PNP councillors decry local gov’t polls delay
Published:Friday | February 24, 2023 | 1:16 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
The national caucus of councillors from the People’s National Party (PNP) has blasted the Government for its push to further delay the long-overdue local government elections, describing it as “negligence”.
The Government on Tuesday tabled a bill to delay the polls, which were due this month, by up to a year. The bill was passed in the Lower House and is set to be debated in the Senate on Friday.
The country last had local government elections in 2016. The four-year cycle meant that the next polls were due in November 2020, but they have since been delayed three times.
“We deem it a travesty when the Government concocts excuses that are seemingly baseless and inconsistent with what is reported by the said Government,” Spanish Town Mayor Norman Scott said during a press conference on Thursday.
“The nation was made to believe that due to budgetary constraints, an election could not be held after the said administration indicated that revenue collected by way of our tax dollars surpassed the estimated target by $80 billion. We want to remind the Government and the people of Jamaica that it’s [the] Government’s responsibility to secure funding for the holding of any election, and after four years, no preparation was made in this regard for a local government election, considered to be negligence on the part of this Government,” Scott said.
Portmore Mayor Leon Thomas and former May Pen Mayor Scean Barnswell also spoke at the press conference.
Representing the national caucus of the PNP councillors, the trio expressed concern that the democratic rights of citizens were being trampled on, with the Holness administration using its majority in the House to push through the bill for a fourth postponement.
They charged that the move is a blow to the overall good governance and democracy of Jamaica.
“The Government has been using its majority in Parliament to hold on to state power,” Barnswell said, noting that since the last local government elections, some 15 vacancies have emerged.
“[In] these divisions, the people are without proper representation and they need to be given their constitutional right to choose their councillor,” he said, adding that citizens were also being denied the right to boot non-performing councillors.