Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA) President Richard Pandohie wants the Government to eradicate what appears to be a double standard in the enforcement of COVID-19 safety protocols across the island.

He made the call against the backdrop of public outrage at last week’s breach of the protocols at Mocha Fest in Negril and yesterday’s large crowd at the Tax Administration Jamaica office in Cross Roads, St Andrew.

“It is so crazy! What they do is enforce inside, like outside doesn’t exist. Enforcement has to be everywhere. You outside bundling up and then when you go inside, you observe protocols. But the damage done do already,” Pandohie said.

“The issue has been raised a lot, and these are places that Government has 100 per cent control over. And that creates so much difficulty for enforcement, because people are seeing that and are saying ‘How come you apply it one way for one set of people and not even for your own self you are doing it’,” he argued.

“Many, many persons have highlighted that reducing the hours during which you can conduct business is creating a bigger issue. It gets crowded. Places like this need to have longer opening hours or more opening days so we can reduce the pressure, because it’s like one step forward and two steps back,” Pandohie pointed out.

He said the controversy surrounding Mocha Fest points directly to an inequity issue in enforcing COVID-19 prevention protocols, and expressed concern that though some of the patrons would have been vaccinated, the chance of them spreading the virus was still a threat.

“Jamaica is a society that is built on inequity, and the inequity has widened even more since the pandemic, and people are frustrated, and it is creating another type of pressure in the society. Jamaica is still very vulnerable. Less than five per cent of the population is vaccinated, but we are getting a lot more visitors who themselves are vaccinated but they can still transmit the virus and we cannot drop our guard. We just have to be very careful. We should take this as a teaching moment and use it to fix a lot of other elements in the society. The JMEA has always been calling for equitable enforcement,” he said.

“The police have made a big stride in enforcement because you can see that it is not just poor people alone, but the last week has revealed that this is a country where, as some may say, all men are equal but some men are more equal than others. Out of this should come a learning experience. Some businesses have been forced to operate one way while others are operating as they wish, and everybody knows. That creates a sense of frustration and people will just continue to say ‘You know what, I am going to just do my thing’,” Pandohie argued.

Michael Tarpin, who told the Jamaica Observer yesterday that he is involved in local table tennis, said that restrictions have negatively impacted many people in the sport, and expressed strong disapproval of COVID-19 measures being blatantly disregarded in some quarters.

“The restrictions have affected us very much. It affects us from all angles. A lot of the people who used to come out, or who used to gather at certain table tennis clubs, they haven’t had the chance to come out or they are afraid to even come out, resulting from the lockdown and the time that is allowed for one to be on the street and the time allowed for one to play. It is really a restrictive life situation and it is very difficult,” Tarpin said.

“Some of the entities concerning the Government, like the tax office and other places, people can go there in large numbers, but private places, including sports and entertainment, there is nothing that can be done in those areas, even just to get away from the boredom that life entails now. It clearly needs to be addressed and needs to be balanced. It is as if whoever is advising the Government is not in touch on the ground to know how people are feeling and what is happening. I wish they would make some adjustment and see things more rationally and more balanced,” he said.