By Denise Clarke, Staff Reporter WESTERN BUREAU:
REPRESENTATIVES OF six provident societies in St. James have called on the Government to declare the status of their respective Operation PRIDE projects.
The provident societies met in Montego Bay last Thursday, and agreed to demand a report from the National Housing Development Corporation (NHDC) on the current status of PRIDE projects in the parish. The representatives also expressed solidarity with disgraced Water and Housing Minister, Dr. Karl Blythe, and called on the new Minister, Donald Buchanan, to address their concerns.
"We are very unhappy about the departure of Dr. Blythe... and we are very concerned as to what is going to happen now that Blythe is gone," said Arthur Gilchrist, former Mayor of Montego Bay. Mr. Gilchrist, who represented the provident society in Comfort Hall, called on provident societies in other parishes to join with them in the quest for information on the PRIDE projects.
However, Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, soon after Dr. Blythe's resignation, said Operation PRIDE would continue, only with stricter adherence to regulations.
Regardless, prospective beneficiaries of Operation PRIDE in Cave Island, Trelawny have been left in limbo, said chairman of that provident society, Prudence Rose. According to her, the NHDC scandal broke just about the time when the lots were to be declared.
"Right now, we don't know where we are, and we have been wondering what next since the scandal broke," Mrs. Rose said. Approximately 300 families, seven of which are living in the Falmouth cemetery, are to benefit from the Cave Island project.
Persons representing provident societies in Norwood blocks G, H and J, Retirement Phase One, Pitfour Phase Three and Providence Heights also agreed to push the NHDC for information on their respective projects.
Chairman of the provident society in Retirement Phase One, O. Dave Allen, said though he has been reassured by the NHDC that the project is on track, he still has some concerns. Mr. Allen, who is also the chairman of the Community Organisations for Management and Sustainable Development (COMAND), lashed out on recent pronouncements calling for the dismantling of provident societies.
"Provident societies were used by these big men who are now calling for them to be dismantled," he said. "When people levy charges of corruption, it serves to undermine what the provident societies have sought to build up."
Provident societies are entities set up to oversee Operation PRIDE projects on behalf of the beneficiaries, and to collect payments from them.
The societies have come under fire in recent times, due to irregularities surrounding PRIDE projects, which were uncovered in a recent probe of the operations of the NHDC and the PRIDE programme. The probe fingered Dr. Blythe as routinely meddling in the day-today management of Operation PRIDE projects. Dr. Blythe has since resigned from the ministerial post.
