Senate ends session on high ZOSO note

over 2 years in Jamaica Observer

Senators ended their 2021/22 parliamentary engagements on a high note Friday at Gordon House after agreeing to cancel debating the report from a triennial review of the zones of special operations (ZOSOs).The report was tabled in the House of Representatives previously and passed in that chamber on January 25 after a brief debate opened and closed the Minister of National Security Dr Horace Chang.The Opposition offered to cooperate with the Government and overlook further debate, as the report's recommendations had the full support of both sides in the Lower House.The suggestion to skip the debate came from Opposition Senator Lambert Brown, and was accepted by the members.He noted that a Bill will eventually emerge from the report, as discussions had already been allowed at the level of the joint select committee, which undertook the review, and which included both Government and Opposition members who were praised for their efficiency, in terms of attendance and participation in previous discussions."I urge that we just proceed to the next item," Brown told the Senate.He was supported by the Leader of Opposition Business Peter Bunting, who said that it was in a spirit of cooperation that the Opposition had thrown its full support behind the use of ZOSOs to reduce criminal activities in violence-prone communities."I also want to commend the members of the Senate who sat on the committee for their examples of perfect attendance at meetings, and I would say that the ZOSO legislation... has, from inception, had the support of the Opposition," Bunting said."We felt that it was an enhanced security measure without the regulations of the states of emergency, without the unnecessary [breaches] of people's constitutional rights, and we see where it is being used and getting the results that we had anticipated," he added.He also encouraged the Government to implement more ZOSOs and said he was looking forward to the tabling of the Bill expected to flow from the recommendations of the committee.Senator Matthew Samuda, who piloted the report, said that the Act, which was passed in 2017, has had very positive effect on the communities which had benefited, including Denham Town, Greenwich Farm, and August Town in the Corporate Area, and Mount Salem in St James."It should give you hope that, indeed, what we are doing will transform lives in these areas," said Senator Samuda, the former minister without portfolio in the Ministry of National Security, who was last month appointed to the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation in a Cabinet shuffle.Senator Samuda volunteered to read the recommendations in the report, but Senate President Thomas Tavares-Finson recalled that Senator Brown had suggested that the chamber should take it as already read."I am prepared, if there is consensus on both sides, to take the report as read. The joint select committee would have benefited from significant and generally very healthy debate [on it] previous to now," he said."In the spirit of cooperation, I will not give in to temptation as this is a policy that has national support. Like all other things, it is not the silver bullet, but it is important, as we try to bring safety and security to all of our citizens," Senator Samuda said.He also noted that, in the meantime, he would be looking forward to a return to economic buoyancy, "so that we can afford to put in more ZOSOs, as they are particularly capital-intensive measures. There is no doubt that we need dozens more, based on the profile of many of the communities and the issues they face," he added.

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