PM says he learned about heartbroken ship workers after they left

Damion Mitchell, Integration Editor

Prime Minister Andrew Holness last night reported that when he learned that a group of 43 heartbroken Jamaican ship workers had anchored near Port Royal seeking landing, they had already left.

But according to Holness, the moment he became aware of the matter, he was clear that they would have had to be allowed in.

That was Friday April 3.

This development has further clouded the issue since ship workers reported that they anchored in Jamaican waters at 7 a.m. on Thursday, April 2 for refuelling and disembarkation and departed at 4 p.m on Friday, April 3 after no word came from the government on their landing request.

According to a joint statement from the ministries of national security and foreign affairs, the request for landing was made to the Port Authority of Jamaica and Port Health Agents who advised of the ban on incoming traffic as part of the coronavirus containment measures.

The ministries further said, it was not until the evening of April 2 that the Emergency Health Operations Committee learned of the request and made enquiries about passengers’ temperature data and whether there was any incidence of COVID-19 on board.

At a digital press conference last evening, the Prime Minister did not answer our question as to whether the authority had received the requested temperature log and what it did with the data.

It is also still not clear why it took a day for the Cabinet to be informed about the landing request it needed to approve.

READ: High Risk! - Why the Gov’t did not grant cruise ship workers landing

But the Prime Minister insisted that he was in a coordinating meeting with other government ministers on the afternoon of April 3 when he first heard that the Jamaican ship workers wanted to dock.

"I just want that to be clear because in a time of crisis there are persons who are trying to find all sorts of issues to hang on to," Holness said.

The Prime Minister acknowledged that the Government needs to be kept in check but said he would be very frank that no opportunity would be provided for anyone to give misinform and distraction.

"We must remain focused," he said.

Last week Holness had declined to address the issue of the ship workers.

On April 3, the vessel left Jamaica enroute to the Dominican Republic, where its nationals disembarked then headed to Portugal, but word came on Sunday that the ship was also denied landing in Lisbon.

The ship has since diverted to the United Kingdom, which has so far seen more than 10,000 coronavirus deaths.

The government has reiterated that it is considering a programme for the controlled return of some Jamaicans overseas.

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