Jamaica is on fire and our leaders are busy rearranging the furniture. The act of vandalising and burning vehicles in Portmore and the reported half-hearted response of the police are cause for great concern.

The reports about our missing children are sending chills up the spines of many decent, family-loving Jamaicans. We fear for our children. In the midst of a nation steeped in aggression and bellige-rence, we continue to argue about the merit of music entertainers whose lyrics are lewd, violent and crass. Imagine people getting uptight about banning sound systems from public transportation!

There is need for action now! For any action to succeed and have sustainable impact, there is need for courageous, selfless leadership of the highest integrity. This leadership must come from the Church, civil society and the political directorate.

church mission

The Church is busy seeking to preserve its own traditions and appears to be caught in a deep slumber while 'Rome burns'. The word to church leaders and members like me is, "Awake Zion, awake!" Our mission as a church is to live and declare the gospel of Jesus Christ and to wrestle against principalities and powers that seek to dehumanise and destroy our nation. Have we as a church been side-tracked from our mission? Have we become caught up in entertainment and a gospel of ease and comfort?

The last few days have been very frustrating for me as a Jamaican. The source of my frustration is the seeming inability of our political leadership to make the necessary strategic moves that could possibly move us further along the path of restoring law and order to this country. Our leadership is either incompetent, fearful or corrupt. Simple legislation that Parliament needs to enact to give greater support to the security forces and the judiciary is languishing in 'never-never land' while our leaders philosophise about our cultural and social decline.

mammoth task

I sympathise with the director of public prosecutions and the acting commissioner of police as they struggle with the mammoth task of fighting crime and corruption in this country. We have complicated a simple extradition matter, leaving many Jamaicans to surmise that the Government is giving special protection to its allies.

There is a leadership vacuum that needs to be filled in this country. If the Church and civil society do not fill it fast, then the space will be occupied by the most undesirable of characters. It is time for action!

I am, etc.,

ROY NOTICE

rlinnotice@hotmail.com