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Perspective: Constitution Could Be “Abrogated” … Marlene Malahoo Forte, Attorney General …

Marlene Malahoo-Forte, Attorney -GeneralForte Plans to Attack Crime Fort

With crime getting out of control especially in the western end of the Island including Montego Bay, the tourist mecca, Jamaica W.I. the Attorney General is talking tough.

We get much needed foreign exchange from tourism, so any activity that threatens to tamper with the flow of this vital foreign exchange earner and life blood of our economy cannot be taken lightly.

Utterances by Attorney General and MP Marlene Malahoo Forte of possible moves to abrogate the rights of citizens to stem the rise of crime are not going to be well received by all.

State Of Emergency

Such utterances coming close to the recent damning report on the bloody events of the Tivoli incursion which left between 69 &76 dead … widely believed at the hands of the security forces is bound to raise eyebrows. You will recall that there was a State of Emergency then which suspended the civil liberties of citizens and in its aftermath there were horrific accounts of excesses by victims believed perpetrated by agents of the state.

Constitution

The Jamaican Constitution has in its preamble that allows for the suspension of Civil Liberties if there is ample evidence that an individual’s activities threaten the safety and or goodwill of us all.

The Attorney General, Forte said in Parliament Tuesday last “To successfully tackle the murder problem some of the fundamental rights and freedoms which we have guaranteed to our people may have to be abrogated, or abridged.”

This declaration by AG Forte, coming close to the recently released damming report of atrocities in the bloody Tivoli incursion has left many shaking their heads.

We await the action after all this rhetoric.

Hopeton O’Connor-Dennie is Senior International Correspondent & Photojournalist for Vision Newspaper Canada

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