Charles Jr reassures farmers concerned about impact of new Road Traffic Act
HAGUE, Trelawny — Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Pearnel Charles Jr is reassuring farmers that the Government will make an effort to balance any negative impact the new Road Traffic Act has on the transportation of goods with its need to ensure law and order on the streets.
"My advice is this: Firstly, we need to abide by the law as much as we can and where farmers have issues in terms of traversing from one place to the next, they can be assured that the Government is sensitive to that and we're taking the necessary steps to ensure that we do not impede in any impractical or unreasonable way," he said.
He was responding to questions from the media in Trelawny on Wednesday during the launch of Hague Agricultural and Livestock Show 2023.
The new Road Traffic Act which came into effect on February 1, 2023 has elicited howls of protest from segments of the society. The transport sector has been particularly vocal but there have also been concerns raised that at least one regulation will have a negative impact on those transporting produce.
There is a $5,000 fine for engaging in or allowing someone else to sit or travel with a load being transported. Vendors typically travel with their goods to market and there is concern that any change to this approach will hit them in their pockets.
So far, farmers have been less strident in expressing their concerns about the implications of the Act, unlike sections of the transportation sector that have staged sometimes fiery protests and felled trees in a bid to get the Government to bend to their will and adjust the regulations they deem unjust or impractical.
On Wednesday, Charles Jr carefully chose his words as he spoke about the issue.
"We are very sensitive and aware that the farmers and other persons seem to have apprehension in terms of how laws will be implemented and how it will be applied," he told reporters.
"I don't speak to the issues relating to that law that will be articulated otherwise. But I can assure the farmers that it is a consideration in the mind of the Government and that as we try to balance, in that way, the need to move Jamaica to a place where we have true law and order, while also acknowledging the steps that have to be taken to reach there, it's challenging," he added.
He called for understanding as the Government grapples with the concerns raised while keeping its sights set on moving forward with the changes, it is convinced, are needed.
"It's challenging but nothing that you want that's good is going to come easy. We just have to, as a country, bind together and ensure that we are understanding with each other and that we examine the steps moving forward, but that our focus must be to build a better Jamaica," said Charles Jr.
"Building a better Jamaica means that we must have law and order, we must move towards change. None of us want to remain static, the status quo is for the past," he argued.
He however reiterated his point that the Government would be understanding about the concerns raised.
"We are sensitive and we understand. And as I've said to farmers who have asked me, steps are being taken to continuously examine, not just road traffic, but all of our laws to make sure that the laws can be applied in a way that allows for them to still be able to give Jamaica what they have given us in the last three years which is record level production," said the agriculture minister.
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