Bill to make Portmore 15th parish ready for Parliament
Prime Minister Andrew Holness says while legislation to make Portmore Jamaica’s 15th parish has been drafted, the Government will not have it approved in Parliament before the local government elections.
The elections, which were last held in November 2016, are slated to be held by February 28.
“Our bill is ready to go to Parliament. We were ready for a little while now, we will not take it to Parliament, we will probably… table it, but we will not pass it,
because there is no way that we could seek to establish a parish and it be clouded in political accusations. No, we would never do that, and I want the people of
Portmore to be assured of that,” he said.
The prime minister made the announcement at the official launch of the $4.4-billion Portmore
Resilience Park in St Catherine on Wednesday.
Concerns have been raised by the Opposition regarding the naming of Portmore as Jamaica’s 15th parish. St Catherine South Member of Parliament Fitz Jackson has accused the Holness administration of unilaterally trying to establish a parish without the input of the Electoral Office of Jamaica and, as a result, cutting off voters from his constituency.
However, Holness said that the Government’s intention to create a new political administration for Portmore has nothing to do with trying to gain a political advantage. He said the decision is necessitated by the need for proper administration of the affairs of the rapidly developing municipality.
“I use ‘political’ in two senses. One sense is the contest for power, and the other sense is the administration of the affairs of the people, the participation of the people in the administration of their affairs. Portmore has reached the point, and it has reached that point long ago, where we must now provide for the proper administration of its affairs – economic, social, cultural, infrastructure, security – all of the local affairs,” he said.