the country. In other words, there are too many leggo beasts out there.

With respect to the latter issue of homophobia, many Jamaican fathers tend to have an estranged relationship with their sons because they feel that getting too close to them may bring into sharp focus the question of being gay. Indeed, they are afraid to hug their sons and tell them that they love them.

I recall some years ago when a young man, who had become a seasoned criminal and was eventually charged with murder, bemoaned the fact that his father, whom he saw very little of, never ever told him that he loved him or displayed any expressions of really caring for him. Of course, one of the many reasons which was proffered was he was too “brown and good looking”, while the suspicious father declared, “Mi black and ugly.” And there are many such cases out there where pigmentation and physical features, such as straight versus broad nose, the colour of the eyes, and hair texture play a pivotal role in determining paternity.

Against this backdrop, much turmoil pervades the Jamaican landscape when it comes to parenthood and parenting.

Needless to say, for decades the argument has been posited that the root cause of many of this nation’s problems is the breakdown in family life. Yes, many attempts have been made to deal with this ongoing challenge, but this writer is advancing the case for there to be, at the governmental level, a Ministry of Family Affairs that would seek to tackle this issue, which should be treated as a national crisis of tremendous proportions.

As far-fetched as this may sound, in the final analysis, if we are not able to tackle this “epidemic” then, socially and even economically, Jamaica will continue to be, when all is said and done, a lost cause.

This Sunday, May 8 will provide a stark reminder of how marginalised our fathers are in comparison to the overwhelming degree of love, affection, and adoration as well as attention that mothers receive, unlike Father’s Day which oftentimes comes and goes with a whimper.

It is no secret that our young men, many of whom have very little attachment to their fathers — if they know them or know of them — usually speak glowingly of their mothers who, in real terms, have also “fathered them”. Just look at the many songs/lyrics that are to be found in the dancehall culture, which represents much of what we know is Jamaica, that “big up” mama as against those in praise of poppa.

One other contributor to the number of unwanted children, many of whom eventually become leggo beasts, is the unfortunate scenario of “babes getting babes”. One of the villains in this piece is the predatory stepfather who impregnates his stepdaughter, a most frequent occurrence, especially in the lower socio-economic stratum of the society.

What is even more disturbing is that some mothers, because of economic reasons or just blind love, condone or hide this ugly secret so such a baby is born into this putrid environment and, yes, is likely to become in later life a leggo beast.

Then there is that ill-advised practice of “tie the heifer and let go the bull”. In other words, girls are tethered and domesticated, but the boys are allowed to become, in real terms, leggo beasts.

Let’s face it, the time has come to harness this problem before most of us become victims of this raging monster, bearing in mind that the majority of Jamaicans who are killing or are being killed are, in essence, the victims of the leggo beast phenomenon.

Lloyd B Smith has been involved full-time in Jamaican media for the past 45 years. He has also served as a Member of Parliament and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. He hails from western Jamaica where he is popularly known as the Governor. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or lbsmith4@gmail.com.