JLP youth arm urges Chang to stand firm amid ‘blood money’ backlash

Young Jamaica, the youth arm of the governing Jamaica Labour Party, says National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang should not withdraw his claim that some advocacy groups critical of police conduct are “living off blood money”.

The comments have triggered condemnation and calls for a retraction from church leaders and the Opposition People's National Party.

Dr Chang, speaking on Nationwide Radio on Monday, named rights group Jamaicans for Justice as one of the entities.

Young Jamaica said it “fully recognises the very important role that human rights advocacy groups in society hold” and supports calls for accountability “where there is reasonable cause to suspect excesses by agents of the state.”

However, the group said “fairness and consistency are not too much to ask from such groups, including JFJ.”

“It is time for JFJ to recognise that law-abiding members of society have moved beyond tolerating blatant anti-police rhetoric which does not manifest a clear understanding of the reality of violent crime which confronts Jamaicans on a daily basis,” it added.

According to Young Jamaica, Jamaicans have “moved beyond tolerating blatant anti-police rhetoric which does not manifest a clear understanding of the reality of violent crime which confronts Jamaicans on a daily basis.”

The youth arm also criticised what it described as selective outrage, pointing to “a few voices, including that of the Opposition People’s National Party, the National Integrity Action, and a group calling itself the Watchman Church Leaders’ Alliance,” whom it accused of being “eerily silent on recent topical issues.”

Among the matters cited were "the tax exemption scandal" that Young Jamaica said is linked to a PNP member, "a PNP politician’s admission to the brutal gun slaying of his wife, and the criminal charging of two other PNP officials, MP Dwayne Vaz and Mayor Norman Scott.”

Scott and Vaz have been separately charged in assault-related cases. They have denied the allegations.

“These so-called advocacy groups cannot be depended upon to be either consistent or fair,” Young Jamaica said.

Pointing to major reductions in murders over the last two years, it added that “without a doubt, Dr Chang is Jamaica’s most successful National Security Minister in the past 60 years”.

The Watchman Church Leaders’ Alliance has urged “restraint, contrition and wisdom” in public discourse in its call for Chang to retract the comments. Jamaicans for Justice has described the minister’s comments as “defamatory and misleading” and indicated it is seeking legal advice.

Opposition Spokesman on National Security Fitz Jackson has also called for a formal retraction, describing the remarks as reckless, amid continuing debate over police accountability and fatal shootings.

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