Trending in Jamaica News: Dr. Chang confirms the Opposition’s argument against SOEs.
The Opposition party got a lot of unnecessary and uninformed pushback for blocking the Government from extending the SOEs it imposed in seven parishes. And I was surprised that many learned citizens would fall for Prime Minister Andrew Holness’ hyperbolic political mambo-jumbo.
It is a tried and proven fact that SOEs are not designed to fight crime. Prime Minister Andrew Holness knows their primary purpose is to control movement in a particular zone. Also, I realized most people who joined the Government in its pushback against the Opposition have never lived in an area with an SOE.
As I have said before, SOEs restrict movement and violate civil rights. Citizens cannot come and go as they please. And when you limit free people for too long, you are bound to get chaos and possible lawsuits. We have seen this played out many times. Also, because the Government is bound by law to announce the SOE before it begins, it is ineffective.
So, the Prime Minister, a crafty politician, was only scoring political points when he pretended to chastise the Opposition. He knows SOEs are like a band-aid. They work perfectly in events of riots and Natural disasters.
And even though the Opposition blocked the extension of the SOEs, it does not have the power or the votes to prevent the Prime Minister from imposing fresh ones.
And suppose you believe the Prime Minister and his side-kick, the Minister of National Security. In that case, you may ask why they did not impose fresh SOEs.
On Tuesday, November 29,2022, speaking at the hand-over of 25 new service vehicles at the Office of the Commissioner, Dr. Chang chided the criminals and called them rats. Here is what Dr. Chang said:
“They went (into) hiding because they heard the SOE (was) on, and I say like the rats they are, they were hiding in the holes. As they come out, maybe they will do some harm, but we are going to find them, we are going to incarcerate them, and if they fight, we will find a way to take them out.”
Dr. Horace Chang, Jamaica’s Minister of National Security.