Never again!
On anniversary’s eve, Gov’t vows to prevent repeat of street people scandal
THE ABDUCTION of dozens of street people by government workers in 1999 remains a stain on the collective conscience of Montego Bay, a former mayor of the resort city has said.
On the eve of today ’s commemoration of the 22nd anniversary of the human-rights violation, State Minister Homer Davis has described the rounding up of the homeless as “one of the darkest days” in the Second City in the post-slavery era.
Davis, who is the deputy in the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, which has responsibility for the homeless, said his blood runs cold at the mere mention of the street people scandal.
“I knew some of those people, and, you know, the persons who were involved with that, some of them are not here with us and some of them are still here,” Davis told The Gleaner during a tour of the Lawrence Tavern division in St Andrew on Wednesday.
Davis said he has seen receipts for the rope that was bought to tie up the homeless.
More than 30 persons were abducted from the streets of Montego Bay in a predawn operation on July 15, 1999, and transported to St Elizabeth, where they were abandoned near a bauxite mud lake.
The police force and the St James Parish Council were implicated i n the night-time sweep.
The Government accepted liability and was ordered to pay the victims a $20,000 monthly stipend as part of a compensation package.
The incident sparked international outrage and a commission of enquiry, but no one was found criminally responsible.
In veiled criticism of t he Patterson administration at the time, Davis vowed that history would not be repeated under the ruling Jamaica Labour Party, which he credits with building more infirmaries and drop-in centres for the homeless than any other government.
The state minister said that Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie was committed to providing well-constructed buildings – “not some little cotch-up thing”.
A new ward valued at $45 million is being constructed at the St James Infirmary to accommodate 45 male residents.
“These things can’t happen, and not when this ministry is being led by Minister McKenzie who has a passion, and I share that passion for the poor people of this country. It can’t happen.
“Taking people and tying them up in trucks and carrying them to a red mud lake to dump them in St Elizabeth. It was dark day for my city – dark, dark day,” Davis told The Gleaner.
CITY’S BLACK EYE
In a press statement issued late Wednesday, Montego Bay Mayor Leeroy Williams said that the city received a “black eye”22 years ago but sought to give the assurance that attempts were being made to assist the vulnerable.
“Street people now have access to the City Spirit Foundation Care Centre on Orange Street, the night shelter at Albion, and from time to time, the Poor Relief Department coordinates medical support for them,” Williams said.
Lawrence Tavern is one of five communities selected under a $650-million Rural Development Programme announced earlier this year.
The initiative is aimed at improving the lives and economic well-being of rural communities over the next two years.
Davis told stakeholders on Wednesday that the homeless and indigent must not be left behind even as rural townships are rehabilitated.
“We don’t want to fix up the town and the man and the woman still living on the street. It wouldn’t be a good reflection on us as leaders because I have always said we are all in good shape now, but the future is sometimes very unpredictable, and you never know what may befall some of us or people that we know,” the state minister said.