As if Trinidad did not have enough problems with felony crimes and deviant youths, the island’s cabinet has decided to restrict Jamaican Dance Hall King Vybz Kartel’s public appearances ahead of his May 31 show in the country in the interest of public safety and security, officials said.
Newly elected Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar told reporters on Thursday that she is the one who pushed Defense Minister Wayne Sturge into placing restrictions on Kartel both for his own and national security concerns. She contends that while Adijah Palmer enjoys certain rights and privileges, those rights are not absolute in the current local environment. “And if you walk around the country today, then yes, express yourself, but not at the risk of our children. And that is one of the restrictions, I said no, I would not let him talk to our children and do TV shows. So, it’s balancing, not an absolute right. There is no absolute freedom.” After performing at a mega show in neighboring Guyana, Kartel is expected in Trinidad on May 26.
Kartel, released from a Jamaican jailhouse on appeal last July after 13 years in prison for the 2011 murder of an associate, has been holding shows across the region, raking in millions as he rebuilds his career, sheds his bad boy image, and attempts to sell a new and reformed version of himself.
In doing so, Kartel had asked authorities to allow him to address school students to persuade them away from crime, having experienced a horrible time during incarceration. However, the new government flatly rejected his overtures. The ministry has also banned him from conducting at least two media interviews, fearful that his utterances could negatively affect youths. Minister Sturge says authorities are uncomfortable with his agenda while in the federation with Tobago.
“One of the things one has to take into account is this. I am mindful of the fact that he is saying he wants to speak with the youth to have them stay away from a life of crime. But his conviction was not overturned on the merits; it was overturned on the basis of juror misconduct. So, the credibility and reliability of the evidence against him in the trial was not undermined and the Jamaican Court of Appeal, who decided not to order a retrial, did so on public policy considerations and their decision in no way affected the creditworthiness of the evidence at trial,” Sturge told reporters.
Sturge says local officials do not fear a backlash from Jamaican immigration and others against Trinidadian artistes in the future, noting that “we are not fearful of any backlash, that is the first thing. Several of our neighbors have the same legislative provisions, which their respective ministers have exercised in some instances to refuse entry to some Trinidadian artists. So, there is no backlash because it’s a discretion they can exercise.”
Meanwhile, Attorney General John Jeremie defended Sturge’s decision, saying that “the minister has exercised his powers under the statute, that’s it. I looked at the statement he put out. I was comfortable with it.”
Local security officials have in recent years shut down several large parties or fetes, citing security concerns in a country wracked by felony crimes like home invasions, abductions, carjackings, and gangland violence, among others.
