Whose Right Is It Anyway

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.