By Lynford Simpson, Staff Reporter
Whiteman... says Riverton City will not be merged with Portmore.
A NEW local authority is to be created for residents of Portmore, St. Catherine, to elect their own Mayor and Council representatives in the upcoming Local Government election.
Burchell Whiteman, Minister of Information, made the disclosure yesterday while speaking with journalists at the weekly post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.
"The intention is that in the Local Government election, the citizens (of Portmore) will be able to vote. That is the expectation. That is the aim (for them) to vote for their own municipal councillors and their own Mayor," said Senator Whiteman.
The Minister said that Portmore should be seen as a pilot for other municipalities elsewhere in the island.
Portmore is among the 10 fastest growing urban centres, according to the Population Census 2001, which noted that its population moved from 96,000 in 1991 to 160,000 in 2001.
"Perhaps the most outstanding growth witnessed over the past three decades has been the development of the Portmore community," the census report said. "In 1970, the section of the parish was a largely uninhabited area with a population of about 5,000. By 1982, the population had grown to 77,600, indicating a rate of growth of 25 per cent annually in 12 years. In 2001, Portmore grew faster than Spanish Town, the capital, at an annual rate of 5.2 per cent, adding just fewer than 64,000 to see a population of 159,974. The area has increased its share of the parish population from a quarter in 1991 to one-third in 2001."
Drafting instructions for the legislation needed to effect the change to allow
Portmore to get municipal status and elect its own mayor are now being finalised.
The legislation will include a provision for the management of the municipality.
Senator Whiteman anticipates that the legislation will be taken before Parliament sometime next month, in time to be debated and passed ahead of the Local Government polls expected before the end of March.
"That is what we are anticipating," he emphasised.
The Minister conceded that the time frame was short, but said that further consultation would take place with the residents of the St. Catherine community, the Ministry of Local Government, the legislation committee and the Ministry of Finance, in relation to "all those matters that will now be required (to effect the change)".
The Local Government election, which will be held barely five months after the parliamentary election on October 16 last year, had been postponed on at least two previous occasions, but Prime Minister P.J. Patterson said that there will be no further extension.
In what is seen as a strategic move ahead of the election, the governing People's National Party (PNP), which controls all 12 Parish Councils and the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC), appears to have yielded to pressure to hold on to its majority in both Portmore and the rest of St. Catherine.
The move is seen by PNP insiders as an attempt to appease Portmore voters to ensure the PNP's continued dominance in the parish. This, as analysts believe the Local Government election will be just as close as the parliamentary election which saw the PNP winning 34 seats to the JLP's 26. The Opposition has said it will be going all out to break the dominance of the governing party at the local level.
With Portmore being part of St. Catherine, the separation and what it means in terms of the division of funds collected, among other matters, would have to be examined further, Senator Whiteman said.
And the Government seems to have backtracked on an earlier decision to make Riverton City part of the Portmore municipality. "Riverton is not being contemplated at this time as being part of the Portmore municipality," the Minister stated.
Without elaborating, he said he would prefer that a fuller discussion of that matter take place with the Portmore residents and Minister of Local Government, Portia Simpson Miller.
