Gordon Robinson | Pandemic justice

In England, whose governance system we shamelessly plagiarise, Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently received a letter of resignation from his justice minister.

In a letter to the PM after Bojo achieved the dubious honour of being the first British Prime Minister in history to be found in breach of the law (by approving and participating in repeated gathering/mask mandates breaches at Downing Street), David Wolfson said he had come to the conclusion that the “scale, context and nature of those breaches” of the law meant “it would be inconsistent with the rule of law for that conduct to pass with constitutional impunity”.

Wolfson added: “I have concluded that, consistently with both my ministerial and professional obligations to support and uphold the rule of law, I have no option other than to tender my resignation.”

Only hours before the letter was delivered, a Tory backbencher, Nigel Mills, broke ranks to call for Johnson to quit. The MP told BBC the prime minister’s position was no longer “tenable”.

Those supporting Boris remaining in the job have cited the need to unite on the war in Ukraine without distraction. But in reference to that conflict, Wolfson wrote in his resignation letter that Britain could only “credibly defend democratic norms abroad” if the government is seen to be “resolutely committed both to the observance of the law and also to the rule of law”.

Obviously, THIS justice minister believes in justice (aka, leadership by example). His reaction to the Downing Street breaches, “...the scale, context and nature of those breaches mean it would be inconsistent with the rule of law for that conduct to pass with constitutional impunity, especially when many in society complied with the rules at great personal cost and others were fined or prosecuted for similar, and sometimes more trivial, offences,” is telling, targeted and politically mutilating.

Now, what has taken place in the Queen’s outpost, Jamaica? Impoverished persons found mask-less in public have been fined hundreds of thousands of dollars. Nzinga King lost her head (figuratively) and her hair (literally). Illegal partygoers were summarily carted off to jail, while videos of ministers attending what appeared to many to be illegal parties were widely published.

A minister resigned (temporarily), but was soon reinstated. The second (of which I’m aware) time around, PM called them “starstruck” and imposed $100,000 ‘fines’ on each, payable to charity. DWL. Even though their existence only measures the ‘constitutional impunity’ enjoyed (high or astronomical), transparent government demands proof of those contributions.

Were. They. Ever. Made?

Instead of leadership by example, Jamaica lifted mask/gathering mandates, thus inviting mass infections and high mortality rates among a 75 per cent unvaccinated population. This is an embarrassing admission Government can’t enforce mask/gathering mandates, not even against its own members.

Now MPs can party hearty all night long.

WHAT ABOUT US?

But what about us? Nations feeding our tourism industry are achieving ‘herd immunity’ by acceptable levels of vaccinations (including fourth shots to the over-50s four months after the booster) and are lifting mask mandates and gathering restrictions. Jamaica clearly prefers to expose us to mortal danger, rather than lose face by not following pee-pee, cluck-cluck, despite its atrocious vaccine roll-out management.

So, as usual, we prefer marketing to communication, and traffic hazards, like that experienced in St Ann over the Easter weekend, can again be the norm as motorists are held to ransom by event non-planners and police incompetence.

Look, we get it. This is a coronavirus like the common cold. We’ll NEVER get rid of it. We should, however, make an effort to protect our citizens from its more severe consequences.

So, ok, lift the unenforceable mask mandates. Lift the widely ignored gathering restrictions. At least we’ll put an end to the farcical double-standards that have become standard operating procedure over the past two years. Instead, Jamaica needs sensible vaccine mandates.

For pity’s sake, can we at least get THAT right?

Peace and Love!

Gordon Robinson is an attorney-at-law. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.