Portmore councillor demands referendum on parish status
Published:Thursday | September 9, 2021 | 4:12 PM
Rasbert Turner/Gleaner Writer
The majority of councillors in the People's National Party (PNP)-led St Catherine Municipal Corporation have rejected the proposal for Portmore to be designated Jamaica's 15th parish.
A call has also been made for a referendum on parish status in the local government elections, which could be held by February 2022.
Fifteen councillors voted in favour of the motion against the proposed change, while seven Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) representatives approved it.
One councillor, Neil Powell, of the Above Rocks division, abstained.
The motion against parish status was tabled on Thursday by Councillor Gary Nicholson, of the Greater Portmore North division, during Thursday's monthly meeting of the St Catherine Municipal Corporation.
Portmore, though an independent municipality, falls in the parish of St Catherine.
"The Portmore municipality was enacted by an act of Parliament on June 9, 2003. In fact, the process started in 1994," Nicholson said.
"Therefore, I think that the residents should be an integral part of the decision-making process," Nicholson said.
Nicholson said that the turnout at two online town-hall meetings represented a smidgen of the estimated 300,000 residents there.
The 2011 census put Portmore's population at 200,000.
"I am thinking that in the upcoming local government elections, the ballots should indicate to the voter if they so desire to have the 15th parish," he said of the sprawling dormitory and commercial region.
Support or rejection of parish status for Portmore has largely run along party lines, with the ruling JLP arguing that it is a crucial plank in the broader development of the so-called Sunshine City, while the Opposition PNP has labelled the issue a cosmetic exercise.
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