Buju Banton Defends Chief Currie After Report of Breaching Firearm Licensing

Nicolas SimpsonFebruary 15, 2022, 9:56 PM

Dancehall veteran Buju Banton is enraged about a report made by Shane Dalling, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Firearms Licensing Authority (FLA) regarding Richard Currie, Colonel of the Accompong Maroons being in breach of the Firearms Act.

Earlier today, Shane Dalling did a press conference at the AC Hotel in Kingston, when he disclosed that Chief Currie was issued licenses for his two firearms, but never renewed after they expired and as a result, the matter has been referred to the authorities. This revelation to the media caused outrage from Buju Banton as he found it necessary to highlight the alleged injustice against the Chief by the Prime Minister and the Government of Jamaica.

Subsequently, Buju uploaded a video to his Instagram page where he defends Chief Currie, whilst accusing the government and Prime Minister Andrew Holness of attempting to destroy the Chief’s credibility. In a section of his 1:29 seconds video, you can hear the entertainer saying “this is a blatant ploy by the Jamaican crime minister to hurt this young man and to hurt many of us who stand up and see the wicked criminality being perpetrated by the Jamaican politicians on the Jamaican populace”.

Buju went on to further state that PM Holness, his friends and law enforcement officers are the biggest criminals in the country as they are the ones who have the illegal guns and not citizens. Furthermore, the entertainer made mention of a legislation that is supposedly passed in the government, which gives authority for firearm holders to get life imprisonment or get killed on spot. However, National Security Minister Dr. Horace Chang had recently proposed a bill, that a person convicted of illegal possession of a firearm must serve at least 15 years before parole. The maximum penalty of life in prison still stands.

Moreover, the FLA press conference that occurred earlier in the day was as a result of questions being raised regarding mass corruption at the Firearm Licensing Authority. It is reported that Jah Cure who was initially revoked a gun license was subsequently approved. His approval for a firearm was amongst 200 others that had criminal convictions such as murder, firearm offences, and drug trafficking between 2014 and 2017.

According to reports, the board of the FLA would deny the application for firearm licensing by persons of questionable character, however, reports further revealed that the same board that denied such application would then approve them. In 2017, however, the board of the FLA denounced claims that they were corrupt.

“What was curious was that the board was reversing decisions of the previous board. One board would deny the license on the basis that the person wasn’t fit and proper and although the new board has no new application before it or no new information, approved the person on a willy-nilly basis,” said CEO of FLA, Shane Dalling.

Check out Buju Banton’s video below: