ALGA-J to select new president Friday

By Kimone Witter   

 

The Association of Local Government Authorities of Jamaica, ALGA-J, the body that represents the nation's councillors, is to have a new president come Friday.

 

The elections for president and vice presidents will be done at the organisation's Annual General Meeting at the Golf View Hotel in Mandeville, Manchester. The last AGM was held in 2017.

 

ALGA-J President Winston Maragh is not seeking re-election.

 

Mr. Maragh, who is councillor for the Rocky Point Division in Clarendon and former Mayor of May Pen, said based on the names being bandied about for the position of president, this could be the first in the history of the organisation, that an individual who is not a mayor is elected. 

 

"The Constitution says that any member can be nominated for president...and it doesn't hold that it has to be a mayor. It can be any member of the association," he stressed. 

 

In the meantime, Scean Barnswell, Councillor for the Hayes Division in Clarendon, said he will be seeking a second stint in the position of president of the Association of Local Government Authorities of Jamaica.

 

Mr. Barsnwell previously served as president from 2012-2016.

 

Speaking with Radio Jamaica News, Mr. Barnswell said several councillors from both sides of the political aisle have expressed an interest in the three vice president positions. They include People's National Party councillors Fenley Douglas, Eugene Kelly, and Andria Dehaney as well as the Jamaica Labour Party's Theresa Turner, Winston Ennis and Mayor of Montego Bay Richard Vernon.