One week after signalling that the Government will shortly make amendments to the Bail Act that will deny bail to persons charged with murder and gun crimes, Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs Marlene Malahoo Forte on Tuesday engaged in a verbal clash with Opposition Leader Mark Golding, who accused the government of trampling on the constitutional rights of Jamaicans.

The testy exchange came as the House debated and approved a resolution to extend the seven Zones of Special Operations (ZOSOs) by an additional 60 days.

Malahoo Forte and the Jamaica Labour Party administration have come in for sharp criticism since she told the country on June 7 that “if yuh on murder charge you cannot be at large and if yuh on gun charge yuh cannot be at large”.

READ: People charged with murder, gun crimes, to be denied bail under new Act — Malahoo Forte

While senior members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force have welcomed the minister’s comments, pointing out that persons out on bail for murder are often fingered in new homicides, defence attorneys have argued that it is unconstitutional and interferes with the judiciary which makes such decisions.

READ: Lawyers liken Malahoo Forte’s pronouncements on Bail Act to Pandora’s box

While giving his support for the extension of the ZOSOs, Golding said: “In short, we support all constitutional measures of dealing with the crime problem, (but) we have concerns about attempts to abrogate, restrict or otherwise diminish constitutional rights. We will always have a problem with those (attempts) and you will not find our support easy to come by when it comes to anything that reduces the scope of the rights of our people as protected by our Constitution”.

He was using Malahoo Forte’s own words against her.

During her contribution to the Sectoral Debate in July 2016, the then newly-installed Attorney General, having pointed to the alarmingly high murder rate and the viciousness with which the killings were being carried out said: “Fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed to Jamaicans may have to be abrogated, abridged or infringed”.

Malahoo Forte was sharply criticised for making that statement.

On Tuesday, she hit back at Golding, telling him not to be so “presumptuous as to think the government would act outside of the constitutional framework”. That statement was met with laughter from Opposition MPs but Malahoo Forte insisted “It is not true. It is simply not true to say that”.

“You keep saying it but it is not borne out by the facts so don’t speak about track record that is not true, accuracy matters and it is important that when you speak in the Parliament that you speak accurately,” she told Golding.

“At least you owe it to the people of Jamaica who are listening. It is not true, it is not true. Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it,” Malahoo Forte continued.

She said Jamaica has serious problems which require serious people “with serious solutions to solve them”.

“And it doesn’t help us to play to the gallery in any of these matters when lives are being lost in the most brutal way. It doesn’t assist at all”.

Malahoo Forte stated that “It is a responsibility that guarantees rights and we are aware of the constitutional framework and we have the guidance of the court, so do not for one moment think that this government is not taking special care in the measures to address the grave problems that this country faces”.

She told the opposition leader that the “tendency to speak inaccurately is “not a good one”.

Not amused, Golding rose on a point of order and reeled off a litany of what he said are instances when the government took decisions that breached the constitutional rights of Jamaicans.

“Whether it be the letters of resignation of the senators; whether it be the states of emergency (SOEs) used as a routine policing tool; whether it be the NIDS Bill; whether it be putting the Chief Justice on probation when he’s appointed. These are all examples of the approach that that member (Malahoo Forte) has towards our Constitution. It is not something that commends itself to us and we will resist it robustly in defending the rights of the people,” Golding remarked.

Following a challenge brought by the PNP, the Supreme Court ruled in April 2019 that aspects of the National Identification and Registration Act (NIDS) were in violation of the Constitution and declared the entire law null and void.

The new NIDS Act was passed two-and-half years later in October 2021.

READ: House passes NIDS Bill

The Court has also ruled that aspects of the SOEs, the government’s main crime-fighting tool, are unconstitutional. Among other things, the Court cited the extended period for which detainees were being held without trial.

The so-called senate letters referenced by Golding relate to undated letters that then Opposition leader Andrew Holness asked the eight senators he appointed to sign in 2012. He was concerned that an opposition senator would defect and give then-governing People’s National Party the one vote it would need for a two-thirds majority in both houses of the Parliament, which would have allowed it to establish the Caribbean Court of Justice as Jamaica’s final appellate court.

The move would replace the UK-based Privy Council as Jamaica’s final court. The JLP’s preferred route to replace the Privy Council is a referendum.

Holness eventually used the undated letters to oust senators Arthur Williams and Dr Christopher Tufton from the Upper House in a move that was deemed to be unconstitutional.

Holness also faced backlash after he appointed Chief Justice Bryan Sykes to the position but placed him on probation. He quickly backtracked.