Corporate Area Rally Pushes Government Transparency at Stand for Jamaica Protest

Questions over how public power is exercised were back in focus today as Jamaicans assembled at a crossroads in the corporate area for the Stand for Jamaica protest. Organisers said the event was a nonpartisan appeal for greater openness and respect for the rule of law.

Scores of demonstrators turned out to raise concerns about governance and to press for clearer accountability. While those behind the Jamaica Stand Up protest framed the gathering around the same issues, many participants chose not to share their views on camera.

One protester told CVM, "When I heard about today's protest, I tell my people, we have to come out because somebody have to say something. We elect the government, you know, Jamaicans elect a government to lead. They work for us. And if they're not working how we want them to work, we can't just sit down. We have to say something. That is why I am here to make today to say something about what is going wrong."

Opposition Leader and PNP President Mark Golding said the Integrity Commission's recent recommendation that Cabinet Minister Dr Andrew Wheatley be charged for illicit enrichment shows why stronger oversight is needed. He also pointed to the broad range of groups backing the demonstration.

He said, "There's a lot for us to be here demonstrating about and I encourage all well-thinking Jamaicans to join in these types of demonstrations and lend their support one way or another to what is being done here by civil society. Many groups have come out, the churches have come out, various other civil society groups and even the private sector, as reluctant of they as they have been to take a stand against the corrupt regime of Andrew Holness, have nevertheless come out and said that this situation with Wheatley is untenable."

Golding said Prime Minister Andrew Holness should do the right thing and ensure that Wheatley steps down.

For the organisers behind today's march, however, the effort does not stop here, with plans to keep pushing for accountability.

Convener of the demonstration Kay Osbourne told CVM, "The deportee deal was done in secret and up to now it has not been tabled in parliament and we are demanding that the MOU be tabled in parliament so that the people of this country can know exactly what is in it, and what are the operational steps that are being taken, that have been agreed on, or are being negotiated, so that we can get a clear understanding of what it is that we're standing up for."