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THE WEEKLY GLEANER | DECEMBER 13 - DECEMBER 19, 2021 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | NEWS 3 THE W EKLY G EAN R | DECEMB R 13, 2021 - JANUARY 12, 202 Anthony Turner/Gleaner Writer NEW YORK: W ITH THE recent announcement by Barbados of 33-year-old pop superstar Rihanna as a national hero, Jamaicans in the diaspora have started to amplify calls for Reggae King Bob Marley to be installed as the eighth national hero of Jamaica. COMMUNITY ACTIVIST and CEO of Team Jamaica Bickle in Queens, NY, Irwine Clare, told The Gleaner that there are very few individuals who have had such a profound impact on humanity as Marley has had. “His message that is so eloquently delivered through his music, inspires kings, presidents and the common man. He is a ThirdWorld man with a First World mission,” Clare said Jamaica-born New York-based university educator, Chandra Young, labelled Marley the “de facto Jamaican national hero”. “He has met and exceeded all categories for selection in the value of his contributions to Jamaica and Jamaicans. Despite the lack of an official declaration explicitly pro- claiming him as a national hero, he remains admired and revered for his legacy and role in Jamaica’s socio-political and economic history and present. His words of revolutionary protest are on the lips of human beings across the globe. He is Jamaica’s preeminent ethnomusicologist. His poetry, his lyrics, have inspired people to ‘get up, stand up, stand up for [their] rights’. In doing so, he inspired a generation to ‘chant down Babylon’ with chants of liberation and in- dependence for nations out of the darkness of the lies of colonial oppressors.” Jamaica has debated for years about adding Marley to its Order of National Hero. No new heroes have been added since the 1980s, although a committee that examined nom- inations a few years ago had included Marley and former Prime Minister Michael Manley, among a list of 10 names. Ironically, while decision makers in Jamaica have dragged their feet, the world has acknowledged Marley as a global hero. In 1999, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. At the turn of the century, the BBC proclaimed his song, One Love , the Song of the Century. Time magazine then named Exodus Album of the Century. In 2001, his name was also engraved on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Bob Marley remains the only Jamaican to be so bestowed. Florida-based entertainment attorney, Lloyd Stanbury, is of the opinion that Jamaica’s “lack of vision” has been exposed by Barbados. “We have heard a lot of talk around this issue [of national hero] since Barbados took the decision to get rid of The Queen and also make Rihanna a national hero. My view is that this move by Barbados highlights the lack of vision, and backwardness of successive Jamaican governments. This is not about following Barbados, it is about Jamaica losing its reputation as a thought leader in the Caribbean,” Stanbury said. NewYork broadcaster and music editor, Stan Evan Smith, shared that the criteria used to select national heroes of Jamaica are outdated. “Our national heroes fought through slavery and co- lonialism. Those circumstances are no longer relevant to the present day. The heroes of our modern Jamaica face a fresh set of challenges, hence the need for new criteria,” he reiterated. Young added: “Bob remains Jamaica’s largest unsponsored export. As a nation whose GDP depends in large part on tourism, Jamaica owes much to the selfless pursuit and prowess of Robert Nesta Marley. “ With all the talk in Jamaica and in the diaspora about Marley, some are asking whether he had a premonition that someday his life and work would be scrutinised. The lyrics to Judge Not offer some insight. “ Who are you to judge me, and the life I live? I know that I’m not perfect and that I don’t claim to be, so before you point your fingers, make sure your hands are clean .” Diaspora amplifies calls for Marley as national hero Five days after a Gleaner repor t on a corruption probe into police complicity in the escape of a fugitive at the Kingston Central lock-up and a series of questionable jailbreaks i s landwide, the High Command revealed on Tuesday, December 7 that 11 personnel across junior and senior ranks have been interdicted. More interdictions loom as a high- level investigation launched by the Inspectorate and Professional Standards Oversight Bureau (IPROB) progresses, a well-placed source had said. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) reported that it noted with great concern recent incidents in which detainees escaped from police lock-ups. The action comes in the wake of a disclosure, by a high-ranking officer, in The Gleaner ’s December 2 edition that 27-year-old Orville Purnell, who is wanted in St Lucia on murder and other charges, simply “walked out”of jail. On Tuesday, the JCF says a parallel criminal investigation into the Purnell ghost disappearance has commenced. That probe involves “ the aid of technology”, the force said. Three members who were on duty on the day the Jamaican fugitive escaped f rom K ings ton Cent ra l police lock-up have been placed on interdiction. Pur ne l l was due to f ace an extradition hearing on December 6 and absconded from police custody on December 1. Additional ly, eight other pol ice personnel have been placed on interdiction in relation to two other cases of escape that occurred in 2021. The JCF did not specify those jailbreaks, but there have also been breaches at the Port Royal, Hunts Bay, and Freeport lock-ups. At least eight detainees are still on the run having escaped from the four lock-ups. Health ministry scales back orders of AstraZeneca, J&J vaccines Plunging take-up of the AstraZeneca COV I D - 19 v a c c i ne ha s fo r ced Jamaica’s health ministry to scale back procurement of the flagship brand and to fast-track negotiations for the swapping out of more than a million doses of one -shot Johnson and Johnson (J&J) amid anaemic demand. Jamaica’s Chief Medical Off icer (CMO), Dr Jacquiline Bisasor-McKenzie, has reported that the decrease in the take-up of AstraZeneca has been sufficiently stark to cause health officials to take stock and change course. “We have qui te a number of vaccines in the country. What we are looking at in terms of projections for the future is reduced doses of AstraZeneca, trying to ensure that we have the second doses for persons who have gotten their first doses,” she said at a Gleaner Editors’ Forum on Wednesday, December 8. Bisasor-McKenzie sought to explain that even though the take-up of the Pfizer vaccine now is lower than earlier trajectories, it is better than AstraZeneca’s. ““We had ant icipated that the one-dose vaccine would have been attractive, but we are not seeing the kind of take-up that we would’ve expected, so we are trying to swap out those as well,” Bisasor-McKenzie said, adding that the health ministry would be hunting more Pfizer vaccines. J&J has also lost its selling pitch as a one-shot vaccine because second doses have now been recommended. The CMO said that the ministry will not be placing any new orders of AstraZeneca in large quantities. The low take-up of vaccines has resulted in an estimated 300,000 doses of expired COVID-19 inoculants being discarded. Jamaica’s target of 65 per cent herd immunity by March 2022 is also under threat, with around 19 per cent of the population fully vaccinated. Police interdictions loom over lock-up escapes Orville Purnell, a Jamaican, is wanted for murder and other crimes in St Lucia. CONTRIBUTED Bisasor-McKenzie GLADSTONE TAYLOR/ MULTIMEDIA PHOTO EDITOR Marley CONTRIBUTED Phyllis Barnes phyllis.barnes@gleanerna.net NEW YORK Garfield Grandison - Manager garfield.grandison@gleanerna.net Normadelle Rose - Office Supervisor normadelle.rose@gleanerna.net 92-05 172nd Street, Jamaica, NY 11433, 718-657-0788 Aubrey Campbell aubreycgleaner@gmail.com [ NEWSYOU MAY HAVE MISSED ] “He has met and exceeded all categories for selection in the value of his contributions to Jamaica and Jamaicans. ... he remains admired and revered for his legacy and role in Jamaica’s socio-political and economic history and present.