Attorney General insists COVID containment measures are constitutional

Damion Mitchell, Integration Editor

Jamaica's Attorney General Marlene Malahoo Forte has asserted that the Government's COVID-19 containment measures are constitutional.

Noted attorney Dr Lloyd Barnett has maintained that without a State of Public Emergency, some of the measures announced by the Government breach the Charter of Rights.

"It is unconstitutional," he said today on Radio Jamaica's Hotline with Emily Shields.

Barnett has cited, for example, restrictions on freedom of movement and freedom of association, saying the proper thing to do would be to declare a state of emergency on the grounds of a health exigency before imposing measures like these.

But speaking on Friday evening during a press conference at the Office of the Prime Minister, Malahoo Forte asserted that the government acted on legal grounds.

"Do you think that we really would embark on an action that we consider unconstitutional?" questioned the attorney general.

Noting that Jamaica was in "uncharted waters", the attorney general said, however, that opinions will differ and the debate would continue to rage.

"Some of these questions will only properly be answered in the court that is entrusted with interpreting the law," she said but maintained that the measures were legal.

Just under a year ago, Malahoo Forte was also defending the National Identification System (NIDS) law.

READ: Supreme Court rules NIDS unconstitutional

However, in April last year, the Supreme Court ruled that its mandatory requirement for persons to submit biometric information was a violation of their right to privacy, as guaranteed by the Constitution. 

The court also declared the law null, void and unconstitutional.

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