WESTERN BUREAU:
MINISTER OF National Security Dr. Peter Phillips has condemned last Thursday's fire at Alpart, calling it a deliberate act aimed at destroying the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of people.
"We deplore the action and we are going to try and find those who did it and bring them to justice if at all possible," the Minister said Sunday at the constituency conference of the Peoples National Party (PNP) in North West, St. Elizabeth.
The Alpart fire, which the police theorise was set by arsonists, resulted in $20 million in damage, which according to the company may force them to lay off employees until they can resume full operation. The fire destroyed nine miles of conveyor belt that runs from Knockpatrick in Manchester to Nain in St. Elizabeth.
Minister Phillips said he could not say whether the incident was an act of economic sabotage, as his colleague Minister Horace Dalley has claimed.
"I don't know who did it," the Minister said. "What I do know is that it was deliberately done and carries the potential of destroying our bauxite industry and our market."
He added that it also had the potential to curtail and reduce the earnings in foreign exchange for the Jamaican people and to set back the expansion work, which is underway at Alpart.
"So whatever the motive of the person or persons who did it they certainly were seeking to do damage to Jamaica's future and it is an act of the grossest irresponsibility and lacking in patriotism and certainly aimed at destroying the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of persons," he said.
