Jamaica’s entertainment sector under heavy surveillance after 300 illegal parties

After 300 illegal parties held in less than one month in Jamaica. Jamaica’s Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Desmond McKenzie said that the entertainment sector should be kept under heavy surveillance to avoid such illegal parties in Jamaica in future.

Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Desmond McKenzie, while speaking in a special meeting of Trelawny Municipal Corporation, said that there had been widespread breaches of the Disaster Risk Management Act by industry organisers since Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced special measures for the reopening of the entertainment sector at the end of June.

According to Minister McKenzie, several assessments reported that there had been a total of 600 such illegal parties on the island since PM Holness announced to reopen of the entertainment sector. Minister McKenzie reminded sector players and organisers that permits had been required to stage entertainment events, noting that it would be in their best interest to ensure full compliance with the protocols.

Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Desmond McKenzie said that anyone who would be organising an event without a permit would be marked as a violation of the law. They could not allow a few undisciplined people to derail an industry which had critical to a number of persons.

Desmond McKenzie said that they would be going to ramp up the monitoring over the next two to three weeks because the Municipal Corporations had been receiving applications, and they had been granting approvals. They would be going to put more boots on the ground, and they would be ensuring that the restrictions were eased based on the Prime Minister’s announcement that was not abused by the sector.

Desmond McKenzie highlighted that the entertainment sector had been one of the hardest hits since March last year, and failure to comply with the prescribed protocols would be forcing the Government to take intense action.

The Minister said that anything announced in Parliament goes up until the 10th of August, so what it means is that if we are not convinced, action can be taken, even before the 10th of August.

Meanwhile, Mr McKenzie said that talks would be held with funeral home operators, as there have been reports that some have been breaching the protocols.

Mr McKenzie said that the Government wants face-to-face classes to resume in September, and therefore it has become essential that COVID-19 cases would not be allowed to spike.