No extension: SOEs to end tomorrow after failing to get Senate approval

 

The states of emergency now in force in seven police divisions across Jamaica will end on Saturday night after the government failed to get the Senate's approval for an extension.

 

The government had been seeking to have the measures continue until February 12 next year.

 

However, it was unable to get the one opposition vote it needed to secure the two-thirds majority required to have the motions passed.

 

At the end of the vote on Thursday, Senate President Tom Tavares-Finson announced the results: All 13 government senators voted for the extension of the measure, three opposition senators voted against it, while five were absent.

 

But before that moment had come, there were nine hours of arguments and counterarguments on the motions to extend the states of emergency in the seven police divisions by three months.

 

One by one, opposition senators pointed to concerns about the constitutionality of the use of states of emergency on a long term basis; the detention of persons for prolonged periods; the use of the measure while certain aspects are being challenged in the court; and lack of consultation.

 

Leader of Opposition Business in the Senate Peter Bunting said his side could not support an extension without compelling evidence of the need for the measure. 

 

"In the debate in the House, the Attorney General said if the opposition parliamentarians had seen the presentation from the heads of the security forces, they would have been convinced. Well, show us! Show us! We have a responsibility to come to our own conclusions, based on the evidence. That is the responsibility given to us by the constitution. We can't responsibly delegate that to whether military men or policemen," he insisted.  

 

When it became clear the motions were headed for defeat, an exasperated Matthew Samuda, Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of National Security, said he was at a loss at the arguments from the opposition.

 

He suggested the opposition would pay a political price: "If you're gonna play politics, I suggest you at least play it well. But this, president...colleagues...citizens of Jamaica, is politics over safety. It is politics over security. It is politics over the lives of Jamaicans."   

 

In the end, the three opposition senators who remained in the chamber at the time of the vote - Peter Bunting, Damion Crawford and Floyd Morris - all said no to an extension.

 

Leader of Government Business in the Senate Kamina Johnson Smith said it was a sad day for Jamaica and apologised to the security forces for the outcome of the vote, noting that they had recommended it and "had hoped that the debate today would rise to the level of reason and regard for the professional advice given and the realities on the ground".