What Portmore wants

The Editor, Sir:

Portmore belongs to the people of the community and our elected and aspiring representatives must be mindful of this fact. The current municipal status was only achieved after persistent lobbying by citizens group with very little input from the political representatives.

The mindset at the time of lobbying for municipal status, was to ensure that the political directorate did not have the final say in how our local affairs are conducted. Participation from the citizens of Portmore in the governance process was an integral part of the municipal status, and out of this came two very important aspects of the Municipal Act.

These are:

1. 1) Independent mayor who is directly elected
   
2. 2) The Portmore Citizens Advisory Council (PCAC)

Direct vote for mayor

The ability to vote directly for the person we want to sit in the mayoral seat is to be taken very seriously, as it means that no political party, whether it has a majority in local government or not, will have the coveted position of mayor within its ranks.

This is a reality check for our politicians. It's not the most comfortable situation for the politicians but a masterstroke by our lobby group to think of it and have it as an integral part of our municipality.

The current situation where we have a Jamaica Labour Party mayor in a People's National Party-dominated council is as independent as we can get. It was clear that our lobbying citizens group wanted to maintain some amount of check and balance.

Municipal status is very important to us a community. It is very important to our growth and development and will be protected at all cost. The Portmore Citizens Advisory Council is to the Portmore Municipal Council (PMC) what the Public Accounts Committee is to Parliament. It's the citizens' watchdog and its membership comprises citizen groups and other community grouping.

The PCAC has a right to question the PMC in matters that are not in the interest of the wider community. True, some might say it is not functioning as it should, but it has never failed to fill any breaches left by our political representatives and is prepared to step up its activity throughout the community.

I am etc.,

HOWARD HAMILTON

Portmore Pines