By Kimone Witter
The Emergency Powers Regulations governing States of Public Emergency declared on Tuesday have been tabled in the Senate.
The documents were tabled in the House of Representatives on Tuesday afternoon but were withdrawn shortly after.
In an explanation to the Gleaner, National Security Minister Dr. Horace Chang said the withdrawal was to facilitate the review of the documents by Attorney General Dr. Derrick McKoy to ensure there are no errors.
Dr. Chang, who is also deputy prime minister, said the regulations would be tabled in the Senate today and in the Lower House next Tuesday.
PSOJ disappointed
Ahead of the tabling of the SOE regulations in the Senate today, the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) pointed out that this is not the first time the government is bungling the tabling of regulations.
PSOJ President Keith Duncan said the government can and must do better.
He said the organisation is disappointed with the late tabling of the regulations, since without it, the security forces do not have "the extraordinary powers needed to deal with the emergency" and are only able to exercise their "normal policing powers".
"While the PSOJ remains supportive of SOEs, the GOJ must be prepared and execute in a timely manner with all the legal requirements put in place," he urged.
Mr. Duncan said the PSOJ appreciates that there may be adjustments based on feedback received but said there is already too much noise around the use of the SOEs for the government to add more fuel to the fire.
In June, the government tabled the wrong regulations in Parliament for the SOE in St. Catherine, resulting in Members of Parliament being called back to the House for the tabling of the correct document.
