McKenzie outraged as illegal parties turn battlefields of blood
Published:Wednesday | December 22, 2021 | 12:14 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie has expressed outrage that criminals are turning illegal parties into battlegrounds to settle scores and unleash bloodshed.
His concern comes days before Christmas amid fears of a proliferation of entertainment events as promoters and impresarios seek to cash in on the holiday spirit.
The entertainment ban, which has locked down the sector for most of the last 21 months, has not been lifted as the nation anticipates a fourth spike as the Omicron variant surges globally.
The minister said that at least four persons have been killed at illegal parties with dozens more injured.
“What this is saying is that people are not adhering to the protocols, and then they’re criminal elements who use these illegal parties to exercise the power of the gun and it’s affecting us. It is affecting the murder rate and I can only ask persons to remember that no parties,” McKenzie told The Gleaner during a Christmas treat for shut-ins and the elderly in his Kingston Western constituency on Tuesday.
But McKenzie struck a tone of pragmatism in recognition of the explosion of events in the lead-up to the Yuletide season.
“I can only urge persons who choose to go against ... if you’re doing so, ensure that you observe the protocols,” he said, referencing mask wearing, sanitisation, and social distancing.
There has been a rash of violent incidents at parties across Jamaica all year, with woundings and a fatality recorded on the weekend.
Marlon ‘Irons’ Salmon, a Clarendon mechanic, was shot dead at point-blank range at a bike show in Wood Hall, Clarendon, on Saturday.
The previous evening, a 12-year-old boy was among six persons who were shot and injured in Grove Place, Manchester, also at an illegal party.
The local government minister acknowledged that widespread disorder and trauma cases were stretching the capacity of the security forces.
Murders are trending 10 per cent higher, year-on-year, while crash deaths have surged by nine per cent.
The Holness administration has used the Disaster Risk Management Act (DRMA) as its main legislative tool to tackle coronavirus safety breaches, but it appears that the police cannot rein in the party craze.
“You have increase in motor vehicle accidents. You have traffic pile-up across the country. We are asking the police to do too much, and yet we are expecting them to do that. We as citizens are not doing enough to ensure that the work of the police is not enormous,” McKenzie said.
He continued: “It is also fair to say that a lot of events have been shut down by the police, and a number of persons have been charged under the DRMA. It is going to be difficult [and] humanly impossible for us to manage that.”
McKenzie hinted at new special measures to clamp down on coronavirus breaches after the holidays, targeting “those establishments which continue to violate the order”.