Majority of St. Catherine councillors reject bill to ratify Portmore boundary changes

By Prince Moore    

 

The majority of councillors in the St. Catherine Municipal Corporation on Thursday voted along party lines to reject a bill to ratify changes to the boundaries for Portmore.

 

Twenty People's National Party (PNP) councillors voted against the bill while 17 Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) councillors voted for it.

 

Norman Scott, Chairman of the St. Catherine Municipal Corporation, said the vote was more than a symbolic gesture. 

 

"It is very important. The fact is, when the Portmore City Municipality status was being given, we at the St. Catherine Municipal Corporation had to vote to accord such charter. And so I know that while some people may think that it is of no more than academic reasoning, it is very important because it is the municipality, St. Catherine, that granted Portmore its city municipality," he sought to explain. 

 

Mr. Scott said the municipal corporation will be seeking an injunction against the decision to establish Portmore as the 15th parish despite concerns regarding a breach of the Constitution. 

 

"Already it is voted in by both Houses of Parliament and it should go to the Governor-General. We are waiting to take it to the court. As soon as it is signed by the Governor-General, we will now place an injunction against it," he said. "Already you see the various entities, ECJ and others have said that [the bill] is trying to create a constitutional crisis. Apparently the government doesn't care about the Constitution and that is why they continue to breach it."