PNP Members Have Put Jamaica “In Grave Danger” Says Senate Leader

President of the Jamaican Senate, Tom Tavares-Finson has accused some members of the People’s National Party of putting Jamaica “in grave danger” by voting against the extension of States of Emergency (SOE).

The seven SOEs were imposed in St. Andrew South, Kingston West, Kingston Central, and Kingston East in the Corporate Area, and St. James, Hanover, and Westmoreland on November 14.

After receiving support for the extension by the majority of members of parliament (with the exception of Mark Golding and Lothan Cousins), the motion moved to the Senate on November 25. The government needed a two-thirds majority vote, or the support of one Opposition Senator, for the declared SOE to remain in force.

But during a marathon sitting, only 13 members of the Senate voted in favor of the SOEs. The three opposition Senators who were present — Damion Crawford, Peter Bunting and Dr Floyd Morris — voted against extending the SOEs. Five Opposition senators were absent.

Following the vote, an irate Tavares-Finson, who rarely comments after debates, criticized the members of the Opposition and accused them of putting the country at the mercy of criminals.

“I, Tom Tavares-Finson, the president of this Senate, I’m calling on the head of the churches, I’m calling on civic organisations, I’m calling on the business community, the PSOJ, I’m calling on every sensible Jamaican to look at what has happened here today [Thursday], and listen to me as I finally say, two Members of Parliament…and three unelected members of this Senate have put this country in grave danger,” he lashed out.

The Senate leader also noted that none of whom had voted against the extension were representatives in the communities where the SOEs were imposed.

“Three unelected members of this House [Senate] have voted against this resolution. No account has been taken of the elected representatives from Hanover, St James and Westmoreland, all of whom supported the States of Emergency.,” he said.

Tavares-Finson also called on every Jamaican citizen and members of the diaspora to take note of the situation, “where five men voted against a resolution in a scenario where crime is making our citizens’ life a nightmare.” The prominent attorney also said that there needs to be a review of the provision that allows for members of the Senate to vote on the extension. The SOEs expired on November 27.

After major criticism in the Senate, leader of the Opposition Mark Golding defended his decision to vote against the extension. According to Golding, the emergency security measures that were previously used over three years, from 2017 to 2020, “did not achieve any lasting improvements in Jamaica’s national security situation”.

Golding suggested that the country has, instead, seen elevated levels of crime.

“Furthermore, it [the SOEs] has weakened, in my opinion, the crime-fighting and prosecutorial aspects of law enforcement, because it has inculcated in the security forces a culture that says, ‘We can just go and detain somebody and hold them without any recourse in the courts’,” the Golding charged.

On the other hand, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said he believes that the SOEs were working.

“It is not meant, and no one on this side has ever said that the SOE is the silver bullet. That’s not what we have been saying. The SOEs cannot replace conventional policing. This is a point on which we agree. The SOE, however, is a tool to attenuate the situation. To bring it to yield, to allow for conventional policing to work,” Holness told Parliament then.

Figures from the Jamaica Constabulary Force show that in the parishes of Westmoreland and St. James, murders decreased during the years when there was an SOE imposed.

Westmoreland recorded 148 murders in 2017 and 142 in 2018. In 2019 and 2020, when the SOEs were in place, murders dropped to 89 and 78 respectively. With no SOE in 2021, murders have already spiked to 111. Similarly, in the St. James division, murders dropped from 342 in 2017 to 102 in 2018, when an SOE was imposed.

Residents who live in areas where SOEs were imposed also echoed sentiments by Holness, saying that they feel safer with more police presence.

“I can tell you based on my experience only. There is no gun testing at nights, no gunman lingering on the corner, coming in from work is no longer a fear. You can also go to the shop and don’t fear man running in. There is a difference… For me that is. Everybody’s experience is different,” said Nakeisha, a resident of Kingston Central.

Fitsroy, a former resident of Westmoreland, also had a similar experience. “I use to live in Westmoreland in an area where SOE was for a time. Like my father was nearly killed going to work, a young man and his mother were murdered along with a guy and his one/two-year-old son. After the increased police presence things calmed,” he said.

Holness later commented on the issue again at the Jamaica Labour Party’s 78th-anniversary conference on Sunday, saying “I don’t know of any free and democratic society that has the murder rate we do. It is an emergency. I’m sorry the Opposition does not see it that way.”