Desmond McKenzie slams Oral Tracey sabotage claim

“This is completely malicious, reckless and unfounded. The Government of Jamaica is facilitating the responsible return of sport and social life in general, in line with the COVID-19 indicators.

There is no policy to promote one sport while restricting the other,” McKenzie stated in a media release issued this evening.

On the weekend, popular sport analyst Oral Tracey called for football fans to “vote out” the governing Jamaica Labour Party whenever the next elections are called after the government refused to allow spectators, irrespective of vaccination status, to attend the last two World Cup qualifying matches at home. The Reggae Boyz lost both of these matches, going down 2-1 to Mexico before being beaten 1-0 by Costa Rica, which ended their World Cup campaign.

In a blog on his YouTube channel, Tracey argued that the denial of at the very least vaccinated spectators, robbed the national senior men’s team of the vital 12th man support from the stands.

The decision of the state, led by the local government ministry in tandem with the Ministry of Health and Wellness, the Ministry of Sports and other stakeholders, smacks hypocrisy after 5,000 vaccinated only patrons were authorised to attend Jamaica’s World Cup qualifying match at home against the United States in November last year. This as well as the blanket approval for horseracing to continue unabated at Caymanas Park throughout the pandemic without imposing a vaccine mandate to date, has been pointed out by many sport fans including Tracey as hypocritical in other commentaries.

“You know in retrospect when you look at it… You know why we get them 5,000 people (for the US game)? Uncle Sam (The United States). Them send down about a thousand people (for the game),” Tracey said suggesting that Washington pressured Kingston into relaxing its rules to facilitate US citizens attending the game.

Without referencing Tracey’s name, McKenzie says such a view being posited is baseless and without merit.

“The review of applications for sporting events is made by a clearly designated range of ministries and agencies, including the Ministry of Health and Wellness and the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management, and this process, which is grounded in consultation and partnership, includes at all times the representatives of the stakeholders who make the applications. The most decisive factor in all cases is the rate of infection at the point at which the review is being made,” explained the minister.

“The policy of having a limited number of fully vaccinated spectators at sporting events was publicly introduced by me at a news conference on November 1, 2021 to facilitate fans attending the first World Cup qualifying home game between Jamaica and the United States on November 16, 2021. The online events authorization system was unveiled and endorsed by my colleague ministers of health and wellness and culture, gender and sport, as well as the president of the Jamaica Football Federation at this news conference”.

At the turn of the new year, the situation had shifted dramatically, McKenzie argued with Covid-19 cases rising again, which health officials linked to the more contagious and transmissible, albeit less lethal Omicron variant becoming the new dominant strain.

“The reality is that the rising COVID-19 infection rates caused by the fourth wave of the virus drove the decision to have the remaining home matches played without spectators. This reality was not limited to the football programme. Permission was initially granted to the Jamaica Cricket Association to have a limited number of fully vaccinated spectators for four limited-overs matches between the West Indies and Ireland held at Sabina Park between January 8 and 16, 2022. The rising infection numbers resulted in this permission being revised to have the matches proceed without spectators. Again, the review process involved the ministries, agencies and cricketing stakeholders,” said McKenzie.

It is important to note that during the aforementioned period referenced, horseracing continued at the race track.

Branding the viewpoints of Tracey and others who share similar sentiments as baseless conspiracy theories, McKenzie asserted that: “While I fully understand the disappointment of fans of any sport who wish to turn out and give their personal support, I must re-emphasize that the ability to do so depends entirely on the COVID-19 indicators and nothing else. I therefore urge all well-thinking lovers of sport to.”

Last week the government approved 10,000 vaccinated fans only for the highly popular Gibson McCook Relays scheduled for February 26 at the National Stadium.