Let Portmore decide on parish status through referendum, says Golding

Opposition Leader Mark Golding wants a referendum for the people of Portmore, St Catherine to decide whether the municipality should become Jamaica's 15th parish. 

According to Golding, the government intends to split Portmore from the parish of St Catherine for political reasons. 

"Will this benefit the people of Portmore?” Golding asked as he made his contribution to the Budget Debate on Tuesday afternoon. 

He said Jamaicans who live in Portmore enjoy the benefit of it being the country's only city municipality, which gives them the legal right to directly elect their mayor. 

"Furthermore, Portmore does not have many of the facilities and amenities that parishes have, including parish court facilities, a hospital, a market and a cemetery, yet the government is rushing to make Portmore a parish without them. Why does the government want to make Portmore the only parish without these facilities?” Golding probed. 

The opposition leader also called for the restoration of the convention of having the opposition appoint chairmen of the various committees of the House of Representatives.

"It avoids the clear conflict of interest of having the government chair the committees that are intended to provide accountable and transparent oversight of what the same government is doing," Golding said. 

Golding explained that when Prime Minister Andrew Holness abandoned that convention after the last general elections, it was a retrograde step for Jamaica's democracy. 

Further, he said many of the committees have hardly met and the posture of the chairmen from the government side has not furthered the objective of bringing greater accountability and transparency. 

Meanwhile, Golding said the government can create greater access to high quality justice by acceding to the appellate jurisdiction of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

He said the CCJ has developed a strong track record, becoming the first court in the region to be accepted into the International Consortium for Court Excellence.

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