Portmore Council votes for extension to consult residents on parish draft bill

The Portmore Municipal Council has voted to seek an extension from the Ministry of Local Government to get the input of residents on a draft bill set to be tabled in Parliament to establish Portmore as a parish.

A copy of the draft, ‘An Act to amend the Counties and Parishes Act of 1867 to establish Portmore parish’, was submitted to the municipal council in September last year for feedback on the proposals contained in the bill, with the ministry requesting a response from the council by December 15.

But Portmore Mayor Leon Thomas said at a general council meeting on Wednesday that he received the bill in early December, and requested an initial extension to give councillors an opportunity to debate the provisions contained in the bill in January’s general council meeting.

“The citizens of Portmore should be given the opportunity to weigh in on whether they want a parish, whether they are satisfied with the proposed parish boundaries, and whether they want to elect their mayor by a majority vote. These are provisions in the draft bill that the people should decide,” said Thomas as he opened the meeting for debate on the bill.

ELIMINATED SOME COMMUNITIES

Councillor Renair Benjamin of the Westchester Division rapped the Government for not allowing a robust discussion by the citizens of his division at their citizens’ association meetings and other forums in the division before arriving at the draft bill.

“There will be a conflict with electoral boundaries when ... the Electoral Commission of Jamaica tries to establish them,” said Benjamin.

He argued that the parish boundaries in the draft amendment submitted to the council for feedback eliminated some communities that are presently in Portmore constituencies, and a constituency legally cannot span two parishes.

Greater Portmore Division Councillor Claude Hamilton pointed to what he said will be issues with land titles that were registered for properties located in Portmore, St Catherine parish.

“All these will have to be addressed to reflect that the lots are located in Portmore parish and not St Catherine parish,” Hamilton asserted, and inquired who would provide the funding for this process.

Waterford Councillor Fenley Douglas decried what he suggested was the speed at which the Government was moving to establish Portmore as a parish and called the move dictatorial.

“There is no need for this mad rush without having the input of the citizens of Portmore. They must have a say in how the boundaries are configured and how their mayor is elected,” he said.

He posited that a mayor elected by the people could get more things done, citing the establishment of Ackee Village that Thomas engineered to remove the vendors from Mandela Highway as one example.

DRAFT BOUNDARIES

Deputy Mayor Alric Campbell insisted that the Government could table a motion to facilitate the continuation of the direct election of the mayor, if it so wishes.

He said there is nothing new in reverting to the colonial framework that guided the establishment of the 14 parishes.

He argued against the draft boundaries, pointing out that the people of Portmore wanted Lakes Pen, Lime Tree, Garbally going back to sections of Hill Run and other communities along that corridor to be in Portmore.

With two absentees, 10 councillors voted along party lines in favour of the motion to seek another extension, in order to consult with the citizens of their respective divisions. They argued that the citizens were the architects of the 2003 Municipalities Act that officially made Portmore a city municipality and gave them the right to directly elect the mayor by a majority vote of electors in the municipality.

Councillor Courtney Edwards of the Independent City Division, one of two Jamaica Labour Party councillors in Portmore, voted against the motion however, arguing that the council received the draft bill since September and had enough time to debate it.