Not replicating a state of emergency

THE ZONES of Special Operations law, according to Prime Minister Andrew Holness, is not seeking to replicate a state of emergency, an issue raised by the parliamentary Opposition.

He sought to dispel fears that the prime minister, in council, would instruct the security forces to carry out their operations. “It is not left up to the prime minister’s whims and fancies,” Holness said, adding that the prime minister acts upon the advice of the National Security Council to declare zones of special operations.

“Once the zone is established, the Government has nothing to do with the operations,” he stressed.

During the committee stage, it was decided that the prime minister could only declare zones of special operations if such a request was made in writing by the commissioner of police and the chief of defence staff.

Peter Bunting, opposition spokesman on national security, in his contribution to the debate, said that the Opposition did not intend to frustrate the Government’s efforts to pass the Zones of Special Operations law.

ISOLATE POLICE FROM POLITICS

He, however, cautioned that Edward Seaga, in his capacity as opposition leader in the early 1990s, proposed amendments to the Jamaica Constabulary Force Act, which effectively separated policy from operations. “It isolated the police from politics,” Bunting stressed. He said that if passed in its current form, the bill would give a minister power to direct the police commissioner in operational matters.

Bunting noted that if the Government made a few adjustments, the Opposition would support the bill.