HANOVER, Jamaica — Prime Minister Andrew Holness has rubbished claims that there has been a temporary interruption in overtime payments to rank-and-file members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

On Thursday while cops, soldiers and election day workers went to the polls ahead of the February 26 local government election, information was being circulated that cops would not be paid for overtime work done.

However, while on the campaign trail with Jamaica Labour Party candidates in Lucea, Hanover on Thursday, Holness dismissed the messages as bogus.

“Someone sent me a fake voice note saying that policemen will not receive their overtime pay for some number of weeks. Nutten nuh guh suh. Somebody chose to create mischief at this point in time,” he assured.

“I received the note, listened to it, kissed my teeth and said, ‘Foolishness!’. But I received a call from a few police officers who I know, alerting me to this message. I said, ‘Yes I saw it’. And they said, ‘Prime Minister, they muss tek policeman fi fool’,” relayed Holness.

He went on to reference a conversation that he said took place with one cop.

“I don’t want to get into too much detail because I don’t want anybody identifying him. He said, ‘Prime Minister, the biggest increase that members of the security forces have ever gotten is under the Jamaica Labour Party’. He said this business of overtime is a JLP policy idea. It is the JLP that makes the economy possible to give the level of increases that police officers have gotten, that teachers have gotten, that servants have gotten and other members of the public sector have gotten. The Jamaica Labour Party did that,” said Holness.

“He reminded me that under the last two PNP administrations, all that they got were wage freezes. He made the point to me that whenever the PNP is in [power and they get a] wage increase, little after that they take it back with a wage freeze,” the party leader continued as green-clad supporters cheered him on.

Holness maintained that this was because past People’s National Party administrations were unable to effectively manage the economy, a point consistently made on the campaign trail.

“Whether it is a road, water, more pay, dealing with crime, whatever it is, collecting your garbage, you must have a good economy,” he pointed out.

“Don’t let anybody tell you foolishness. The only party that has run the country and the economy well since independence, if you check back the records on it, it is the Jamaica Labour Party,” the JLP leader continued.

Also on Thursday, the police high command in a statement on its social media pages, responded to what it said were “baseless” claims aimed at creating unrest and discord among its members.

The high command noted that since the implementation of its Workforce Management System in April 2023, the JCF has remained committed to ensuring the well-being of officers, including the prompt and accurate payment of overtime due.

It said at the end of February 2024, more than $651 million in overtime payments were paid out. It stressed that the timely and accurate payment of overtime to JCF members will continue.

It also noted that in total, more than $4.9 billion in overtime had already been paid out under the system and, on average, more than 10,000 members receive overtime payments each month.

In an interview with Observer Online on Thursday, embattled chairman of the Jamaica Police Federation, Corporal Rohan James called for an auditor general’s probe into the $4.9-billion in overtime that the high command said it paid out under the system to more than 12,500 rank-and-file members.