KINGSTON, Jamaica – Opposition Leader Mark Golding says the parliamentary opposition continues to be concerned by the Government’s repeated use of States of Public Emergency (SOEs) which are currently declared for five parishes and a police division.

Golding reminded of the opposition’s concerns on Tuesday as he contributed to a debate in the House of Representatives that extended the Zones of Special Operations (ZOSOs) by 180 days for the first time. Previously, the ZOSOS, which are located in seven communities across several parishes, were extended by only 60 days at a time.

In his remarks, Golding said “ZOSOs are a work in progress, to some extent they’re an experiment in a different approach to try to bring peace and order to war-torn or violence-torn communities”. He noted that the Opposition has always supported the ZOSOs, but he said the SOEs are a different matter.

“We’re concerned about the use of states of emergency and we see that the current ones have seen numerous incidents of murder occurring in the last week or two so we’re very concerned that the whole mechanism [of the SOE], apart from the constitutionality of it which we’re testing in court, we are concerned that the effect of it is being diluted by its overuse,” Golding remarked.

He said this is coupled with its other impacts on citizens who have expressed frustrations in moving around where there are checkpoints and long lines of traffic as a result.

The Opposition leader said the ZOSOs on the other hand have been relatively non-controversial.

“Indeed we have always argued that they should be more extensively used because there are many communities where there is a need for this type of intervention,” he stated.

And Golding acknowledged the upgrade to the infrastructure that has taken place in communities where a ZOSO is located, while noting that they have in fact had a dampening effect on crime in those communities.

The latest round of SOEs was declared for the parishes of St James, Hanover, Westmoreland, St Catherine and Clarendon as well as the St Andrew South Police Division. They are set to run until December 22.