The bill that sought to acquit “national heroes and freedom fighters” of criminal liability primarily related to slave rebellions and post-slavery uprisings, It was approved in the Senate.
Known as the National Heroes and Other Freedom Fighters Act (Absolution of Criminal Liability in Specific Events), The bill seeks to eliminate questions of criminality surrounding contributions to the emancipation process and the fight for justice that led to the arrest and imprisonment of Jamaica's best-known national hero – also considered a prophet for the Rastafari movement., Marcus Mosiah Garvey.
Garvey is not the only national hero the project alludes to. Others are Paul Bogle and George William Gordon, who were hanged for alleged links to the Morant Bay Rebellion in 1865.
Before the approval of the bill, opposition senators, including Senator Floyd Morris, raised a series of questions regarding said acquittal.
Senator Morris claimed that Garvey had already been pardoned by Edward Seaga's government in 1987. But the president of the Senate, Thomas Tavares-Finson, which has been closely linked to calls for acquittal for several years, explained that Garvey's forgiveness in 1987 consisted of acquitting the sentence he was serving, but not the criminal responsibility for which he was sentenced.
On occasion, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, came to the fore of criticism from opposition senator Lambert Brown – who said the bill was intended “whiten” the situation.
“The goal of this bill is to close the loop. It is not for bleaching (…) We recognize their actions as legitimate and absolve them of all criminal responsibilities. So we're closing the legal loops. This House is responsible for that. “, He said.
The bill was approved by the House of Representatives in October 2017, where it was presented and led by the Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sports, Olivia “Babsy” Grange, who after the approval of the bill made a call not to forget the history of struggles of the ancestors who paved the way for Jamaica to be a free society today.
“The struggles of our ancestors to free us from the bonds of slavery and bring us to where we are today as a proud people must never be forgotten.. Our children must know that it was not an easy path that has given us the freedoms that we all enjoy today.. Young people should know about the hard battle that all our heroes and freedom fighters fought, a battle for which they suffered imprisonment and death “, He said.
The bill will now return to the House of Representatives for final approval based on amendments made before the law was enacted..
Source: Jamaican Observer
