Senior accuses Jamaica’s politicians, state police

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At 82, Noel Wallace has fond memories of a nicer, gentler and much more peaceful Jamaica.

Wallace remembers walking from his backyard, on Steven Lane in Rae Town, to The Student’s Union on the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies to watch a dance, then returning home in the wee hours of the morning without fear. .

“I used to walk anytime, and I’m never afraid of a gunman, even if the gun has had its day. Sunday evening, Monday evening, Tuesday evening, almost every evening we danced and the man with the peanuts survives, the man at the door survives, the man with the ganja survives and the weather has gone well, ”said the former party organizer at the Jamaica Observer.

“It happened as if we had backed down, and I blame the politicians and the police,” said the father of four.

He argued that the police are to blame because their actions have caused dozens of Jamaicans who refuse to share information with them not to trust them, while politicians have fueled gun violence in the name of the party politics.

Jamaica’s magnification began in the 1960s following the destruction of some homes in the West Kingston slum known as the Back-O-Wall, Wallace said.

“Di man dem who did a Back-O-Wall started to change after that. They were all friends and were playing parapinto in Back-O-Wall ’round Coronation Market, but then both sides change, ”Wallace said.

He said that with this change, some politicians began to arm their supporters and use violence to achieve their personal goals.

“I got caught up in politics too, but I used common sense. Dem come for me and mi tell them mi nuh ready again. I was a man-band so I was never part of a gang or demting deh, although I sit down with all the bad man dem, ”added Wallace, who spent 34 years working with the Department of Public Works (PWD).

Wallace said his studies came to an end when he left Holy Family Elementary School and joined the PWD shortly thereafter, where he began as a helper before learning the trade and being promoted. as a heavy-duty mechanic.

“I repaired tractors, bulldozers and power rollers and traveled the roads of Jamaica to repair. This time the roads were well done because we were using rollers on them; now the roads not being done properly because dem using vibrators while we were using rollers.

“The vibrators go by too fast on the road and therefore don’t compress them, but the roller compresses the road and lets them withstand anything to make it last a long time,” said Wallace, who uses his bike to ride the roads in his community. Standpipe.

The cheerful old man told the Observer that one of his main concerns now is the behavior of young Jamaicans.

“Dem youth yah no tek no talk. They think they know more than you do, so you talk to them. You can’t tell them nothing and [yet] they want to tell you, ”Wallace said, urging young Jamaicans to take advantage of the educational opportunities that are now available.

“A good education is the number one way out of poverty. Without a good education, you will always be backward, ”Wallace said.

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