By Erica James-King, Staff Reporter
Gregory
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE JAMAICA Council of Churches (JCC) as well as other members of the clergy in western Jamaica are demanding urgent action from the new Government, in implementing comprehensive programmes for homeless persons, especially the mentally ill street people.
There is a prevailing notion among men of the cloth in the west, that the last People's National Party administration and previous Governments, have been weighed and found wanting with regard to the treatment of the island's street people; and must therefore make immediate amends.
"The mentally ill need more support from Government and more provisions for their care," advises President of the JCC and Anglican Suffragan Bishop of Montego Bay, Rev. Howard Gregory.
Speaking in an interview with The Gleaner, Bishop Gregory laments that far too often, those in power confuse the issues relating to the street people problem.
He explains that some of the street people problem started when Jamaica emulated some developing countries by de-institutionalising the care of mentally ill persons. "We pushed them out of Bellevue, but we never developed some of the community infrastructure and never helped families to deal with the trials and tribulations of coping with mentally ill persons." Displaying an annoyance at the long time it is taking the authorities to get their act together with regard to street people, the head of the JCC is knocking the Patterson administration for not implementing the required measures and networking with the private sector, to improve life for the disposed:
"I know that in other parts of the world, voluntarism is an important part of the care of street people, because you cannot just grab street people and say get off the street, let's put you here. They still have rights," he said.
Batting for a new day for the homeless, the JCC president insists, "It is care for them in a way that will preserve their basic human dignity that must be done."
Also mirroring disappointment with the last Government's provisions for street people, Head of the Calvary Circuit of Baptist Churches, Rev. Sam Reid, is questioning why it is taking so long for the authorities to discard its piecemeal approach to the needs of the street people. He states further that if the Poor Relief department cannot adequately cater to the needs of the indigent and homeless indigent, there need to be new approaches to get to that category of people at risk. The views of the Baptist Minister has also resonated with the Pentecostal Apostolic Holiness Born Again Churches, which have their headquarters in Westmoreland.
Noting that the group of churches which fall under his portfolio responsibility have been doing a lot for those vulnerable on and off the streets, Bishop Zachariah Nepaul, Leader of the Holiness Born Again Churches is underscoring the need "for the authorities to avoid implementing only stop gap measures, for street people."
He is instead proposing that the new Government spearhead consistent programmes, which have the input of non-governmental organisations.
Western Jamaica was the scene of the street people scandal of July 1999, when several homeless persons were forcibly removed from the streets of Montego Bay, allegedly transported in a Parish Council truck and dumped in St. Elizabeth. There is consensus among the clergymen from the west that, apart from the compensation given to few of those who were victims of the street people saga, no other meaningful benefits have accrued from the recommendations coming out of the Commission of Enquiry into the incident.
Another area of concern for the ministers is what they believe is the jaundiced view taken by central government, to the needs of the Second City. "I think some of the notions of City status for Montego Bay is a bit of a joke and just talk. Montego Bay has a far way to go in getting the kind of infrastructure and attention, which it deserves as the Second City," bemoans Bishop Gregory. He pointed to the deplorable condition of roads, signage programme and other infrastructure in Montego Bay, as signals of the "neglect" facing the resort town.
Rev. Reid shares similar sentiments: "It seems that our political leaders who operate from Kingston are so hypnotised by the demands of the capital city, that they pay limited attention to places outside of the Corporate Area, like St. James. The rural political representatives, for example, have a very hard time getting the ears of those who are the power brokers inside of capital city Kingston."
