Letter of the Day | Portmore citizens should have a say in debate on parish status

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Portmore was once considered a large dormitory community with the most tertiary educated people not just in Jamaica but the entire Caribbean. When through our advocacy and activism as citizens we were able to achieve municipality status with the ability to independently and directly elect our mayor, it was the first in the Caribbean. As a community, we certainly occupy pole position in several areas. Some of these are:

• The largest toll plaza outside of North America which requires our citizens to pay to leave and re-enter their homes.

• In the absence of a public hospital, the largest number of privately owned and operated healthcare facilities in Jamaica.

• With the largest number of tertiary-level educated people, our highest education institution remains the Portmore HEART Academy with no clear vision to establish (any) other.

• The largest police divisional headquarters in Jamaica, and possibly the Caribbean – the ‘100 Man’ station.

• The largest business process outsourcing facilities employing the most young people are based within Portmore.

• Our early childhood and primary schools are second to none nationally, and our secondary schools are catching up rapidly, led by the Cedar Grove Academy and Bridgeport High School.

• Our municipal office for local government is by far the most modern and largest in Jamaica.

POLITICAL FOOTBALL

With all the above, and I could name others, what we lack here in Portmore is proper political representation. As the debate goes on about the granting of parish status, we, as a community without proper and effective representation, will end up with nothing. The community groups led by the Portmore Citizens Advisory Council (PCAC) were very active up to and beyond the imposition of a toll booth at the entrance to the community. The political representation then, despite the disapproval and opposition of the citizens of Portmore, stuck to their political agenda and went through and supported the toll imposition on the citizens of this community. We were left on our own to represent ourselves through court actions at the Supreme Court of Jamaica, through petitions and public demonstrations.

As we enter a new year, the question for the community now is whether Portmore should remain as is, or change to parish status. Let me make it clear, I have no opposition to Portmore being granted parish status but it must be done with us citizens having a proper say. Parish status must not affect what exists now but rather should improve upon it. There is still a fair amount of development to be done but we need proper representation to ensure this is done. It’s time to exercise that right, Portmore.

HOWARD D HAMILTON, JP

Former Chairman of Greater

Portmore Joint Council