Residents protest in support of St Thomas councillor in election controversy
Published:Monday | July 3, 2017 | 5:22 PM
Several St Thomas residents today protested in support of Dean Jones, the Jamaica Labour Party councillor for the Yallahs Division who is being pressured to step down by his People's National Party counterparts.
The residents say Jones is being treated unfairly.
Former Yallahs councillor, Constantine Bogle, has filed an election petition in the Supreme Court challenging Jones’ victory in the November 28, 2016 local government elections.
Bogle, who represented the PNP, is claiming that Jones did not live in the parish and was a civil servant up to the time of the elections, which would disqualify him from contesting the polls.
One protester, Neroy Watson, says the court should be allowed to decide whether Jones should be removed.
St Thomas resident, Neroy Watson
Last week, PNP councillors claimed that they obtained Jones' civil service P45 form, which shows that he resigned from his government job on December 16, 2016.
The form is a certificate of gross emoluments and tax deducted up to the point of leaving the government service.
They argued that this is evidence that he was ineligible at the time of the election and want Local Government Minister, Desmond McKenzie, to remove him.
The election petition is set to be heard on Tuesday.