Foota Hype Believes PM Andrew Holness Is Throwing Shade At Him In Parliament

Dancehall selector Foota Hype has accused Prime Minister Andrew Holness of “throwing words” at him during a Parliamentary sitting on Tuesday, because he had dared to launch a Instagram-based “Fed Up Challenge” to rebuke the Jamaican government.

The music selector, whose given name is Oneil Thomas, had used his official Instagram to start the challenge, urging Jamaicans who are fed-up with crime and violence in the country to use Bounty Killer’s 1996 hit Poor People Fed Up as their launching pad.

The challenge was also aimed at expressing outrage about comments made by Holness during a Jamaica Observer interview, that “persons who are going to the corner shops to buy two pounds of rice, big gill of oil, half of bread, chicken parts or chicken back are not wearing their masks or social distancing”.

According to Foota, Holness was unfair in using that analogy and was blaming the “poor” for the spread of the COVID-19 virus, as he had not similarly criticized wealthy persons from Upper St. Andrew who have been keeping pool parties, scores of whom the marine police also caught gallivanting on their yachts at a beach party in cays off the shores of Kingston several months ago.

During his presentation in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Holness had himself rebuked ‘divisive’ persons whom he said were using social media and other forms of mediated communication to utter “nonsense” and mislead the public and disparage the Government, and urged Jamaicans not to listen to their fallacies.

“We have amongst us, persons who peddle unreasonable and irrational ideas.   Persons who have a microphone in front of them, some of them who are very influential, should know better, who have peddled ideas that unsuspecting persons may be misled with, and that is dangerous to our democracy,” Holness had declared.

“Madam Speaker we do not attempt in any way to prevent the free expression of thought, as a citizen of this country I stand here and defend that, but as a citizen of this country I also must stand here and defend the full exposition of reasonable and rational positions and ensure that those positions are properly, carefully and expressly articulated in this country,” the PM added.

Holness also said the people who were spreading propaganda were selfish, as in the event that the same people that they are misleading fall ill, they will not help them.

“For those persons who are pushing, in all forms of media, a class war, a social war the anti-vaccination war, if you get ill today, you go to one of them and tell them ‘pay mi doctor bill for mi’ with the other arguments that somehow we are trying to take away liberty.  We need to dispel that; nobody is trying to take away your liberty,” Holness said.

“Wi trying to save yuh life…  Don’t teck dis foolishness dat wi tryin to suffocate yuh…. If wi put in place a curfew, don’t spew did nonsense dat wi don’t waan yuh party an enjoy yuhself.  Is di same set a people complain when dem si di video circulating of di hospital overcrowded and people sitting in the hallways, caan get oxygen. It is as if they have no concern.  It is the highest level of selfishness in the society,” a strident Holness declared to a round of applause.

As the Prime Minister spoke, he also lashed out at the Leader of the Opposition, Mark Golding who had endorsed statements being circulated that Holness ‘was blaming the poor for the spread of COVID-19’.

“And we as the Parliament must never give sucker to those kinds of arguments.   We must talk out against that because if ever there was a time in the society that we all must be at one, now is the time,” the PM said, to a round of desk-banging by his colleagues.

Holness also said that a reconfiguration of the society was necessary and should include the creation of entertainment zones where people can party from 5am to 5am the next day, as they “should not be disturbing the nurse who have to get up at 5am to go to KPH and work”.

“And it is a conversation that we need to have without anybody saying we fight Dancehall or wi fighting dis or wi fightin dat.  It needs to be said.  And until we reach the level of social maturity without saying somebaddy fightin di poor or fightin down di poor man.  Nobaddy not fightin any poor.  I am fightin for the poor!” Holness said.

Holness also sought to re-emphasize his ghetto credentials, and his humble upbringings stating that he very well knew what being poor was, having experienced it himself.

“Because Madam Speaker, I come from 56 Cumberland Road in Spanish Town… nobaddy can tell mi about living poor.  But what I am seeing Madam Speaker, is that those people who should know better have misled the poor.  They not telling the poor the truth about what they know,” he said.

On Thursday, Foota took umbrage to Holness statements and claimed that the PM was insidiously pointing fingers at him in retaliation, because he expressed dissatisfaction with his performance as leader of Jamaica.

“This morning I have to address the Prime Minister because him a address me inna him speech, but him naw call mi name.  The difference between me an him now, he has to be politically careful a weh him a she.  Mi nuh haffi dh dat.  Mi can tell him straight seh a him mi a talk,” Foota told his IG fans.

“Him a talk bout some people can teck up a microphone inna one party an pick up a cell phone an mislead people an gi dem di wrong impression.  Andrew, mi nuh gi nobaddy misleading information… mi nuh lead nobaddy to di wrong way.  You are doing things that are not right,” the Cassava piece native declared.

Foota said that Holness, seemed to be on an ego trip as he has not seen it fit to have a “one-on-one discussion” with him on his IG Live feed, even though he, Foota was “appointed by the street” and was “from and for the people”.

“Yuh caan a guh inna Parliament an a guh inna di house and a talk everyday and naw talk to di street.  You are beatnig around the bush and you are holding discussions in the House of Parliament without anybody responding to you.  All yuh duh a mek speech and people a knock table.  That is not conversation; that is not dialogue.  That is you presenting want you want seh, widout anybaddy a seh weh dem waan seh,” Foota said.

“When mi talk yuh see it because based pon yuh speech it is obvious seh dat yuh know weh Foota Hype seh.   Yuh naw watch from yuh page but yuh a watch from one a yuh assistant page or one a yuh worker dem page, but yuh know what’s going on, and me need fi me and you have a conversation,” he said.

Foota also recommended that the Prime Minister fire his advisors at Jamaica house.

“Whoever a advise you fi do tings, need to be fired.  Whosever advise you an a help yuh write yuh speech dem or if a you a dweet yuhself, yuh need fi get di proper advice,” he said.