Opposition youth spokesperson demands Government account for Jamaican students in Ukraine

Opposition Spokesperson on Youth and Sports, Senator Gabriela Morris has expressed “great disappointment” with what she labelled the Government’s lacklustre response to the plight of Jamaican students in under seige Ukraine.

Morris, in a statement Thursday night, urged the Government to utilise its diplomatic ties to ensure that the students are evacuated and brought to safety, even belatedly.

Her comments came even as Prime Minister Andrew Holness, Minister with responsibility for Information Robert Nesta Morgan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade all issued statements seeking to damp down the anger, that had been building on social media and elsewhere all day, around the perceived lack of an acceptable effort by the Government to assist the students.

Said Morris: “This practice of leaving our citizens stranded when they face crises overseas has become a routine for this Government. We recall the fishermen left stranded in a US immigration facility in 2020, as well as the Jamaican cruise ship workers left to languish at sea, also in 2020, while other countries went to the aid of their citizens.”

She added: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs must try to redeem themselves by ensuring our students are brought to safety.”

Morris said the Jamaican Government could have done more to get the students to safety.

“The safety of our students should be our highest priority at this time. Other countries are doing right by their citizens while the Jamaican Government chooses to pinch pennies in this life and death situation,” she said.

“These brave young people have chosen to leave their homeland and families in the hopes of attaining higher education. Many of these students could not otherwise afford a tertiary education if not for the scholarships that they’ve been granted. Should they be punished by their country for being ambitious? Young people across Jamaica are taking note of the callous treatment the Government is meting out to our youth.”

Morris said she hoped the escalation of the situation in Ukraine would now prompt the foreign affairs ministry to consider the students’ predicament and move swiftly to provide the aid needed to get them to safety by any means necessary.

The senator chided: “We cannot have any more blunders, now is not the time for a laissez-faire approach. We must explore all possible avenues to extract our students.”

Morris also wishes to express sentiments of support to the students and their families.

“We stand in solidarity with you and will continue to impress upon the Government to uphold its duty to protect its citizens at home and abroad.”

SEE ALSO:

• Holness slams ‘misguided’ rhetoric, defends ‘loan offer’ to Jamaican students
• Holness condemns Ukraine invasion, warns of economic fallout for Jamaica
• Gov’t accused of ‘not telling whole truth’ on loan offer to Jamaican students stuck in Ukraine