Kraal residents: We have been abandoned

The community of Kraal is most noted for the May 7, 2003 incident that saw four persons being fatally shot and killed by the Reneto Adams-led now-defunct Crime Management Unit (CMU).

For residents, it is a stigma they do not think they will be able to shake, making it seem impossible to get the amenities they need to make life better for their young people as well as adults living in the community.

Washington’s travel ban and other sanctions, issued last week against Reneto Adams and five other members of the CMU, resurrected bitter memories for the residents of the rural district. The cops were acquitted in a high-profile case in December 2005.

Verol Smith, a Rastafarian in the community, said potable water and a good road would make life easier for them. He says the garbage truck cannot even make it into the community.

Garbage

“Wi a live wid garbage like rat and roach and people have to throw dem garbage inna di gully,” he said, adding that most times he has to gather and burn them in order for the community not to be overrun with it.

He also shared that a lot of the young men have been overlooked when it comes to securing farm work tickets, which would see them being able to help their family members.

Khadane Rowe told The Gleaner that as a young man, he can identify nothing that is productive in the community for other young persons like himself.

He says it seems as if the community has been abandoned by Government, with the only help coming from those from the community who migrated.

“Sometimes you have people who come back and help by hosting little treats, and I know at one point they were trying to build a little library,” he shared.

Member of Parliament for the Clarendon Northern Central constituency, Robert Nesta Morgan, admits that there is a lot of work to be done in the community as it relates to development.

“I have been member of parliament for three months, and it is one of the areas that I am very interested in assisting the people. We have a challenge in the constituency as it relates to young people and engagement in terms of skills training, employment and so forth,” Morgan admits.

Morgan said work will be done with HEART/NSTA Trust and other government agencies to find a way to assist those who want to go back to formal education.

However, he pointed out that those plans will take some time as the constituency has major challenges.

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