Members of the House of Representatives voted by nearly 2-1 in favour of retaining the death penalty at Gordon House yesterday, setting off loud cheers from pro-death penalty MPs and mixed response on the streets of Kingston, including from rights advocate Dr Carolyn Gomes who described the result as a backward step.

The House was asked to vote on the following motion moved by Prime Minister Bruce Golding two weeks ago:

‘Be it resolved that this Honourable House : (a) affirms its support for the retention of the death penalty as specified in the Offences Against the Person Act; (b) declares its support for the removal of the death penalty as specified in the Offences Against the Person Act.’

Two separate votes were taken, on (a) and (b) respectively, requiring an “aye” or a “nay” from each member present as his/her name was called.

On (a), 34 members voted “aye”, 15 voted “nay”. There were eight absentees.

Right after the vote, Government MPs Mike Henry and Othneil Lawrence entered and sided with the “hawks” increasing the victory margin for them on (b) to 36 against, 15 in favour and 8 absentees.

Prime Minister Golding ran with the “hawks” on both occasions. Leader of the Opposition, Portia Simpson Miller was absent. Opposition MP Anthony Hylton (West St Andrew) entered the chamber immediately after the final results were announced.

Gomes, the executive director of human rights group Jamaicans For Justice, said the vote was a distraction from the real work needed to fix the nation’s crime problem.

“We are deeply disappointed and very unhappy that it [went] this way. It is really a distraction from the real work that needs to be done,” Gomes told the Observer, her voice traced with a tinge of sadness.

According to Gomes, the “real work” to be done to ease the crime burden on the society is the reforming of the justice system, “fixing of the police force”, increasing the probability of apprehending criminals and the wide-scale implementing of social intervention programmes.

“I’m very sad. It’s a backward step,” she said.

Yesterday, on the streets of the capital, some Jamaicans supported the decision, saying it was time to send a strong m

essage to criminals, while others said they opposed it because the justice system was imperfect.

The 15 MPs who wanted the death penalty removed were: Peter Bunting, Marisa Dalrymple-Phillibert, Dr D K Duncan, Andrew Gallimore, Olivia Grange, Maxine Henry-Wilson, Andrew Holness, Fitz Jackson, Gregory Mair, Dr Wykeham McNeill, Phillip Paulwell, Dr Peter Phillips, Dr Donald Rhodd, Ronald Thwaites and Everald Warmington.

The eight MPs who were absent for the vote were: Simpson Miller, Dr Horace Chang, Dr Omar Davies, Sharon Hay-Webster, Hylton, Derrick Smith, Noel Arscott, and Kern Spencer.

The Clerk confirmed that Chang, Arscott, Davies and Hay-Webster were abroad. Smith is recuperating from recent surgery. Spencer, who rarely attends Parliament since the Cuban light bulb issue, actually informed the House that he would be absent yesterday.

The issue will now move to the floor of the Senate, where a debate is not necessary, since there is no need to change the law, but is to be included since it was a recommendation of the Joint Select Committee which reviewed the Charter of Rights.

However, the removal of the five-year stricture on carrying out the death penalty, which was imposed by the Privy Council in England in 1993 and which is expected to be tabled in the House soon, will need a two-thirds majority in both Houses.

– Additional reporting by Paul Henry