By Petulia Clarke, Staff ReporterTEMPERS FLARED between councillors and Kingston's Mayor Marie Atkins at a Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) Council meeting yesterday. The mayor was under fire from several councillors who accused her of unwisely taking directive from Portia Simpson Miller, the Local Government Minister, without first consulting the Council.
The debate centred on the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Council and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, for the operations of the KSAC's Poor Relief Department to be transferred to that Ministry.
The Government's aim, through the Programme of Advancement through Health and Education (PATH), is to consolidate the income programmes being administered by the Social Security Ministry and the poor relief departments of Parish Councils, into a single programme to be administered solely by the Ministry of Social Security. The benefits would include the Food Stamp Programme, old-age benefits and outdoor poor relief.
The KSAC councillors, both Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and People's National Party (PNP), had the mayor on the defensive for almost 20 minutes, even trying to prevent her from taking an urgent phone call, after she disclosed that she had signed the MOU, against her better judgement. She said she had been "pressured" by Mrs. Simpson Miller.
The divestment, they said, was signed without the KSAC Council's authority, which, they said, outranked Mrs. Simpson Miller's.
The discussions became intense after Councillor Desmond McKenzie (JLP), raised concerns about the new responsibilities of Poor Relief workers and whether the KSAC Council had approved the transfer.
Carol Anthony, inspector of the poor, said that all Parish Councils had signed off on the MOU, but afterward the union's legal experts had deemed the MOU illegal, as the mayors who had signed had no right to do so under the Parish Council Act. She said that a brief meeting with the relevant parties two days ago had resulted in a decision to put everything on hold while the legalities were sorted out.
Mayor Atkins admitted that she "was told by Local Government Minister Portia Simpson Miller to sign" as only four signatures had been outstanding.
"The councillors didn't know about it to raise concerns," Councillor McKenzie said. "On behalf of the councillors, I would like to state my disgust and concern about the matter."
Accusations were rife thereafter with councillors including the PNP's Angela Brown Burke and David Walker and the JLP's McKenzie and others, rejecting the mayor's protests that she had been "under pressure."
"What am I to do?", the Mayor asked, "I was under pressure; no one knows the pressure I was under."
"Then resign, your worship, if you're under pressure," a JLP councillor commented.
The apparently befuddled mayor, who stated that "it (the MOU) must be null and void then," took the suggestions of the KSAC Council, which agreed that the matter should be placed on the agenda at the next Council meeting for discussion. She is also to advise the Minister that the Council needs to discuss the matter more before further steps are taken.
Councillor David Walker (PNP), said the Council was never in favour of the responsibility of poor relief being taken away from the KSAC. "The Council must always be consulted. We would have expected that you (mayor), knowing the feeling of the councillors, would have consulted us first," he said. "We did not think that the separation would be in the best interest of the people we serve."
Poor relief officers who were assigned to Parish Councils are to take up new social worker positions in the Social Security Ministry.
