Emergency Powers Act to be a state of emergency on criminals says Holness
KINGSTON, Jamaica— Prime Minister Andrew Holness has served warning that a new Emergency Powers Bill that is at an advanced stage of development “will be a state of emergency on criminals”.
He was speaking Sunday at the public session of the Jamaica Labour Party’s 79th annual conference at the National Arena in St Andrew.
“It (the bill) will have the development of a watch list for criminals. It will have special orders for detention of criminals and it will have the imposition of control orders on the activities of criminals,” Holness stated.
“These will give the police standing powers to treat with some of our more dangerous and insidious criminals,” he added.
The prime minister said the government is taking this step “to ensure that we can bring order and peace to our society”. He said the intention of the government is to have the bill brought to the Parliament in the next fiscal year that begins April 1, 2023.
