Buju Banton Slams Jamaican Gov’t Over Plans To Give Immunity To COVID-19 Vaccine Makers

Last week’s revelation that the Jamaican Government will be passing laws to grant immunity to vaccine producers from liability if Jamaicans suffer harm after taking the COVID-19 vaccine, has not gone down well with Buju Banton and some of his fellow Dancehall artists.

For the umpteenth time, the Gargamel took to social media to make his disgust about how he felt about the COVID-19 containment measures known.

This time it followed the publication of an article in the Jamaica Star last week, which quoted Health Ministry representatives as saying during a Special Select Committee of Parliament, that the country would be required to put laws and regulations in place to “indemnify the manufacturer for product liability claims associated with the use and administration of that vaccine”.

For Buju Banton and his colleagues, which include Spragga Benz, Mr. Lexx, Kabaka Pyramid and Billboard songwriter Koolface, the indemnification of vaccine producers is tantamount to betrayal of the nation by those put in positions of trust.

“So the love for this nation and its people soooo great. They will allow there friends to kill you and it’s perfectly ok#honest # Jamaica land they love # not the people,” Buju wrote on his Instagram page under his repost of the Star article.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CKpEc_HhpM4/

His fans also joined him in lashing out at the Andrew Holness administration, some saying that Jamaicans had been double-crossed.

Among the skeptics were Spragga Benz who wrote: “Any how dem make it mandatory then we know what fi gwaan”.

Kabaka Pyramid also joined in stating that the behavior of the Government signaled the ‘end of times’.

“And watch dem ramp up di false numbers fi mek sure seh di false vaccine “necessary” #endofdays,” the wrote.

Over on The Star’s page where the original post was made, Mr. Lexx also poured scorn on the Government, stating that he could not understand why they should be getting involved in such shenanigans.

“This has to be a joke.   Wait lemme make sure me understand.   Ok so our government is gonna make it mandatory to take the vaccine and and at the same time make mandatory that we can’t sue the ppl who make the vaccine they’re about to force us to take!!?? Um like I said, This must be a joke,” the Full Hundred artiste stated, while Koolface stated categorically: “If this isn’t an eye opener then Jcans are blind deaf and dumb, this shows how much the Gov truly cares about us.

This though, is not the first time that Buju has sparked controversy surrounding COVID.  In April, last year during an interview with Level Medium, he said he had disregarded physical distancing and statistical reports and questioned why “fake television reporters” were not wearing masks.  He also expressed consternation about the “confusing advice” being disseminated by the media.

Then in May, he set off a firestorm on Instagram after he posted a video in which he told Jamaicans to shun the testing program, and expressed displeasure about the Government’s protracted lockdown in the country.

In the 80 second clip, Buju had cited Tanzanian president John Magufuli as a black leader who was looking out for his nation’s interest and not taking the “side of multi-national companies”, a statement which some followers claimed was an indirect comparison with Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

Things came to a head in October when Buju in another online rant expressed his frustration with the face mask-wearing protocols put in place to combat the spread of COVID-19 and implicitly called on Jamaicans to stop wearing face masks.   This time there was as much national outrage as there was support of the 47-year-old’s highly controversial comments, with some people classifying him as mad, while others made a slew of derogatory comments about him.

“We waan done wid dis mask wearing bullsh-t inna Jamaica. Who fi dead ago dead and who nah go dead, haffi jus live. We tired of you intellectual fools trying to tell us how to live our lives, you are so smart why you haven’t found the cure for cancer,” he had declared.

At the time Buju also blamed the State for the economic fallout and the rising poverty levels brought on by the containment measures.  He said the authorities had failed to help the plethora of people who have been laid off or the businesses which had been forced to close.

“Jamaican people need fi wake up. Mi nah wear no mask cause mask nuh mek fi man,” he said. “Free my people!” he had declared.