Prime Minister Bruce Golding may be correct on the literal truth of his statement. In his 40 years of attending Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) conferences - including the years he was outside the party - there had been no incident like what occurred at the National Arena on Sunday.

One man was shot and killed in a closed area behind the stage where Mr Golding and other senior party members were seated and from which the finance minister, Audley Shaw, was addressing the packed arena.

Outside, two other persons were shot. So, by the time Mr Golding spoke, it was to a largely depleted crowd, with many panicked JLP supporters having beaten an early and hasty retreat from the arena.

Conflicting reports

There are conflicting accounts of who did the shootings, although the police have denied that it was their officers who were responsible for the homicide inside the arena.

The public statements of JLP officials, however, appear to accept that persons with guns, who were not security officers, sought access to a secure area of the National Arena and were involved in an altercation when denied.

The scale of Sunday's problem might have been unprecedented, but if Mr Golding reflects on it, he is likely to conclude that it is small wonder that there had never before been similar incidents at party conferences or at similar political gatherings. Over the years, there have been nasty skirmishes on or near the periphery of these events.

This is not a matter that concerns only the JLP. The Opposition People's National Party (PNP) has faced its own turbulence at political gatherings. These two main political parties, as this newspaper has so often lamented, have failed to display the requisite leadership and have come to reflect much of, if not, be dominated by, the base values that are threatening to fully ensnare the society.

Divisive politics

Indeed, they played the critical role in the evolution of divisive politics and the creation of zones of political hegemony, the garrisons, which were maintained by hard men, who reinforced their persuasion with the authority of the gun.

There is no small link, no matter how diminished, between this kind of politics and criminal violence in Jamaica, underpinned by the glorification of the gun.

Jamaican political leaders have talked loudly about a break from the past. Transformation, though, requires investment in a possible diminution of authority and empowerment of people, which leaders have been afraid to make.

Hopefully, Sunday's event really, at last, signals a tipping point, and Mr Golding means it when he says that there is 'house-cleaning' to be done.

We look forward to him turning his face against the men of violence and the corrupt in or on the periphery of the party and telling them, squarely, that they have to go.

He ought not hide behind a rampart of legalisms, aimed at not getting anything done.

But the message is not only for Mr Golding. Portia Simpson Miller of the People's National Party must also move her promise of reform from mere rhetoric to concrete action.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.