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PNP wants Crime Bills amended before giving support

BY ALICIA DUNKLEY Observer staff reporter dunkleya@jamaicaobserver.com

Thursday, May 13, 2010

PETER Bunting says the Opposition People's National Party is not responsible for the current stalemate over the six crime Bills which are yet to be passed into law, even as Jamaica grapples with a spiralling crime rate.

The six crime Bills -- an Act to amend the Bail Act; an Act to further amend the Firearms Act; an Act to amend the Offences Against the Person Act; an Act to amend the Parole Act; an Act to make interim provision in relation to the grant of bail in specified circumstances; and an Act to make interim provision extending the powers of arrest and detention under Sections 50B and 50F of the Constabulary Force Act -- were put before a Joint Select Committee of Parliament in 2008. However, when the committee completed its deliberations after receiving submissions from a number of stakeholders and other members of the society four months later there is still to be consensus on the measures.

In March, Attorney General and Justice Minister Senator Dorothy Lightbourne said the Bills, which were lacking in some respects, were being redrafted. The administration has also said the lack of co-operation by the Opposition was responsible for the delay in their passage.

Making his contribution to the 2010/11 Sectoral Debate at Gordon House in Kingston yesterday, Bunting said the Opposition has consistently co-operated with the Government in the area of national security since September 2007 when the new administration took office.

"The Opposition agreed in principle at the Vale Royal Talks that some broad legislative measures were necessary to assist law enforcement. However, the actual legislation that was subsequently developed by the Government was presented to Parliament without input from the Opposition," said Bunting, spokesman on national security.

"It became clear that there were some specific and extreme features in the Bills, such as an absolute prohibition on bail for 60 days for a wide variety of offences and long mandatory minimum sentences, with no provision whatsoever for the Court to have any discretion on those matters... was manifestly inappropriate and oppressive," he continued.

According to Bunting, those provisions would deny citizens of even minimal judicial protection from abuses of power by State agents.

"The Opposition considered this unacceptable, especially in the Jamaican context where such abuses are prevalent," he said. He said, too, that two of the Bills were being passed by a procedure which would prevent the Court from considering whether those Bills were compatible with the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.

He said concerns expressed by Opposition members on the Joint Select Committee, and representatives from various NGOs about these aspects of the Bills were ignored.

"It is for this reason that the Opposition would not endorse the six Crime Bills without adjustments to cure the specific points of concern that arose from the review.

"If the Government was more focused on tackling crime, it would have engaged in dialogue to cure the offending provisions in the Bills, consensus would have prevailed, and the Bills would now be law," Bunting said.

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COMMENTS (13)

howie J
5/16/2010

I was driving from the shipping wharf in Kingston on my way to Franklyn Town when I happened upon Tivoli 2001. What I heard and saw on the news made me believe then as now that the police was not politically motivated in their attempt to enter Tivoli gardens. First of all, the news media in Jamaica could not carry the full stories, even though they had captured many events from Jungle, Rose town and Tivoli. Tivoli Gardens 2001 was about drugs and guns, not politics. Politics came into the mix when journalists and JLP opposition members tried to get Adams and his men to leave Tivoli. The police was offered safe escort out of Tivoli Gardens.
What you don’t hear is the cellular phone communications which was going on between Tivoli Gardens and men in Franklyn Town. One guy from Tivoli talked about the new guns and confirmed that they were defending Tivoli Gardens.
For all of those failed attempts by the PNP government to enter Tivoli gardens and we hear about the innocence of Tivoli are we to belief that Dudus just got involved in drugs and guns since Bruce came into office?

Wilfred Gray
5/13/2010

the onl ycrime bill, needed, is hang those `convicted murderers` high, aka, Clint Eastwood,`HANG `EM HIGH` IS WHAT HAVE BEEN IN ABSENTIA!

Fedup System
5/13/2010

This is the purpose of Opposition parties. All they do is OPPOSE!! Is the PNP member not Jamaicans? Do they live in the same Jamaica we do? Do they see the bloodshed we see daily?
I guess they will see the Jamaica we live in when the guns are turned against them. We need stronger and more stringent laws. We need proper enforcement. We need the sub-officers and officer of the constabulary force to provide effective leadership and supervision.
We need all Jamaicans who are not members of a political party to rally for a better Jamaica. I Jamaicans who are not members of a political party because all the members of political parties do is look for themselves and their own agenda. It is high time we realize this.
Have we ever stopped to look and wonder where all the wealth politicians have when their party is in power? Some never even own a home and when voted out they own several? Have we ever matched up their salaries to material possession? If we did then you will see what I see.

Steve Miller
5/13/2010

We the people must get up and RIOT. every other Country in God's World refuse to take corruption, murder and liars and thiefs any longer.!! Look at Thailand, Greece, the UK. What are we doing. Calling into radio talk shows, posting comments on this newspaper's site??
Burn them out, both of them, jlp and pnp. Hang them up by their balls!!!

