Maroon leader gets death threat

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Portland:

The Portland police are on high alert as Moore Town Colonel Wallace Sterling has expressed fear that his life has been threatened, having received a chilling phone call that not only would he lose the election in the Portland-based Maroon enclave this Sunday, but also his head.

There has been growing unease in the Rio Grande Valley-based community after 18-year-old Lomorra Dillon declared a bid to challenge Sterling for the leadership.

Sterling, who has been at the helm of the Moore Town Maroons for approximately three decades, told The Gleaner that he received a threatening phone call last Saturday and made reports to the police in Port Antonio and in Comfort Castle.

Sterling said that the caller told him that he was lucky to be alive and should have been killed years ago.

“I have reasons to believe that weapons are being brought in by outside forces ahead of the election, which puts the entire village at risk,” said the colonel.

“I have informed the police about such information, but let me make this clear: those elements seeking to destroy or hurt our citizens will not succeed. This is a peaceful community and we are governed by a Maroon Council, which are the decision makers as it relates to an election or any elections, for that matter,” he concluded.

Speaking to journalists from his office in Port Antonio on Thursday, Superintendent Kenneth Chin, head of the Portland Police Division, said that the cops are keeping a close eye on the area.

Concerns are also being raised over an unsanctioned stage show set to be staged in the community on the day of the election. The event is reportedly being supported by another Maroon leader, Chief Richard Currie of the Accompong Maroons, whose image appears on the flyer along with that of a popular reggae artiste.

“Let me state that to date, no application has been made to us for any such function. Neither have we issued any permit for the staging of that event. Such an event will not take place, and the police will be on location to maintain law and order,” said Chin.

In an interview with The Gleaner on Thursday, Currie said that he was only made aware of the election through the media.

While not disclosing whether he was supporting any candidate, Currie said that he was in support of the democratic process, adding that without a free and transparent process, tyranny and confusion could ensue.

“Unity is of vital importance if the Maroons are to survive. I am in support of uplifting our people and mobilising the Maroon communities as one,” he said.

gareth.davis@gleanerjm.com