Jamaica Observer column published Monday 12, February 2024
by Jean Lowrie-Chin
Jamaica was a sea of green and orange when 496 Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), People’s National Party (PNP), and other candidates were nominated last week for 228 local government electoral divisions islandwide, and three others for the Portmore mayoral position.
Let us do the maths. Since Jamaica has an area of 2,344 square miles, this means that each councillor working with his parish team has oversight of such matters as road repairs, water supply, garbage collection, and building permits for an area averaging only 18.53 square miles.
Yet most Jamaicans are not able to identify their parish councillors. I am hoping that the candidates will use social media to introduce themselves in a short video and tell us of their plans ahead of Februray 26. It is the least they can do instead of playing hide-and-seek with the citizens they are sworn to serve.
The discord over the incorporation of the duties of the Office of the Political Ombudsman (OPO) into those of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) is a storm in a teacup. We agree that our former political ombudsmen were people of high integrity: Bishop Herro Blair and attorney-at-law Donna Parchment Brown were both exemplary in their oversight of political activities. However, the criticism that the duties of the OPO would be politicised by subsuming them under the ECJ is without foundation.
I have had the honour of serving as communications consultant to the Electoral Advisory Committee (EAC), forerunner of the ECJ, during their deliberations on amendments to the Representation of the People Act (ROPA). With two representatives from each political party and three nominated members, politically biased proposals were off the table. Indeed, given that the ECJ has equal representation of both political parties and the insight of respected legal minds, that would not have been tolerated.
The amended ROPA also mandates that nominated members of the ECJ form the constituted authority on election day, receiving complaints of election misdemeanours, conducting hearings, and ruling on the evidence.
In his statement to the Houses of Parliament on the Bill, an Act to amend the Political Ombudsman (Interim) Act, and provide for connected matters, Justice Delroy Chuck noted, “The ECJ has long established internal protocols for treating with matters that will be adopted and applied to the matters they will assume. We are not seeking to reinvent the wheel but to adopt what has been shown to work.”
CAFFE GEARS UP
The civic organization Citizens Action for Free and Fair Elections (CAFFE) has activated its election day monitoring system. Founded in 1977, CAFEE has been chaired by such eminent Jamaicans as Dr Alfred Sangster, Archbishop Emeritus Egerton Clarke, and Dr Lloyd Barnett, who last year retired from the post. He is succeeded by Grace Baston, retired Principal of Campion College, Anton Thompson serving as deputy chairman.
CAFFE is marshalling 400 volunteers for the upcoming elections, mostly sixth formers from high schools islandwide.
“We have been working hard to establish Democracy Clubs in high schools and believe that they will provide us with a high-quality cohort of volunteers,” says Baston. “This thrust is CAFFE’s attempt to address the apathy to the electoral process that seems to characterise so many of our young people…The future of Jamaica’s enviable democracy rests on our ability to get our youngest citizens to care enough about elections to get involved.”
This is a timely move by CAFFE as the ECJ has been calling for greater elector participation. CAFFE’s activities are being supported by the National Democratic Institute, USAID and Digicel.
STORMY WEATHER
Unexpectedly, rain and high winds damaged areas along the north coast and destroyed the seawall at the beginning of the One Love Boulevard leading to Negril’s beautiful West End.
The damage to the Ocho Rios Cruise Ship Pier and the Carnival Magic cruise ship made Fox35 news in Miami. What is regrettable is the lack of assistance to the passengers who were stranded at the pier for 12 hours. Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) and tour companies may have to get on board for such incidents, especially since visitor Adam Middleton said the US Level 3 advisory regarding Jamaica made them fearful to venture out.
Deputy Commissioner Tarik Sheppard of the New York Police Department (NYPD) believes the advisory is overstated. A report on the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) website notes that “Sheppard’s observations, grounded in both statistical evidence and personal experiences, affirm the efforts of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) in maintaining law and order and ensuring the safety of visitors.”
Shepherd and Commissioner of Police Major General Antony Anderson were speaking at a press briefing last week attended by local and US reporters.
Source: Jamaica Observer – https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2024/02/12/keen-watch-local-govt-elections/
Jamaica Highlights 