JAMAICA | The Bleating of the Sheep

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica, July 1, 2026 – By O. Dave Allen | The government insists it has acted transparently. But what, then, is this bleating of sheep that we hear? The evidence tells a different story.

Only yesterday, the JLP stood triumphant, celebrating a decisive victory and another term in office. Today, the shine has been blown off that victory by arrogance, secrecy, poor judgment and a dangerous surrender of Jamaica’s moral authority.

The country is still wrestling with the poor handling of the Hurricane Melissa recovery, the arrogance surrounding NARA, the shabby treatment of the Cuban medical team, the lingering Integrity Commission issues, and growing calls for Dr Andrew Wheatley to be removed from the Cabinet.

Added to this is the barefaced slaughter of Buju in Granville, St. James, and the troubling increase in fatal police shootings. As we face the long, hot summer of discontent, it is the people—not the political class—who are now at the forefront of this national reckoning.

The demonstrations are not isolated incidents; they are symptoms of a deeper unease coursing through the country. Communities are grieving, anger is mounting, and confidence in public institutions is steadily eroding.

Unless justice is seen to be done, and unless those in authority respond with humility rather than arrogance, the pressure will continue to build. Sooner or later, the dam will burst.

But the unkindest cut of all is Jamaica being invited to join the United States in what can only be described as ethnic cleansing by policy: the removal of Black and brown immigrants from America and their dumping onto poorer, weaker countries.

These are people who went to the United States seeking opportunity in the very tradition America claims to celebrate—a nation built by immigrants, sustained by immigrants, and enriched by immigrants.

Yet now, under the language of deportation, transit, security and agreement, Jamaica is being asked to participate in the racialized disposal of human beings.

Jamaica must not become a holding pen for Marco Rubio’s self described “despicables.” We must not allow our island to be used as a dumping ground for America’s unwanted Black and brown migrants.

We must not lend our sovereignty to a policy that strips vulnerable people of dignity and turns the Caribbean into a warehouse for human rejection.

This is not transparency. This is complicity. And the bleating of the sheep is getting louder.

WiredJA