St Catherine South police to probe PNP constituency office fire

The St Catherine South police will launch an investigation into the fire that destroyed a section of the People’s National Party’s (PNP) constituency office in St Catherine South East on Tuesday morning.

Senior Superintendent of Police Christopher Phillips, who is in charge of the division, told The Gleaner yesterday that his department is waiting for a response from the fire brigade to begin the process.

“As soon as we get it, we will begin the investigations,” was all Phllips was willing to say at the time.

The fire, believed to be the work of arsonists, destroyed a section of the constituency office situated in Independence City, Portmore, in the early hours of the morning.

Emeleo Ebanks, public relations officer for the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB), said two units from the Waterford station responded after receiving the call at 2 a.m.

Ebanks said the extent of the damage was undetermined at the time and the cause of the fire was still under investigation.

Tension broke out in the constituency in May when PNP President Mark Golding used his veto power to select Dr Alfred Dawes over Alric Campbell, councillor for the Edgewater division and deputy mayor of Portmore. Campbell’s supporters staged a demonstration protesting what they said was the lack of fairness, pointing out that Campbell had received more votes than Dawes in an external polling devised by the party to select the candidate and therefore should be the one selected.

An earlier attempt to burn down the office in May was averted by the swift actions of the JFB.

After attempts at a joint statement by Dawes and Campbell fell through, both men put out individual statements condemning the actions of the person(s) responsible for the fire.

“I had no intention of using that office and had gone ahead to secure somewhere else to relocate the office,” Dawes told The Gleaner.

“Wherever it is coming from it has zero impact on my work in the constituency, I intend to carry on the work I started in the constituency and to ensure that the party reclaim the seat,” he added.

According to Dawes, the love he is getting from the people is immeasurable and he intends to represent them to his fullest potential.

Campbell, on the other hand, described the fire as a case of suspected arson and urged anyone with information to pass it on to the police.

“It has been reported and verified that a section of our constituency office was destroyed by fire. I strongly condemn such a barbaric and callous act.”