Morant Bay residents demand by-election to fill councillor vacancy

  

Scores of residents of the Morant Bay Division in St. Thomas staged a protest at the entrance to the Municipal Corporation demanding that a by-election be called.

 

This follows the death of Councillor for the Division, Rohan Bryan, on May 1.

 

On Tuesday the House of Representatives passed an amendment to the Representation of the People Act, extending the time a by-election should be called by 90 days from the current three months.

 

People's National Party caretaker for St. Thomas Eastern Rosemarie Shaw says the division is in need of proper representation. 

 

"Now you cannot have a division, Morant Bay division, that has 10,800-and-odd vote without a councillor for so long. We understand the regulation, when the councillor dies, the mayor acts for three months and after which a by-election should be called. Now, after the people are waiting patiently for a by-election to be called to fill their needs, Beryl have (sic) just passed, many persons are found wanting. They need a representative to agitate for them," she argued. 

 

One resident of the division, Kayon Douglas, has promised to keep up the protest until their concerns are addressed. 

 

"We need somebody to fill our gaps. We have issues, the passing of Beryl have (sic) affected some people. There is no representative, the people are suffering. We cannot wait another three months and we will not rest. The people in this division will stand up. This is the first of a series of protesting we are hoping to have, peacefully, and we are going to state our position until you come and you give us our election so that we can choose our representative," she declared.