You are not a criminal
MY recent article concerning the 320 pipe bombs found in west Kingston and my solution regarding constitutional change to accommodate it seem to have hit quite a chord with some readers.
I have got comments that suggest Chapter 13 of the constitution is the only thing preventing many Jamaicans from being wrongfully detained in the middle of the night.
I’ve also realised that many believe that this is the same constitution the creators of our nation left us with. Well, we have some stuff to discuss.
Firstly, the constitution had to go through changes to accommodate Jamaica becoming a signature to the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms. The exceptions that allowed our Parliament to create Acts that allowed for remand without charge were all removed.
That, therefore, made it impossible for us to create a version of the Americans’ Homeland Security Act, and similarly the Internment Act that the British used in Northern Ireland. Yet both of these countries are signatories to the aforementioned charter. Does this seem a bit odd to you?
You see, every country finds a way to do battle with its enemy. The Americans’ greatest enemies are currently Arab terrorists and terrorists in general.
Countries under serious threats that can shake a country to its core require more serious tools than countries not under similar threats.
The terrorist in the United States represents a grave threat to the safety of the American people, as Irish freedom fighters/terrorists represent a significant threat to the British.
They, therefore, did what was necessary to protect their people.
The gangs in Jamaica are our terrorists. They kill thousands more persons than either of the aforementioned groups in the previously discussed territories, and we are a much smaller nation.
We, therefore, should do as our fellow charter-signing brothers did and pass laws that allow us to protect our people. Like them, we should ensure that these laws allow for remand without charge.
This, however, seems to annoy a lot of people when I say it. I understand why. It is because you don’t realise that this is the only method to bring about a short- to medium-term solution to the killing that is extending to our children at an alarming rate.
I received comments that said we should address the corruption and the social conditions. I agree.
But fixing the above is neither quick in its application nor will it bring about short- to medium-term changes.
I also got comments that call for the police and army to kill off the gang members because taxes shouldn’t be feeding criminals. That’s not a reasonable solution, unless you expect us to live in a Middle Ages existence wherein we live off the land.
Our international partners would cut us off. No swift codes for bank transfers, no weapons, no trade.
We are neither Arawaks nor Tainos (as they are now called). Strange that piece of knowledge took over 500 years to come to light. So, on the subject of innocent people being caught up in the detention; you’re not a criminal. More importantly, you’re not a gangster.
The power to remand would be a decision taken by one of the commissioners.
Look on the persons who make up that slate of ranks. Do they seem like the type of men who would remand people unjustly?
Finally, this is not an indefinite decision. It would be for a specified time period before the law allowing that practice is repealed. Maybe after a decade.
Or we can just continue to allow for the slaughter of 5,000 people over the next four years, of which at least a thousand of them will be innocent persons because, as I said before, “there is no other way”.
Okay. We could militarise the society so literally every suitable person would be expected to serve for a minimum of five years. This, though, would inconvenience many young persons who wish to do other things, and I for one would prefer to inconvenience known gang members by remanding them indefinitely.
There is a blend of not trusting the police coupled with not truly identifying the gangsters as the true enemy, an entity to themselves.
This is why my suggestion to tear Chapter 13 out of the constitution is so repulsive to you.
There is also that little fact that the children who will be killed because we won’t act will likely come from inner-city and squatter settlements and they won’t be yours. Look at El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele. His Remand Act has led to El Salvador boasting a homicide rate lower than Canada. This after going from having the highest murder rate in the world pre-Remand Act era.
We have a blueprint. Now let’s start tearing.
Feedback: drjasonamckay@gmail.com