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WELL-KNOWN social commentator and self-styled Christian social entrepreneur Dr Henley Morgan says there are thousands of 'child soldiers' in Jamaica — boys aged 10 to 14 years — who can be developed into "killing machines".
These boys, who hail from poor inner-city backgrounds, have little parental guidance and may have suffered the loss of family members are unsure about what is wrong from right. They can, therefore, be easily manipulated to carry out deadly criminal acts, Dr Morgan stated.
MORGAN... Jamaica lacks the expertise to transform communities dominated by crime lords.
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"There are about 27,000 to 32,000 of these young men in our country," he said Tuesday at the weekly meeting of Kiwanis Club of Kingston at the Wyndham Kingston hotel.
Dr Morgan also lashed politicians, whom he accused of fostering the growth and development of the criminal young men who eventually become powerful dons.
"I bet you never heard this from one of your politicians who say they love them, and hug them, and pet them, and grow them like pet tigers until they grow into ferocious dons who almost bring down governments and earn 23 years in penal institutions," an emotional Dr Morgan said.
His remark was in obvious reference to former Tivoli Gardens don Christopher 'Dudus' Coke who is now serving a 23-year sentence in a United States prison after pleading guilty to racketeering and conspiracy charges there.
Speaking with the Jamaica Observer after the meeting, Dr Morgan suggested that the people of inner-city communities controlled by dons suffer from a type of Stockholm syndrome — a psychological phenomenon in which victims of abuse become sympathetic towards their captors.
"You see, a situation in which a don has been arrested and people come out and demonstrate en masse — even though on the ground you will hear about (the don's) abuse, selfishness and so on — there is a psychological dependency that has developed and until you replace that with something else, things will not change," he said.
Dr Morgan, who relocated his business and church from New Kingston to the gritty inner-city community of Trench Town some years ago, noted that not much has changed in Tivoli Gardens since Coke's arrest two years ago, despite many promises of social interventions.
He said Jamaica lacks the expertise to transform communities dominated by crime lords.
"Not much has occurred physically, or for emotional healing or financially in Tivoli. One of the major challenges, and we have seen it in Payne Land and Majesty Gardens, is that to solve a huge problem it takes joined-up government," Dr Morgan said.
"Government agencies have to come together, but they are all locked in their mandates, locked in their budgets, and so you are left with a policing strategy and that will not solve the problem. The promises were well-intentioned, but Jamaica has tremendous
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz1xl9p3JYg
These boys, who hail from poor inner-city backgrounds, have little parental guidance and may have suffered the loss of family members are unsure about what is wrong from right. They can, therefore, be easily manipulated to carry out deadly criminal acts, Dr Morgan stated.
MORGAN... Jamaica lacks the expertise to transform communities dominated by crime lords.
1/1
"There are about 27,000 to 32,000 of these young men in our country," he said Tuesday at the weekly meeting of Kiwanis Club of Kingston at the Wyndham Kingston hotel.
Dr Morgan also lashed politicians, whom he accused of fostering the growth and development of the criminal young men who eventually become powerful dons.
"I bet you never heard this from one of your politicians who say they love them, and hug them, and pet them, and grow them like pet tigers until they grow into ferocious dons who almost bring down governments and earn 23 years in penal institutions," an emotional Dr Morgan said.
His remark was in obvious reference to former Tivoli Gardens don Christopher 'Dudus' Coke who is now serving a 23-year sentence in a United States prison after pleading guilty to racketeering and conspiracy charges there.
Speaking with the Jamaica Observer after the meeting, Dr Morgan suggested that the people of inner-city communities controlled by dons suffer from a type of Stockholm syndrome — a psychological phenomenon in which victims of abuse become sympathetic towards their captors.
"You see, a situation in which a don has been arrested and people come out and demonstrate en masse — even though on the ground you will hear about (the don's) abuse, selfishness and so on — there is a psychological dependency that has developed and until you replace that with something else, things will not change," he said.
Dr Morgan, who relocated his business and church from New Kingston to the gritty inner-city community of Trench Town some years ago, noted that not much has changed in Tivoli Gardens since Coke's arrest two years ago, despite many promises of social interventions.
He said Jamaica lacks the expertise to transform communities dominated by crime lords.
"Not much has occurred physically, or for emotional healing or financially in Tivoli. One of the major challenges, and we have seen it in Payne Land and Majesty Gardens, is that to solve a huge problem it takes joined-up government," Dr Morgan said.
"Government agencies have to come together, but they are all locked in their mandates, locked in their budgets, and so you are left with a policing strategy and that will not solve the problem. The promises were well-intentioned, but Jamaica has tremendous
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz1xl9p3JYg
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