Forty years to the day after the imposition of a State of Emergency by the Jamaica Government, veteran parliamentarian Pearnel Charles remains peeved that he, among other detainees, has not been compensated by the State.

Charles, now 80, was detained without charge shortly after then Prime Minister Michael Manley announced a State of Emergency on June 19, 1976. It was during the heart of the bloody, fierce campaign for the General Election, which would be held in December of that year.

Charles, the sitting Member of Parliament for Clarendon North Central, and a Senator and Deputy Leader of then Opposition Jamaica Labour Party, spent 11 months in detention at Up Park Camp, the headquarters of the Jamaica Defence Force, for being a “threat to public safety” after it was alleged that he had tapes at his house, which were never found.

Among the other famous faces detained were JLP parliamentarian Olivia “Babsy” Grange, businessman Pat Stephens, who was also a JLP activist, and People’s National Party activist George Phang.

Charles later wrote the book Detained, which chronicled his stay at the army facility.

Charles, then a Senator, was the declared candidate to represent the JLP in the St Andrew South West constituency, against the PNP’s Portia Simpson Miller, who would not only go on to become Prime Minister, but MP for the area from 1976 to 1983, and again from 1989 to present.

Charles had sued the State, and a recommendation for a $10-million out -of-court compensation was made by Public Defender Howard Hamilton on Charles’ behalf more than a decade ago, but that was rejected by then Solicitor General Patrick Hylton. The claim was made after two other detainees, one of them Stephens, were awarded damages by the State.

Charles had also requested an apology from the State.

Now, the Speaker of the House of Representatives remains hopeful that the Administration of which he is a member, will address the long, drawn-out issue.

“For 30 years I have been seeking compensation from the last four Governments, both PNP and JLP. The matter has been put before attorneys general under both administrations and I have since advised the current attorney general that I wish to have the matter settled,” Charles told the Jamaica Observer in an interview at his St Andrew home last week.

“The last four governments have not replied to me. I hope this one does. Many of those who suffered under detention have since died without any form of compensation for the wrong committed by the State,” Charles went on.

Before Manley announced the State of Emergency, he claimed that the JLP had been working in tandem with the United States Central Intelligence Agency, a claim that was flatly denied by then JLP Leader Edward Seaga, and other operatives of the party.

Seaga described the State of Emergency as a “corrupt use of power” by the PNP Administration to fulfil its political objectives.

The State of Emergency lasted for 351 days, ending on June 6, 1977 and security forces detained 593 people during the period.

At the time, Manley justified it by saying that the decision to impose the State of Emergency was taken by Cabinet, upon the recommendation of heads of the security forces – Basil Robinson the Commissioner of Police, and Major General Rudolph Green, Chief of Staff of the Jamaica Defence Force.

Manley said that Charles was detained not because he, Manley, disliked the JLP Deputy Leader, but based on information from the security forces. Manley claimed that Charles’s house was searched and tape recordings of radio transmissions and police chasing gunmen were found.

However, Herman Ricketts, who later became Commissioner of Police, wrote to Charles on November 4, 1987, in response to a letter from Charles eight months before that, in which the previously detained Charles sought clarification on the allegations.

“I refer to your letter dated 13th March, 1987 requesting the production of tapes and evidence of an alleged attempt by you to overthrow the Government, among other allegations,” Ricketts responded.

“I am to inform you that I am unable to trace any record that any such tape was found in your possession or under your control. I am also unable to trace any record that any such tapes were found whatsoever at all by the police.

“The only record on file concerning the tapes in question is a report published in the Daily Gleaner of 30th June, 1986, about the allegations.

“In the circumstances, I am to inform you that the police has no knowledge of tapes in question, nor the existence or contents of such tapes,” Ricketts wrote.

Manley suggested to Charles at a meeting in Trelawny in 1987 that he “tell what those tape recordings were doing in your home and when you have answered that, complain about the State of Emergency,” in defending his action as Prime Minister.

“If you can’t answer that, my advice to you is to shut up your mouth and think yourself lucky,” Manley told Charles, adding that when the State of Emergency was declared “some people were shooting up the place like a shooting gallery, guns were firing morning, noon and night, people were dying and tourists were deliberately, calculatedly and viciously being frightened away.”

Manley told Parliament on June 29, 1976 that the security forces had found two tapes “with recordings of excellent quality of the secret transmissions of the security forces when engaged in joint operations”.

Manley described one of the tapes as “a recording of one of all transmissions of the police and military on the night of May 14 (1976) in the Payne Avenue (South West St Andrew) area.

When Charles was detained, he was the declared JLP candidate to contest the constituency of St Andrew South West, now represented by Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller.

It was a seat that was previously dominated by the JLP, with DC Tavares (after whom Tavares Gardens, also known as Payne Land, is named) being the prominent representative, winning in 1959, 1962 and 1967. Wilton Hill made it 4-0 for the JLP after the February 1968 by-election that resulted from the sudden death of Tavares from a massive heart attack, after he lost the race by two votes to Hugh Shearer to replace Sir Donald Sangster as Prime Minister, following Sangster’s death in 1967. Hill retained the seat in 1972.

However, the then Portia Simpson graduated from a stint as Councillor in the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation, to upset the odds and secure the seat for the PNP for the first time since its formation in 1959.

With Charles out of the way, she beat the JLP’s Joe McPherson, later to head the Bustamante Institute of Public Affairs, and won the seat again in 1980. However, the PNP’s decision not to contest the snap election of 1983 postponed Simpson’s continued dominance, which was reinstated in the 1989 General Election when she won handsomely again. She has maintained the seat in every election since. Chris Rose was the JLP’s representative from 1983 to 1989.

Political analysts had also argued that the decision to impose the State of Emergency after mid-June was influenced by some infamous violent occurrences, among them the Orange Lane fire in the constituency of South St Andrew a month earlier on May 19, in which over 11 persons died and 500 were displaced.

Four years later, the bloodletting continued as preparations rose for the 1980 General Election.

Police records show that 844 people were killed during that messy campaign, the bloodiest on record. The highest percentage of murders occurred in the constituency of West Central St Andrew, now held by Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

At the time, there were several bizarre clashes involving men loyal to incumbent MP Carl “Russian” Thompson, and Ferdinand Yap Sam, who eventually won the seat in the October 30 poll.