In what amounted to a shameless and gratuitous attempt at grandstanding, newly appointed Jamaican Attorney General Marlene Malahoo Forte speaking in St James told members of the security forces that she will be paying close attention to ensure that they do not abuse the rights of civilians. Forte was speaking in Montego Bay Cultural Center in Sam Sharpe Square, Montego Bay, during the third in a series of island-wide town-hall meetings put on by Security Minister Robert Montague.
QUOTE. “I assure you sir (security minister) that in my role as member of Parliament I will ensure that all coöperation is provided to the security forces. But I say to the security forces also, in my role as member of Parliament and as attorney general, I will be watching vigilantly how the security forces carry out their work in this challenging environment. “I know SSP (Steve) McGregor understands my own view that the police — and commissioner, you may be hearing it for the first time – are not entitled to break the law in their efforts to uphold the law, not entitled to abuse the rights of our citizens, however challenging the circumstances will be,”
Well I’ll be damned !
It was just a couple of months ago ‚that while Andrew Holness ‚the very Malahoo Forte and others were at a mass meeting in Sam Sharpe Square that in that very meeting violence reared it’s ugly head and a life was snuffed out. Not only was a life snuffed out , innocent bystanders became victims of that violence.
On the occasion of that shooting Malahoo Forte had no words of condemnation for the criminal elements who brazenly killed and wound at will . She could have spoken up then as one of the Jamaica labor Party’s representatives for the parish.
She didn’t !
Now all of a sudden as soon as she tasted power she becomes a grandstanding caped crusader for the rights of the people in her constituency.
There are more than enough oversight of police, much of which is acting as an accelerant to crime on the Island.
Malahoo Forte would be best served by denouncing criminals in her constituency and providing their names to police and quit bloviating.
As the country grapples with crime every well meaning Jamaican has a part to play in working toward finding solutions to this problem.
Many people have worked assiduously for a change in Jamaica because everyone wants a better Jamaica .
What we do not want are self-serving show-offs adding to the problem.
Everyone knows what the Minister of Justice’s role is .
Malahoo Forte is best advised to acclimate herself to the job she hold, seek to see how best she can go about doing it and leave others to do theirs.
The country does not need any more anti-police crusaders who grandstand against police while innocent blood continue to flow .
Just shut up already.