PM Andrew Holness To Outline Protocols For Reopening Of Jamaica’s Entertainment Sector On June 22

Minister of Entertainment Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange announced this afternoon in the House of Representatives, that Prime Minister Andrew Holness will officially outline protocols for the reopening of the entertainment sector, on Tuesday, June 22.

The entertainment sector has been in lockdown for more than a year and the Ministry of Health has categorized events such as parties, concerts, and round robins as COVID-19 super-spreaders.

Grange’s announcement comes a week after Dancehall artists castigated the Prime Minister for calling general elections in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, last September, and unfairly attributing blame to the entertainment sector for the subsequent infection spike.

It also comes a day after Dancehall artists took Jamaica’s Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett to task, following news reports that he had “claimed that local players in the entertainment sector have earned some $500 million for the provision of services to hotels” from January to May.

This afternoon, in giving the timeline during her presentation to the Sectoral Debate in the Lower House of Parliament, Grange, who is a former manager for Patra, Shabba Ranks, and Bounty Killer, said that in spite of rising pressure, the reopening will not be rushed.

“As with the resumption of sports, the resumption of entertainment will have to be a gradual process and we will also have to consider capacity limits as well as authorised venues where the necessary safety protocols can be implemented,” Grange stated.

She added: “So Madam Speaker I just want to say to the voices out there that we are gonna have to work this through.  And no matter what noise is made out there, we gonna ensure it is done the right way.”

Grange also told the House of Representatives that her Ministry has proposed a list of venues that can be used for events, and also noted that her Ministry is also offering to subsidize the cost of using these facilities.

“These venues include facilities at Independence Park, Trelawny Stadium, the Port Royal Entertainment Zone including Fort Rocky and Fort Charles, as well as Seville Heritage Park,” Grange said.

“We are still finalizing the arrangements while continuing the consultation with stakeholders, for the reopening of the wider entertainment sector and will make the appropriate announcements soon,” she said.

Dancehall artists have been up in arms for months, blaming the Prime Minister for a myriad of woes resulting from the protracted lockdown,  including failing to give them and other members of the entertainment fraternity a promised subsidy.

Last week they accused Holness of being duplicitous and rebuked him for unfairly attributing blame to the entertainment sector, while omitting his own major role in the COVID-19 infection spike, in which he called general elections in the midst of the pandemic.

In April some took to jeering Holness after The Star tabloid published an article claiming that the Jamaica Labour Party leader has promised to dole out sums of cash to “entertainers”.

In a move which seemed to have been geared at placating Dancehall artistes, selectors and other members of the entertainment fraternity who had been berating him mercilessly about his protracted lockdown of the sector due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Holnesss had said the Government would be giving entertainment stakeholders money.

In mid-April, Holness had outlined in a Parliamentary address that his  government did not see entertainment as merely fun, but instead understood it to be an industry.

“It is a business for many; they have invested heavily in their business.  It is the reality; it is the proven fact that the gatherings that happen at parties are usually the ground zero of spread and we have tried to find ways within the public health science to accommodate these kinds of events and gatherings,” he had said.

The Prime Minister had also urged players in the entertainment industry to begin planning for the reopening of the country, whenever the COVID pandemic is suppressed.

“I want to say to the entertainment community: now is the time to plan; now is the time to develop a new strategy for delivering your product because when the lockdown over, I don’t think you gwine have hand to manage parties and concerts and just people having fun…,” Holness had added.