Some politicians built on squatters - McKenzie

Kingston Mayor Desmond McKenzie is claiming that squatter settlements like that along the Sandy Park gully in St Andrew, where six members of one family perished during rains associated with Tropical Storm Nicole more than a month ago, are created by "people trying to build pockets of votes".

McKenzie, who is also a deputy leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), said that in most instances these areas are not suited for building houses but "over the many years people carry them (residents) there to build communities".

"They (are) building areas to support them when elections come," McKenzie, the deputy leader in charge of the party's Area Council One, told delegates at its monthly meeting held at Holy Family Primary School in Kingston yesterday.

"Those communities that they have built up, have not only become pockets of votes, but they have become pockets of disaster and destruction for the country," he added.

Tragedy stuck in the Sandy Park community last month when flood waters from Nicole washed a two-storey house into the Sandy Park gully, killing the family of six.

Another example McKenzie pointed to was the squatter settlement opposite the University Hospital of the West Indies, one with which he said the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation has "a serious problem".

"When an attempt was made (to deal with it) man say, 'You mad, you know how much vote that?'" he said.

The mayor said this kind of attitude has to change, pointing to the enormous cost to the state to rebuild homes and help citizens get their lives back on track.

"Disaster knows no politics because when the flood rains come, it wash both PNP (People's National Party) and JLP," McKenzie stressed.

He challenged Jamaicans to develop a level of maturity when it comes to disaster preparedness.