A group of Jamaican expatriates, who are still dissatisfied with the government’s handling of the nation—particularly its inability to curb the widespread violence, crime, and corruption in the country—are planning to hold the first of their planned nationwide rallies this Friday in Miami, Florida (US).
The protest is being led by the Jamaica Diaspora Crime Intervention & Prevention Task Force, whose chairman, Dr. Rupert Francis, recently informed the media that the group has obtained permission from the City of Miami Police Department to hold the demonstration outside the Jamaican consulate general’s office in Miami from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
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The demonstration is anticipated to take the shape of a rally, with speeches by the chairman and Wilfred Rattigan, a former special agent and attorney for the Federal Bureau of Investigations. There are other scheduled protests in the UK, Canada, New York, and Washington, DC.
The Jamaican government’s top diplomat in the US, Ambassador Audrey Marks, received a letter from Francis, a former captain in the Jamaica Defense Force, in December informing her of preparations to hold nationwide protests at US-based offices of the Jamaican government.
Francis claims that the scheduled demonstrations are against “the increasing state of public corruption; the high level of violent crime; the [Government’s] failure to provide promised service delivery; unfulfilled promises to the diaspora regarding its involvement in the political process; and the legal defense that diaspora members do not have standing to sue the Government”.
Francis said that he would be asking contributors to check the expenses they are paying. He made it clear that his group does not intend to request that contributors stop giving to the nation. He stated it had been a mistaken presumption.
Francis, meanwhile, disregarded criticisms made by other diaspora organizations, such as the Global Jamaica Diaspora Council (GJDC) and its youth branch, who oppose the demonstration, asserting that it is an effort to damage the reputation of Jamaica, undermine bilateral and multilateral relations, and embarrass the Andrew Holness-led government.
“Why hasn’t the Government addressed us personally rather than beating around the bushes sending out attacks and talking about the Brand Jamaica that we want to hurt? That is absolutely not true,” he noted.
Francis stated, “What we are doing is to protect it for generations to come, shows our love for our country, and this will improve the brand to know that we as a people have a voice.”
Meanwhile, he stated, “We believe that Brand Jamaica is being hurt by the fact that our leaders are not doing what they are supposed to be doing and crime is absolutely out of control. You are seven percent less [murders] than you were last year and you are happy about that. There is carnage on the roads, our children are being killed, eight-year-olds and all that, who is talking about that?”
When asked if there was anything that could have been done to stop the demonstration, Francis responded that if the government had contacted the organization for a meaningful dialogue, the group’s discontent would not have been as loud and obvious.
“When the email was sent, the Government should have reached out to the group, but what they did is to send out erroneous information to sully my character,” he stated. “We want mutual respect and inclusion.”
Francis shared the importance of the protest to him, “important to show that we as a diaspora, we as a people, both at home and abroad, can come together for the benefit of Jamaica.”
“I don’t know why they think it is a bad thing for us to do this, what we are doing is standing up for Jamaica. All our voices should matter,” he added.
“My message is that we are all Jamaicans and, together, we can work it out, but the Government needs to be responsible and say we can help in building Jamaica just like we can help in anything else, but don’t talk to me about hurting Brand Jamaica,” he continued, emphasizing that the government has not been very involved.
He argued that the government has to be more aware of the assets it has in Jamaicans living overseas, as well as their significance to the nation and the positive impact they may have on people’s lives.
In addition, he stated that the members could not disappoint the youth since they owe it to them to continue the torch.
“Look at what is happening in our schools, look at what is happening all over. We need a solid approach to the future, not just for 2030, but beyond. Have you seen the carnage in schools, or am I the only one? I have seen children almost killing each other, stones being thrown at teachers, shooting people in church. Where have you heard of that in Jamaica before? In church, there is no respect so we have to start with respect. So we have to retool and start at the beginning.”
While maintaining that the GJDC members were shocked by and disagreed with the letter to Marks, Alando Terrelonge, state minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, pointed out that during the last five years, diaspora members have engaged with the government at an “unprecedented” level.
Terrelonge, who is in charge of diaspora matters, is the head of the GJDC, which replaced the Jamaica Diaspora Advisory Board and has members from different parts of the diaspora.
According to Terrelonge, interactions have been made easier by the establishment of the Global Jamaica Diaspora Youth Council and the GJDC.
Furthermore, he has stated that the Government has expanded representation within the diaspora by increasing the number of council members from eight to thirty within the past two years.
The Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2020) estimates that 1.1 million Jamaicans are living abroad, with women making up 57.5 percent of this population.
He pointed to the support that high commissions and embassies had given them, “our mission is to engage the diaspora, connect with the diaspora, and empower the diaspora, not only in terms of how they relate to Jamaica but also in terms of empowering them in their own community.”
