‘There is nothing for me to apologise for’
Councillor Michael Troupe rejects calls to apologise for 1999 street people scandal
Published:Thursday | October 19, 2023 | 12:07 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
COUNCILLOR MICHAEL Troupe, the St James Municipal Corporation’s (StJMC) minority leader and the councillor for the Granville Division, is rubbishing calls for him to apologise on behalf of the People’s National Party (PNP) administration under which Montego Bay’s infamous street people scandal happened in 1999.
“There is nothing for me to apologise for. It is something for us to think on, but it is not something to keep repeating,” the outspoken Troupe said stoutly during last Thursday’s monthly meeting of the StJMC.
At the sitting, several councillors suggested that Troupe should offer an apology for the July 15, 1999 incident which saw 32 street people in Montego Bay being herded into a truck and transported to a mud lake in St Elizabeth.
The incident, which took place in the early hours of that fateful morning, saw the homeless persons being put into a vehicle that bore the markings of the StJMC, then known as the St James Parish Council.
The revelation of that incident, which took place during the PNP’s administration and under the tenure of then Mayor of Montego Bay Hugh Solomon, drew widespread criticism from numerous stakeholders in the western city.
In recounting the scandal on Thursday, Councillor Everes Coke, the StJMC’s councillor for the Maroon Town Division, led the call for Troupe to provide the apology in light of the municipal corporation’s recent participation in celebrating World Homeless Day and World Mental Health Day on October 10.
“There are no words to describe how bad, how wicked, how inhumane this act was, where over 30 of the street people in Montego Bay were rounded up, tied up with ropes, pepper-sprayed, hurled into a truck like animals, and shipped off to St Elizabeth in the vicinity of a mud lake,” Coke recalled.
“As a part of the healing process, there must be not only some recognition, but acknowledgement and perhaps a public apology, because my research tells me that it was my colleague Councillor Michael Troupe’s administration who led this despicable act, and he was a part of the council at that time,” Coke argued.
But Troupe fired back, pointing out that apologies for the scandal have already been given by various leaders over the years since the incident took place.
“It was a part of history in our time as councillors, and I think there are several apologies that have already been made. They have gotten so many apologies, from the prime minister coming down to the council, and I am not going to take responsibility for something that happened years ago,” Troupe said flatly.
The minority leader also accused the StJMC of not being nearly as vocal about several more recent acts of violence against homeless persons in Montego Bay, including the March 7 murder of homeless man Matthew Lettman and the stabbings of seven street people between July 28 and August 20.
Rushawn Bulgin, who pleaded guilty to Lettman’s murder, is to be sentenced on November 24, while Ronaldo Ricketts, who is charged with four counts of murder in relation to the other attacks, is to be brought back to court on November 9.
“Over the last six months or less, there were seven homeless people murdered in St James. One of the persons who murdered those homeless people is supposed to be sentenced,” Troupe told the StJMC’s presiding chairman, Richard Vernon, referring to the scheduled sentencing hearing for Bulgin. “I have never come to this council meeting and hear any of you raise that in council, that the homeless are being murdered.”
“Are you comparing the police report that explained the relationship between the persons who were murdered and the persons who carried out the act, are you comparing that with what should have been a well-thinking local government at the time, that did something similar? That is sad,” Vernon, Montego Bay’s deputy mayor, replied sternly. “We have to know where we are coming from, we have to understand what happened, and we have to know that we should not repeat it.”
During last month’s sitting of the StJMC, Eron Samuels, the acting senior superintendent of police in charge of St James, called for the parish’s facilities for the homeless to be expanded to help prevent attacks on these persons.