I have often wondered why it is so difficult to get meaningful changes in my
homeland, Jamaica...how did we get to a place where taxi and robot taxi
drivers recklessly ply their trade across the nation with impunity...we blame
the police for not doing enough but then the police complain about lack of
resources...on and on it goes... We elect governments to look after our lives
and fundamental to that is our safety and security. In this pandemic, the
Andrew Holness administration has done a better than average job of alerting
and educating the population about the dreaded covid19 virus. To be fair, both
PM Holness and the Health & Wellness minister Christopher Tufton have
repeatedly said that they would do their best to delay the onslaught of the
virus. They also said we should prepare for an eventual outbreak. Well, that
outbreak is finally here...based on the timeline it would appear that the
spike started approximately two weeks after our Emancipation and Independence
day celebrations. For reasons best known to the administration, the
restrictions were relaxed over those two holidays and while many were asking
why, no real reason was given. Of course, close on the heels of that week, the
general elections were announced. Unlike many of the detractors of the Andrew
Holness led government, I am not about to blame the outbreak on the lead up to
the elections although there may be some of that. Again, we were always
being warned that a spike was imminent and that things would get worse. In
fact, the virus is resurging in almost every country that was
previously affected. This virus is new and even with the best efforts of the
scientists; a full understanding is still some ways off. There are however
some things that we know and one of those is how the virus spreads...it has
been long established that transmission is primarily from human to
human...that is an established fact. Physical distancing, sanitizing of the
hands and the wearing of a mask are the three steps to minimizing the spread
of the virus and given the fact that one can be a carrier without knowing, it
should be fairly easy to understand the efficacy of following these simple
protocols. Perhaps this is too simple for our people to understand and so the authorities set out to create awareness among this well connected population
that have become social media demigods. Through daily press briefings
utilizing both mainstream and social media, we are constantly reminded to wear
a mask in public, wash or sanitize hands and stay six feet apart if you have
to be in a crowded space. As far as we know, a significant part of the
population have complied but like anything else, there are those who refuse
to comply out of sheer ignorance or some sort of defiance. These people are
referred to locally as
weak fence in the fight to contain the virus and
prevent community spread. In order to minimize or control these people,
special measures have been adopted including nightly curfews. A special Act
was also passed in our Parliament to make it an offence to be in the public
space without adhering to these restrictions but for some reason, the refusal
to comply continues. The PM who has been given high marks along with the
Health and Wellness minister and his team is once again being looked to for
further steps to enforce and even deepen the sanctions but in a lengthy press
briefing earlier this week, he seemed to have danced around that idea. In fact, as
the spread of the virus increases exponentially and the number of deaths more
than quadruple in a matter of days, there were no new measures put forward by
the PM. Instead, there is talk about loosening the restrictions for people
travelling to Jamaica from overseas. Many are now questioning the reasoning of
the administration and coming on the heels of a just concluded general
election where they garnered a massive majority in the House of
Representatives, it was believed by many including myself, that more stringent measures would have been introduced. This however was not communicated in any form by
the PM and many are asking why. It has since been brought to light that the
legislation on which the Disaster Risk Management Act has be crafted is over
sixty years old and does not provide adequately the tools needed for stricter
sanctions. Members of the Bar Association have been encouraging the government
to strengthen the laws which will give the police a better shot at prosecuting
offenders. If we are to curtail this virus spread in any meaningful way this
must be done without delay. The Act in its current form apparently does not
sufficiently address the current pandemic and needs to be modified or amended
to reflect today’s realities. To be totally frank, I listened to the Prime
Minister’s press briefing on Tuesday and I was somewhat taken aback by his
opening remarks. He started out by saying that Jamaica is a Liberal Democratic
country and as such, certain measures taken in other jurisdictions may not
apply to Jamaica. I recall that one of the countries being referenced in that
pronouncement was Taiwan. Both the tone and tenure of that statement gave me
cause to worry as it seems to be sending a message that as far as the
enforcement of law and order goes, we are constrained because of our culture.
If this is indeed what the Prime Minister was saying then I have to
respectfully disagree with him and by the tone of the telephone calls to
Nationwide on the midmorning program the following day, it was apparent that I
had company. Many callers who expressed support for the administration
lamented and expressed disappointment in the PM’s seemingly laid back attitude
to the enforcement of the Disaster Risk Management Act.
Later that same day, the director of communication for the Jamaica Constabulary Force explained to Cliff Hughes online that the law did not give them the authority to arrest of prosecute for the mere act of not wearing a mask or the gathering of people beyond the prescribed numbers circulated by the government. The offenders have to be first warned or instructed and only if there is a refusal to comply with a lawful police order they can be arrested or prosecuted. The problem with that is the fact that those who seem unwilling or in defiance of those protocols can be infecting others thus causing an even wider spread of the virus. It would seem reasonable to me to quickly have the law amended to allow for prosecution for the failure to wear a mask or the insistence of gathering in large numbers against the prescribed protocols. If we are to take control of the spread of this deadly virus, the government must move quickly to make the requisite amendments to the Act and call upon those charged with the security and safety of our people to enforce the law without fear or favour. Make the penalty for first time offenders painful and as for those repeat offenders, the pain should be excruciating...then and only then will they start to recognize that their right to be stupid or defiant is not more than the rights of the people who are trying hard to comply and are being constantly put at risk. Every infected person can, with or without knowing it, cause the infection and subsequent demise of several others. Over to you Mr. PM.