Steve Miller
5/13/2010

"Sitting in your church on Sunday
Thinking who you gonna screw Monday
Who you gonna thief, who you gonna rob
Take it that me tell you
Say, you can't fool God, no..
Everyday you bawl out Jah Jah (JAH JAH)
Call yourself a dreadlocks Rasta
Terrorize the people pon your lane
cause I saw you get wicked
when you lick the coke
By his deeds shall a man be known
Man a ask you for a piece of bread you give him stone
By his deeds shall a man be known
Natty off your head and worship babylon thrown
By his deeds shall a man be known
Straighten up your livity and don't bawl down
By his deeds shall a man be known"
God is not fooled. He will expose those deceitful hypocrites. His Judgment is on them.! The blood of the innocent murdered children are their hands.

Claude Ingram
5/13/2010

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everybody in Jamaica could vote for whichever party they choose without ending up in a gully with a bullet in the head? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Jamaicans and foreign visitors could walk the streets safely anywhere in Jamaica day or night without fear of being robbed and killed? Wouldn’t be wonderful if the tourists could walk amongst us and spend with us instead of hiding in their luxurious prisons in some make believe Jamaica? And don’t you want to go back to the days when you could go anywhere “sidung inna” any bar and play two domino without drive by shootings and butchering, or man telling you which area “yu kyan go fi” which one “yu kyaan go” We want Jamaica back. We want good governance. We want the honourable men and women with integrity in or parliament to “stap de ray ray” and fix Jamaica. NOW!

John John
5/13/2010

bruce - so you wanted to play with the big boys? Welcome to the big boys club.
It is no coincidence that the U.S. is releasing damning information in a piece meal fashion. He is at the mercy of what the U.S. already know but have not yet revealed.
A good lawyer never asks a question that he does not already know the answer to.
I remember sitting in a car with fellow co-workers and watching a guy who claims to have quit smoking taking a puff from behind a building.
I didn't like that guy.
When I returned to the office, I asked him in front of everybody, how is his quit smoking efforts going?
He replied, "I have not touched a cigarette in 4 months". Everybody bust out laughing.
So I asked him, "are you sure". He swore up and down and took up a picture of his beautiful daughter and swore on her life that he has never touched a cigarette in months.
Everyone got serious. How dare he swear on his daughter'S life to a lie.
He quit the next day.

John John
5/13/2010

Crime bill?
What a la la.
Are there exemptions to the crime bill? You know, where certain individuals are untouchable?
Jamaica does NOT need a crime bill.
Jamaica needs to start arresting KNOWN criminals and those who protect them.
Thats like setting a 55 mph speed limit for all Jamaica except the privileged few who can drive 100 mph.
I would rather do away with the speed limit period.
Lets all just crash together and die together.
To the PNP. Please focus your efforts on removing KNOWN criminals from our midst.
Please focus your efforts on forcing those who are in bed with KNOWN criminals to turn them in.
If you are not enforcing the current laws its just an illusion to keep writing new laws.
If a known criminal cannot be brought to justice, then quit with the amendments and start anew from scratch.

S D
5/13/2010

Technically Bruce did not lie about the role of the Government with the hiring of American law firm, he just failed to tell the whole truth the first time around.
Amid, mounting criticisms especially from PNP supporters. I would rather have a new government that's non-JLP and non-PNP. As I see it, PNP had numerous years in power and failed all the same, they are best used in Opposition.

bless williams
5/13/2010

idiot against idiot what a thing

Kweli Simba
5/13/2010

The opposition by its own confessions is culpable for its role in holding up the crime bills. This talk about denying citizens of judicial protection is a farce. As it is right now people have no protection from criminals and the opposition is concerned about the rights of criminals. The criminals are the only ones who will be affected by these kind of changes in the law. In the US the Patriot Acthave relieved us of many basic rights due to the potentials of terrorism. Jamaicans will be willing to give up something in order to have sanity and a safer society. Desperate situations requires these measures. Please PNP and JLP stop the pussyfooting around and get to the business of the people. Mandatory sentencing is a way of life in many countries today. Jamaica could do with mandatory sentencing, easing the pressures on the court systems. This not a time to campaign get the job done and stop the politization and polarization of the society. Pass the crime bills now.

Anthony II
5/13/2010

You two tribes, jlp and pnp (lower case letters deliberate), mean us no good. You do not have the interest of the Jamaican people at heart. And we Jamaicans, by our apathy and constant stupor, have colluded with you in your efforts to dupe us. We all are as guilty as you, for we have never demanded much of you.
.
We have accepted your poor leadership over all these years. We have accepted the "ghettarrisons" that you create and maintain, so that you can have power. (All these ghetto people in these garrisons, what have your reps done for you lately? And you others, existence of garrisons affect you eventually regardless of where you live). We have accepted your poor performance on matters such as crime and education. We have accepted the poor quality of the education doled out to some of us, which ensures that we lack the capacity to think, to be proactive, to hold you two tribes to any standards. We are as guilty as you are for the sorry state in which our country finds itself.

Jay Brown
5/13/2010

Get cracking with this bill.
I have however lost confidence in the ability of the JLP to do a job job, considering the close link between itself and criminals.I hope something in the bill allows for politicians to be locked up when they associate with thugs.

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