WESTERN BUREAU:
BERNARD VANRIEL, PNP Councillor for the Petersfield division in Westmoreland came out with all guns blazing as he launched a blistering and scathing condemnation of the P.J. Patterson-led government, describing many of its actions as disgraceful and not in the best interest of the Jamaican people.
"Take as an example, the decision to appoint former Minister Arnold Bertram as a consultant in the Ministry of Water and Housing. This man was in the Cabinet and was a dismal failure. Now the government has rewarded a man with no proven track record, in fact, a man who is a failure with a job as a consultant. This is a total disgrace," Councillor Vanriel said.
The hard-hitting councillor who was speaking at the monthly meeting of the Parish Council last Thursday won nods of approval from many of his colleagues. Continuing he said, "look at the way they are treating us; they have not been giving us any assistance to improve and develop our divisions and now they are scouting around seeking replacements for us, saying we are failures."
Mr. Vanriel, who has been a Councillor for 20 years, has always been lamenting the fact that he is unable to get anything done for the people he represents, since all his requests to government have met with no positive response. In a well publicised case recently, he threatened to lead a demonstration of Logwood residents to the Parish Council chamber to demand repairs to their roads which was dug up to lay pipelines over two years ago.
"But the day of redemption draweth nigh," said Councillor Vanriel, obviously referring to the upcoming Parish Council elections which he said will result in disaster for the governing PNP. "What happened to the JLP government in the 1986 council elections will happen to the PNP government this time around," said Mr. Vanriel who said he will not be contesting the upcoming elections.
A qualified auto mechanic operating his own business in Savanna-la-Mar, Councillor Vanriel said he was free to express his feelings as he has done, since he knew where he would be going and what he would be doing when he said good-bye to politics. Councillor Vanriel was first elected during the 1970s serving one term before taking a break. He returned to local politics in 1986 winning the Petersfield division for the PNP and has held onto it in every elections since then.
