KINGSTON, Jamaica—Opposition Spokesperson on Justice Zuleika Jess has blasted the Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck, charging that he is “delusional”, for his recent declaration that Jamaica does not have a human rights problem.

Chuck made the bold declaration during his contribution to the Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives last Wednesday.

“Jamaica does not, and I hope will never have, a human rights problem,” said Chuck. He pointed out that, “We have the Office of the Public Defender. If you have difficulty you can go to the Office of the Public Defender and prosecute any human rights breach. They’re empowered to prosecute any human rights breach”.

But Jess hit back on Thursday when she addressed a National Water Commission groundbreaking ceremony for the $148 million Santa Cruz By-pass Mains Replacement Project in St Elizabeth to mark the latest phase of the broader Santa Cruz Water Supply Improvement Programme.

She told Chuck that, “For a country that is experiencing 11 brutal police fatalities in 24 hours and to have a Minister of Justice state that there is no human rights issue, we find that to be almost delusional on the part of the Minister of Justice”.

“We believe that it represents an alarming display of delusion, we believe that it represents an insult to the countless number of Jamaicans who are begging and crying out for justice for loved ones that they have lost under questionable circumstances and it is a dismissal of the lived realities that so many people here in Jamaica continue to face,” she added.

The Member of Parliament for St Elizabeth North Eastern urged Chuck to reconsider his utterances and to retract those statements and align his views with the realities on the ground. “And the reality is that the people of Jamaica need justice and we need a government that doesn’t turn a blind eye to the realities on the ground,” she said.

-Lynford Simpson