The goose, the gander and Jamaican justice
FROM MY l ayman perspective, Jamaican l aw seems pretty robust. We have laws to govern what seems like … everything. Yet, the great sense of law and order that we would expect to see is missing from society. I get the feeling that a big part of the reason some laws aren’t taken seriously in Jamaica is that many are of the mindset that maybe, just perchance, if they ever do get caught, they might just be lucky enough to be gifted a ‘bly’. After all, many are recipients of the infamous ‘bly’. In fact, you don’t need to be the president’s favourite niece to get a ‘bly’ these days. You just need to either know the right person or have the right amount in your purse or wallet.
We are plagued with a problem of not only economic but social inequity, and that inequity is fuelled by the ability of those in authority to give discretionary passes to some but not to others.
I have this conversation so often. Some think there is nothing wrong whatsoever with these discretionary favours since they are just that – favours. It’s just ‘brawta’. An occasional ‘bly’ is like the cherry at the bottom of the glass when you are done drinking. It’s just grace extended for good measure. That is understandable, but where grace is given to some but not to others when the capacity with which to grant said grace is derived from public resources or publicly entrusted authority, what we have is a situation which borders on corruption. And corruption is perhaps the primary reason for which people have become distrustful of law enforcement.
I look, for example, at the way the police force seems to function. They seem to enforce one law for the goose and another law for the gander. Systems and laws are (or should be) put in place for a reason and shouldn’t be subject to human manipulation simply based on bias or prejudice. One of the biggest ‘blys’ I can recall in recent times took place last year near the beginning of the pandemic. Two prominent dancehall artistes were observed after curfew hours engaging in a sound clash which was being streamed online. From the vantage point of viewers, the artistes were not socially distanced and were obviously not wearing masks. Of course, because no one wanted to be ‘that guy’, the artistes were praised for their artistic prowess and at no point did any of our leaders stop to address the elephant in the sound room.
The subtler yet more problematic issue that had arisen was the fact that when the police went to the venue to investigate, social and political pressures apparently forced them to render the ‘bly’. At least, that was the impression left in many minds – the same minds we try to convince today that contravening COVID-19 protocol is not only shameful but deadly.
MIXED SIGNALS
All this was, by the way, not long after a young man from the inner city was fished from under his bed, supposedly for breaking curfew orders. Talk about mixed signals.
If mask-wearing, social distancing and other COVID-19 protocol are as sacred as to warrant $200,000 fines when breached, people need to be clear that these violations will be met with the same seriousness in every case. I look at the rigour and the meticulousness with which the police have ‘investigated’ the matter surrounding former minister Floyd Green and company’s apparent contravention of COVID-19 protocol recently. They have essentially made the case that according to the letter of the law, they have no grounds on which to charge the minister. The law didn’t have any letters, though, when the police swooped down on Shaquille Higgins for the choice words he used in cussing the prime minister for his amendments to the Disaster Risk Management Act or when video footage surfaced of a man being wrestled to the ground and arrested the day after a video went viral, of him supposedly on the grounds of Hellshire beach cursing at the police, maskless.
I am not advocating for the minister to be charged. I am advocating for the same fervour and energy to be put into investigating all allegations of lawbreaking.
To give another example of the glaring double standard, here is a secret: Sometimes in the wee hours of the morning when I should be enjoying my dreams, I find myself instead listening to the sounds of loud music in the distance, almost like … there’s a party going on somewhere. If I can hear it, I’m sure the police have heard it too, but I guess they have a permit. Meanwhile, people actually need a permit to walk together in protest and can’t get it because they are protesting against the system which will need to grant the permit. Ha ha.
While we have numerous systems in place to ensure that things run both smoothly and efficiently and in everyone’s best interest, these systems still depend on people to operate them. And unfortunately, that seems to be where the problem lies.