POWER PLAY

The Opposition warned on Tuesday that amended coronavirus legislation giving the prime minister power, unfettered by Parliament, to make orders attracting criminal sanctions presented a dangerous overreach on democracy.

But Opposition Leader Mark Golding declined to stonewall the Government, yielding to an overwhelming parliamentary majority and public sentiment that tough action was required to rein in COVID-19 breaches.

Despite intense deliberations, lawmakers could not find common ground on the issue.

The amended law is intended to punish persons who refuse to comply with measures to halt the spread of COVID-19, which has pushed the health sector to breaking point.

The legislation allows for a person to be ticketed for not wearing masks, refusing to social-distance six feet apart, among other protocols prescribed by the Government.

Both sides of the political divide supported the imposition of sanctions for breaches.

However, Opposition Leader Mark Golding urged the Government to suspend debate on the legislation to correct what he saw as a flaw in the proposed law.

Under the 2015 parent legislation, the prime minister’s orders, which deal with a wide range of conduct, did not constitute a criminal offence.

The Disaster Risk Management (Amendment) Act, which was passed on Tuesday with two changes, now makes the orders issued by the prime minister criminal offences punishable by a fine up to $1 million or imprisonment for up to one year. The offender could be ticketed.

Golding said that this was a fundamental change in the structure of the legislation.

“We do not typically, in our democracy, allow a minister, whether it is the prime minister or any minister, to create criminal offences without coming to Parliament to have them approved. That is the issue I have with it,” Golding said.

“I am uncomfortable with proceeding by giving the executive the power to create criminal offences without parliamentary approval,” he added.

Responding to the concern, Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who participated in the discussion at the committee stage of the process to pass the law, said that he would have taken a similar position to Golding “were it the case that the legislation did not prescribe what the prime minister can do and when this kind of exceptional powers can be used. It can only be used in the declaration of a disaster.”

Holness said that the orders would be made in the context of the law.

The prime minister argued that any measure related to the main legislation “which is materialised in an order, is a criminal offence except that we have said it is not an offence that would be added to your criminal record”.

He emphasised that the legislation was meant to give the Government the ability to respond quickly to an emergency.

Golding said he would not call for a divide on the legislation, noting that the country was facing a crisis.

“I don’t want to appear to be thwarting the efforts to solve the crisis to have major misgivings with the way it is being done but I am not going to stand in your way,” he said.

The prime minister acknowledged that the legislation could be abused.

“I understand that it could give ... whoever is the leader at the time could potentially find some ways to be oppressive, but I am saying that the main legislation itself would give some limits as to what could be done,” the prime minister sought to clarify.

Following a long debate, Holness said he was not proposing to change the legislation.

And as some Jamaicans continue to flout the Disaster Risk Management Act with impunity, Justice Minister Delroy Chuck sounded a warning on Tuesday that persons who continue to defy the rule to wear masks in public spaces could find themselves in breach, especially if they did not have proper identification.

“Let the message go to those who are defiant, those who are undisciplined, that if they have the audacity to defy the protocols, make sure they have their IDs on them, because if they don’t have their IDs on them, the police may well have to apprehend them,” he said.

edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com

Fixed penalties ranging from $3,000 to $500,000

Some of the 40 offences that attract fixed penalties:

· Failure to wear mask in public places; refuse to maintain six-foot social-distancing rule, or breach protocols governing public transportation – $5,000

· Failure to stay inside place of residence during a curfew – $10,000

· Gym operating outside time specified or small outdoor events held in breach of order – $20,000

· Jamaicans returning home from overseas who fail to quarantine – $25,000

· If a tourist or someone who does not reside in Jamaica refuses to stay inside the resilient corridor as required – $30,000

· Any person with COVID-19 who refuses to stay in quarantine – $50,000

· Any employer who does not comply with specified workplace requirements – $50,000

· Conducting funerals, burials, weddings or any other worship service in contravention of the order in force – $100,000

· Bars operating outside of time specified; not having a spirit licence; operating a hotel or resort cottage not licensed under the Tourist Board Act or certified by TPDCO – $500,000

· Any hotel or resort that breaches COVID-19 protocols – $500,000