As the 2021-2022 parliamentary year gets under way this morning, fewer than 60 of the 84 members of the House of Representatives and Senate are expected to be in attendance as Gordon House seeks to adhere to COVID-19 guidelines.

The reduction in the number of members of parliament and senators present will be markedly different, optically, when compared to previous years – even more so as the parliamentarians march single file in another move to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

The parliamentarians will also be greeted by an increased number of sanitisation stations at the entrance to Gordon House, but will not see the regular throng of supporters as physical access to the ceremony will be restricted.

“As parliamentarians, it is our duty to demonstrate to our fellow Jamaicans that we should do everything possible to prevent the contraction and spread of the COVID-19 virus and if we can do this for as important an occasion as the Ceremonial Opening of Parliament, there is no excuse for any Jamaican to ignore the Ministry of Health and Wellness’ COVID-19 guidelines,” said Edmund Bartlett, leader of government business in the House of Representatives.

Bartlett, who is also the minister of tourism, said the restrictions were necessary given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country.

As of Tuesday, the country had confirmed 20,016 COVID-19 cases with 381 deaths. Over the past two weeks, the country has also seen a massive spike in cases reported daily with several record breaking days during that span. On Monday alone there were 468 cases confirmed, the most since the first case was reported on March 10 last year.

COVID-19 HIT MONTH AFTER PARLIAMENT OPENED LAST YEAR

That first case came exactly a month and a day after the February 11 ceremonial opening of the 2020-2021 leglislative year, during which Governor General Sir Patrick Allen outlined the successes and ambitious plans of the Government, much of which would be impacted by the pandemic.

At the time, for example, Sir Patrick spoke glowingly of the gains seen in tourism and the expectation of more to come.

“Our tourism sector continues to grow from strength to strength,” the governor general had said. 

“In 2019, Jamaica welcomed 4.3 million visitors which was made up of 2.7 million stopover visitors and 1.6 million cruise visitors. In this year, the focus will be on broadening our source markets for tourists through aggressive marketing.”

However that broadening of source markets was not to be as the coronavirus spread across the world, instilling fear, forcing nations to lock down and bringing tourism to a grinding halt.

Today Sir Patrick will return to outline Government’s plans for a year in which the first batch of vaccines are expected to inoculate only a small percentage of the citizenry and a weary populace is desperate for relief.

The ceremonial opening will be followed by a meeting of the House of Representatives in the afternoon at which the 2021-2022 Estimates of Expenditure will be tabled, giving some indication of just how the Government plans to bring that relief.