By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement leader Michael Pintard said the government should have a conclave with gang leaders to figure out how to stop the bloodshed in the country.

He said many parliamentarians know the “street leaders” and those who wield “influence over a number of the persons who are wreaking havoc”.

He said: “Call a conclave with the senior fellas who run the streets, who lead these gangs who members of parliament know to find out: What is the conflict? Are there irreconcilable differences? How do we get peace on the streets? Have that conversation. For those who are unwilling to heed, let the full weight of the system deal with them, but don’t carry on as though we don’t know who is who, because we do.”

 Mr Pintard made the comment in an interview with Eyewitness News on Wednesday. He was criticising the Davis administration’s crime-fighting approach, arguing that Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis has made efforts abroad to curb gun trafficking to this country, but hasn’t done enough locally.

 Murders soared during the holiday season. Since December 22, 13 people have been murdered, including four in 2024.

 Elaborating on his view in an interview with The Tribune yesterday, Mr Pintard said business people, church leaders, and Junkanoo leaders are among those who could be involved in behind-the-scene meetings with leaders of the “informal” groups.

 “We need to put them in the room with some of the influential men and women who control that informal sector, control those persons who engage in any form of criminality that can result in acts of violence and to get to the bottom of what some of those conflicts are,” he said.

 He added that those in power always know who influential people are in those “informal” communities.

 “In the majority of constituencies, they know who is the most influential in this particular subdivision,” he said.

“Whether you’re in the south, running from South Beach to all the way to Golden Isles, whether you are in central, whether you are in the east, they know who is the most influential, and some of them are known by name. This is why you heard policymakers just recently saying that the person who died was like a brother or I know them well. I know the whole family. Of course they do.”

 “Of course we did, and therefore, as one of the options, we should seek to bring those persons into a room. Sometimes it is going to be many of them so that you can talk to all of them. Sometimes it’s going to be two particular factions; sometimes it’s going to be two individuals.”