PM: False prophets using poor people to stop development
Published:Thursday | October 27, 2022 | 12:10 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
Two weeks after a lobby claimed that Rastafarian families were at risk of being evicted from Bob Marley Beach in St Thomas, Prime Minister Andrew Holness castigated critics as being mischief makers who are inimical to the progress of the eastern parish.
In his remarks at the opening of the new multimillion-dollar Yallahs Fire Station on Wednesday, Holness said that the push for investment in St Thomas would not be undertaken to the disadvantage of nationals.
The ongoing multibillion-dollar Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project and the construction of an urban centre at the old Goodyear factory lands are expected to unlock new economic opportunities and woo investors.
“Along the coast, we are seeing significant private sector interests in tourism development. I wanted to go and visit the Bob Marley Beach because I saw a social media post; I saw a video being circulated that Andrew Holness wants to take away poor people land,” Holness said before taking a long pause.
He continued: “I immediately saw through it, because all that Andrew Holness has ever done is to give poor people access to land and housing, but I took heart after I saw the video, because, immediately, a young lady called me and said to me, ‘Prime Minister, I hope you’re not going to stop the hotel development that is coming.’”
Holness said there are thousands of young men and women in the parish who want jobs, and the new developments will provide them with opportunities.
“How is the parish going to be developed without bringing in industry and commerce and housing? This politics of poverty is so dangerous, [they] use poor people to stop their own development. Can you imagine that?” Holness asked.
“Use poor people to stop development! … Don’t follow the false prophets who you see coming and talking. Don’t follow those people who are bent on creating mischief. I understand your frustration. I understand your fatigue and I want you to take the entire thing and put it into context,” he continued.
Claims that state-owned Bob Marley Beach was at risk of being sold have been denied by the Holness administration but advocates have suggested that investment plans by the owner of lands adjacent to the coastline might restrict access to the beach’s high watermark.
Attorney-at-law Dr Marcus Goffe, who is representing the Jamaica Birthright Environmental Movement, which is supporting families who reside on the lands, said recently that he has taken legal action to put the brakes on the development.
“Just to be clear, the Bob Marley Beach is owned by the commissioner of lands and there is no intention whatsoever to sell the beach. In fact, government policy is that we do not sell beach land/beachfront. We want to make that clear So, if there were any concerns, please rest assured that’s not the case,” the prime minister said Wednesday.
Holness reiterated that he came from poverty and knows what it is to be born in a one-bedroom house.
“The only way out of poverty is to get development going So all dem people who come promising you all kind of things, run dem!” he said.
“When we get the road in, we get investment in, we get employment in, and you start to get work. And when you get work, you get your income, and your income gives you independence, and with that independence you have greater choice,” he said.
Holness also said that the current development focus in St Thomas was unprecedented, arguing that this much attention had not been paid to the parish since 1865 – the year of the Morant Bay Rebellion.