Foota Hype Criticises Prime Minister For Defunding Maroons Who Declare Sovereignty
Prime Minister Andrew Holness’ decision to withhold financial and other State support from the Accompong community in North West St. Elizabeth, has not gone down well with Dancehall selector Foota Hype.
Foota made his comments on Sunday morning amidst the standoff between Accompong Maroon Chief Colonel Richard Currie and Holness.
The selector sided with the Colonel, who has declared Accompong “sovereign”, whilst rebuking the PM for withholding State support to the Maroons, after Holness declared at a Jamaica House press conference on Sunday morning, that among other Jamaica was a “unitary sovereign state” and that he would not support any group that claimed sovereignty in Jamaica.
The PM was responding to questions posed during a Jamaica House press conference, about a leaked Cabinet document referred to in a Gleaner article published last Friday, which it is said, cautioned government ministries, departments, and agencies that: “there must be no acceptance of, or acquiescence to, any language or suggestion regarding sovereignty or indigenous rights, and no funds must be placed at the disposal of any person or entity claiming such”.
“There are some threats that the average citizen looking on might think innocuous or popular and take a liking to it because the discussions that are held in places that should know better does not highlight the threat,” Holness had said adding that “not one inch of Jamaica will come under any other sovereign authority” and that pronouncements of this nature “was the stuff of how guerrilla wars come and states break down”.
Foota took to his Instagram live, an hour after Holness made his pronouncements, and spent several minutes of his hour-long monologue, deriding Holness’ decision to instruct government ministries, departments, and agencies to “not to engage with, or fund” Maroons “who are asserting sovereignty from the Jamaican State”.
“If yuh watch wha di man seh dis mawning. Di man seh, him nuh business wid no odda system but di Queen system enuh,” Foota said, referring to the Queen of England, Elizabeth II, who is the titular head of Jamaica.
“Di man seh him naw contribute to no odda govament but di govament weh him a work wid. Suh him a basically tell yuh seh di Maroon dem an anybaddy else can guh dead enuh. If a him fi help dem God come outta di sky enuh. Because dem naw work wid di govament weh him a part of enuh. What govament is he a part of? Him a part a di Queen system. Him a part a colonial system, zeen. Him unda pressure so much dat him come out a talk weh him nuffi talk,” Foota added.
Amidst his multiple calls for Holness to resign, Foota questioned the Prime Minister’s judgment and goodwill towards the people living in the Accompong community.
“How yuh fi tell di public seh if dem nuh part a da system deh, yuh nuh care bout dem? Di man seh him naw use taxpayer money help nobaddy weh unda no odda govament. Dat mean di man a seh if di people up a Maroon town a dead; if di Maroon dem a suffa like dog, him naw help dem. None a di country money naw help dem because dem unda different governance. Dem nuh unda di queen govament. Suh oonu nuh si suppm wrong wid dat?” the Dark Knight producer said.
“Dat mean seh Andrew blatantly a tell yuh seh a nuh everybaddy him care fah. Him care fi who a work wid Babylon system. But once yuh naw work wid Babylon system, you shall die!” Foota shouted.
Several hours after Foota made his comments, Colonel Currie himself took to Instagram accusing Holness of scheming to annex sections of the Maroon-owned mineral-rich Cockpit Country, and sell to foreigners.
The Munro College old boy also rebutted Holness’ sovereignty declaration, pointing out that Jamaica was not a sovereign state as the PM had stated, but a constitutional monarchy in which Queen of England Elizabeth II reigns Sovereign as Head of State and the Government was “simply ‘fully responsible’ in Elizabeth’s Commonwealth per the legal language in the Charter for Jamaica”.
“The Jamaican government is a professional at begging the world. We are selling out our natural resources; we are selling out our lands. These are regular day-to-day conversations that permeate the island as the government does not own its roads nor its airspace, amongst many other things, which is why Maroons will not subject themselves to a municipality, because Mr Holness and his cronies will try to take our ancestral estate – the Cockpit Country – and sell it to the highest bidder,” the Chief declared.
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Currie went on to blame Holness and the Jamaica Labour Party administrations of National Hero Sir Alexander Bustamante and former Prime Minister Edward Seaga, for stifling the Maroon economy.
In a separate post, he ordered Holness to read the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous people, to which Jamaica is a signatory.
“Jamaica has an EXTENSIVE external debt and is constantly begging, so you rely on other sovereign nations, in other words, you are receiving funding from others, so please consider human and indigenous rights before you end up de-funded as well,” Currie stated.
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