DRMA was making criminals of the people, says Crawford

Senator Damion Crawford has lauded the official reopening of the entertainment industry and noted that by so doing, the powers that be have "stopped creating criminals of the people".

Crawford was among the throng of partygoers in attendance at the birthday celebration held for Stone Love sound system's founder Winston 'Wee Pow' Powell last Saturday. The event was held at Stone Love's Burlington Ave HQ.

The entertainment section was locked down for most of the two years that Jamaica used the Disaster Risk Management Act (DRMA) as the main legislative tool to slow the spread of COVID-19. The containment measures were withdrawn last Friday, giving the entertainment sector an opportunity to exhale.

AN UNREASONABLE SITUATION

"I am very happy for the participants of the industry. I thought that they were unreasonably treated. Hotels were open and other forms of entertainment activity, but the events industry was not opened and, therefore, we felt that was an unreasonable situation," Crawford, a former state minister with responsibility for entertainment, said.

The straight-talking politician noted that despite the DRMA, promoters and partygoers defied the lockdown measures as they found it to be unreasonable and unjust. Thousands of Jamaicans were charged for breaching the DRMA, many of whom were arrested at parties. Crawford argued that persons had had enough of the stifling measures, and many of them "reopened" the entertainment sector by staging events, and forced the Government to follow their lead.

"For the last two months entertainment reopened itself, but I'm happy that the prime minster has now stopped creating criminals of our people to just go out an enjoy those activities. All he did [by withdrawing the DRMA] was to remove the criminal aspect, but they were partying for a while," Crawford said.