Dear Editor,

This is an open letter to the prime minister:

I cannot sit by and not add my thoughts on the current situation – not when my students now dance in fear. I am angry, confused, hurt and sad, in particular for my teenagers who are on edge, and these are children with no immediate connection to Tivoli Gardens.

I greeted my old friend who has been guiding the Tivoli Dance Company, and with tears in her eyes she unveiled the trauma her dancers are now experiencing in the middle of their National JCDC Competition and the sitting of their CXC and GCSE exams. They have become victims of what is evidently political mismanagement. I wonder how well these Tivoli students who have been re-routed to sit exams in an unfamiliar space will perform on their test papers. Those who have been traumatised by the mayhem (causing some not to sit their exams) should they fail, will they become victims with no recourse? It is simply naïve of me to question these things, but hey, I am not receiving support text messages about you on my mobile, Mr Prime Minister. I receive text messages in support of a “new president”. So I wonder whether you or the new president will be considering these youngsters – youngsters who are looking to you for the right support.

The Tivoli Dance Company has done wonders for many children in that community. But they have not been able to meet for rehearsals since this saga and the news has it that mobile phones are being confiscated, so communication is censored. Apparently one of the dancers became concerned about the dance group’s reputation!

Well, the leader of Tivoli certainly shows who is man of the house. Mr Golding, you have said you are a servant of the people. Tivoli is your constituency, and we have elected you as our prime minister; can you clean up the blockades, fix the problem or call a new election? I have a lot of respect for the JLP – I am not lying – but this is a very “wishy-washy” situation we are in.

I want to dance and see our children dance. Even when we are hungry and thirsty and can’t pay our rent, or seem to survive, we dance and this is what we live for.

The children of Tivoli, whether they are dancers or not, don’t all sell weed in Coronation Market or peddle counterfeit money for gold in Half Way Tree, Cross Roads and downtown Kingston. They meet regularly to play and continue certain traditions of our foreparents, and your current “bamboozle” is interrupting this. I plead to you, PM. You say you are sorry, now I ask you to take some positive action, not some publicity reaction.

Kofi Walker

kofi123@yahoo.com