Durrant Pate/Contributor

The Jamaican Government will today (November 22) seek to get parliamentary approval for an extension to the 14-day states of emergency (SOEs) which was imposed in seven parishes on November 15.

The Andrew Holness administration will this afternoon debate and seek approval to two resolutions titled, The Emergency Powers (Parishes of Clarendon and St Catherine and Specified Areas in the parish of Kingston and St Andrew) (Continuance) Resolution, 2022 and The Emergency Powers (Parishes of St. James, Westmoreland and Hanover) (Continuance) Resolution, 2022.

The resolutions seeks parliamentary approval for an extension to the SOEs, which will expire next week. 

With a six per cent increase in murders as at November 13 this year, Prime Minister Andrew Holness advised the Governor Gener to declare the SOEs in order to cauterise the bloodletting across the country, which at that time had already claimed 1,360 lives for the year. 

The parishes in which the SOEs were declared are Westmoreland, St. James, Hanover, Clarendon, St. Catherine and sections of Kingston and St Andrew. SOEs generally include checkpoints, increased police and/or military presence in the designated areas, and overall increased law enforcement activities. 

Hoping to get Opposition’s support

With the parliamentary Opposition voting against extending SOEs in November last year, and indications that some members have openly declared their non-support to any extension as done previously, Holness is hoping the Opposition will this time vote in favour of the measure, particularly those in the Senate.

In the House of Representatives, the Government already has a two-thirds majority to approve the extension of the SOE. However, based on the composition of the Senate, the Government does not have the two-thirds majority needed to approve the extension and would need at least one vote from the Opposition in order to extend the measure.

Holness said that, in the current SOEs, the security forces are looking to strengthen their powers to search. He added that the police would be placing emphasis on finding and disarming gunmen.

According to Holness, the security forces will be using intelligence to pursue persons who are intent on carrying out criminal activities and who intimidate witnesses when they are brought before the courts. 

READ: PNP wants INDECOM and JCF to investigate reports of abuse of citizens in SOEs