Lamenting neglect of St Thomas

THE EDITOR, Sir: THE GOVERNOR general’s role is largely ceremonial. In most cases, the governor general acts in accordance with the advice of the prime minister.

The mayor of St Thomas, Ludlow Mathison, found it fit to draw Sir Patrick Allen into partisan politics for the most outrageous reason. According to The Gleaner, the governor general, last week in a meeting with the mayor and other St Thomas elected representatives, lamented the poor conditions in the parish and its notoriously bad roads.

The mayor later said the governor general was exaggerating. After that, the mayor appears to have backtracked and claims that he was talking about Delano Seiveright, the JLP caretaker for St Thomas Eastern, who has been l obbying on behalf of the people of the parish for an improvement in the conditions.

POOREST PARISH

St Thomas, no surprise to many, is Jamaica’s poorest and most underdeveloped parish. Mr Seiveright has been highlighting the horrible state of affairs and has proposed a plan to develop the parish. Since his entry into St Thomas, the Government is belatedly moving to address one or two of the more pressing problems, including a bridge that had been down for up to 15 years!

My last visit to the place of my birth this year showed me that Mayor Mathison and his colleague, Dr Fenton Ferguson, who has served as an MP in St Thomas for more than 20 years, are part of a generation of leaders in the parish who watched as St Thomas slipped into a state of crisis. Neither can show anything of significance to justify their lofty positions outside of raw political loyalty.

If Jamaica is going to change, people like these must be dispensed with and a new generation of thinkers given the chance to make an impact. CONCERNED ST THOMAS CITIZEN