JAMAICA | PNP's Newell Tables Motion to Protect Jamaica's Power, Water, and Telecoms Networks

Opposition MP Omar Newell tables Private Member's Motion demanding critical infrastructure be treated as national security priority

Every stolen transformer, every vandalized water main, every sabotaged telecommunications cable sends the same message: Jamaica's critical infrastructure is under siege, and the laws meant to protect it are woefully inadequate for the task.

On Tuesday, People's National Party Member of Parliament Omar Newell forced this uncomfortable truth onto the floor of the House of Representatives, tabling a Private Member's Motion that demands the government treat attacks on Jamaica's utility networks as what they are—threats to national security, not mere property crimes.

The motion marks the first Private Member's Motion brought by the PNP during the current parliamentary term, a pointed reminder that Opposition benches need not be passive observers while the country's lifelines deteriorate under criminal assault.

The Arithmetic of Vulnerability

"Our electricity, telecommunications, and water systems are not ordinary pieces of property; they are lifelines," Newell declared in tabling the motion. "When these networks are attacked, the consequences ripple through hospitals, emergency services, schools, businesses, and households."

The arithmetic is brutal. A single transformer theft plunges communities into darkness. A vandalized water main leaves families without supply for days. A sabotaged telecommunications line severs emergency services from the citizens who need them most.

Yet under existing Jamaican law, these offences attract penalties designed for ordinary larceny—a legal framework that treats the theft of copper wire with the same gravity as shoplifting.

This is not abstract policy failure. It is a daily reality for Jamaicans who watch their communities held hostage by criminals who have calculated, correctly, that the rewards of infrastructure theft far outweigh the risks.

The scrap-metal trade sits at the heart of this crisis. Illicit markets create perverse incentives, transforming Jamaica's electrical grid and water network into inventory for criminal enterprise.

Newell's motion directly addresses this, calling for a comprehensive review of the scrap-metal industry to choke off the demand that drives infrastructure predation.

A Legislative Framework for the 21st Century

The motion's proposals are substantive and specific. Newell calls for the formal declaration of electricity, telecommunications, and water networks as critical national infrastructure—a designation that carries legal weight and signals national priority.

He proposes the creation of a Critical National Utility Infrastructure Protection Act, establishing specialised offences with penalties proportionate to the national consequences of these crimes.

Crucially, the motion recommends that infrastructure offences be designated as indictable-only, triable in the Supreme Court rather than disposed of in parish courts where overcrowded dockets and limited sentencing options render justice toothless.

The call for enhanced coordination among law-enforcement agencies, regulators, ministries, and utility operators acknowledges that infrastructure protection cannot be siloed. Neither can legislative reform proceed without proper consultation.

Newell's motion urges the establishment of a Joint Select Committee to receive submissions from utility operators, regulators, law-enforcement officials, legal experts, and civil society—ensuring that whatever legislation emerges reflects operational reality rather than parliamentary assumption.

The Stakes Beyond Partisanship

"This is not a partisan issue—it is a national imperative," Newell emphasized, and the post-Hurricane Melissa landscape lends his words particular weight.

Jamaica has just witnessed what happens when infrastructure fails. The country's vulnerability to natural disasters is matched only by its exposure to cyber threats and organized criminal activity. In this context, treating attacks on critical infrastructure as ordinary crime is not merely inadequate—it is negligent.

The question now is whether the governing party will receive this motion in the spirit offered. Private Member's Motions have historically faced an uphill battle in Jamaica's parliamentary system, where government control of the agenda can consign Opposition proposals to procedural purgatory regardless of merit.

But infrastructure crime will not wait for political convenience. Every day that Jamaica's legal framework remains misaligned with the severity of these offences, criminals continue their calculations—and communities continue paying the price.

Newell has placed the challenge squarely before Parliament. The country's lifelines demand a response equal to the threat.

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