Accompong Maroons chief defends decision to reject JDF help to rebuild

 

Chief of the Accompong Maroons, Richard Currie, is defending his decision to reject an offer from Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness to deploy members of the military in the Maroon community to aid in the recovery and reconstruction efforts. 

 

Prime Minister Holness made the offer during a recent tour of the community in St. Elizabeth. 

 

It is estimated that 80 per cent of the 260 homes in Accompong Town were damaged by the storm. 

 

But in a post on social media last week, Chief Currie announced that the leadership of the Accompong community had declined the offer for members of the military to be used to help reconstruct homes in the area. 

 

This has triggered a firestorm among some members of the community, who accused Chief Currie of acting without consulting them. They argued that they are in dire need of assistance after their homes were destroyed in the storm. 

 

But in an interview with Radio Jamaica News on Monday, Chief Currie insisted that his team will not accept any military presence in the Maroon community. 

 

"The situation that we have here in this community right now, we said in the recovery process, we've already been engaging partners. We have our people from the communities who would need their houses to be repaired and are willing to work to get these things done. So in harmony and in keeping with our community and the culture of how we operate, we had declined the offer of the military assistance on the ground but accepted the offer of the materials and what other resources could be offered in getting the homes repaired," he explained. 

 

The Maroon chief insisted that some people may have misunderstood the position to mean the community had rejected all the offered assistance from the government, but this is not the case. 

 

He disclosed that he has written to Prime Minister Holness about the position taken by the council.

 

"We had a town hall meeting the night before we communicated by letter to the Honourable Prime Minister of the outcome of the discussion with the council and the community, and it was our by consensus. Now, there are a few who thought the response was saying we do not want any help and that was not the message, that was not what was communicated. So again, look forward in an affirmative way that the council and the government will be working together to aid in the recovery process of Accompong and adjoining Maroon districts," Chief Currie asserted.