WITH Jamaica poised to eliminate the use of cheques by March 2028 the Association of Christian Communicators and Media (ACCM) has raised alarm over what that shift will mean for churches, small businesses, and personal and religious freedoms.

The change — which is part of an industry-wide initiative by the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) and the Jamaica Bankers’ Association — is already the subject of a legal challenge mounted in the Supreme Court by Pastor Jeffrey Shuttleworth, and Bishop Basil Hanson, who have asked for a judicial review of the central bank’s edict.

Monday, the ACCM continued the advocacy against the move through a webinar in which it argued that the action by the BOJ and its governor to withdraw cheques was overstepping their authority and discriminating against the rights of small players in the commercial system and in particular the banking system.

President of the ACCM Byron Buckley said the association was compelled to raise its voice given the immediate matter of the disruption to the administration and operations of small and micro-organisations, including the church.

“Pulling out cheques, discontinuing them, will certainly disrupt their operations and perhaps bring undue challenges to them and so ACCM is providing a forum for those issues to be raised, ventilated and addressed,” Buckley said.

According to Buckley, beyond the disadvantages that will be caused, there remains the underlying principle of freedom of choice and respect for minority rights.

“ACCM is of the view that this is a precursor to a wider global movement towards creating a cashless society and the centralisation of currency transactions and this will make everyone vulnerable to control by bad actors as outlined in biblical prophecy,” added Buckley.

He argued that the rise in rise in cyberattacks and incidents of fraud in online banking and digitally based monetary systems is evidence of the potentially disruptive effect of bad actors.

“And so, with due respect to our friends from the banking system and the governing authorities, while their motives and intentions may be good or at least innocent, ACCM is raising the alarm so that Jamaicans will take a careful approach towards the so-called modernisation of monetary systems. How do these impact personal and religious freedoms? That’s the broader existential issue we want to address,” Buckley stated.

Meanwhile, Pastor Joseph Buckland, lecturer in Hebrew and biblical apologetics, said the phasing out of cheques is part of a global thrust being led by the United Nations which has created central bank digital currencies that can be adjusted to fit the central bank of any country carries and this carries many dangers.

Jamaica is set to eliminate cheque usage in the next two years as the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) and Jamaica Bankers’ Association (JBA) have set a March 2028 timeline to discontinue their use.

“Eventually we are going to be faced with the phasing out of cash and any other paper-based methods of payments…there are real dangers associated with the central bank digital currencies: You will never be able to withdraw your money out of the bank, you will never be able to spend the money as you wish, the money will be programmable, that means you can spend your money only with certain organisations and individuals — money will be tied to geographical locations. It will also have a time frame in which it can expire so if you have $100,000 saved it will expire if you do not use it within a specified time period,” Buckland claimed.

“The Government will have total control over how you use your money what you are allowed to buy, what you are allowed to keep, what you are allowed to donate, they can block any payment they don’t like, they can even seize your money, you have absolutely no say and this can give the Government of Jamaican and elsewhere totalitarian control over you and the people of your country,” added Buckland.

He argued that the move to eliminate cheque transactions is inextricably linked to the push to introduce a national identification system (NIDS).

In declaring that too many church members are apathetic towards the proposed development Buckland urged push-back: “Too many members of churches are just silent and allowing those who are on the side of evil to dominate the news and to lead this country in the wrong direction,” he said.

However, technology expert Shawn Wenzel representing the Jamaica Bankers’ Association during the forum emphasised that “cash is not going away”.

According to Wenzel, “One of the major reasons we are doing this is because of fraud” involving cheques, which he maintained is becoming more and more prevalent.

“We are not taking cash, we are not taking anything away, just paper cheques,” Wenzel said, insisting that the rate of fraud involving cheques is higher than fraud conducted through online transactions.

According to Wenzel, data held by the bankers’ association supported that claim. He, however, said he could not present the data to the webinar as he did not have it in his possession.

Amidst the flood of questions directed at Wenzel following his declarations, Jamaican academic and scientist Pastor Dr Patience Alonge said “We are not convinced that the Banking Association of Jamaica is standing in the best interest of Jamaicans who built the banking sector.”

Cheque usage in Jamaica has been on a steady decline over the last two decades. The local banking system processed 8.9 million cheques in 2010 valued at $2.3 trillion. The number of cheques processed in 2025 declined 12.6 per cent to 2.4 million with the value falling 6.9 per cent to $444 billion.