By Balford Henry, News EditorPLANS FOR municipal status for Portmore hit a snag in the Joint Select Committee of Parliament's deliberation yesterday at Gordon House over the issue of dual Council membership.
Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) members of the committee threatened to vote against the dual membership provision, until Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, A.J. Nicholson, proposed a compromise that the views of both sides be included in the committee's report and be dealt with by a full House.
The controversial clause requires that Portmore remain a part of the parish of St. Catherine and that Councillors for the area would have dual membership and remain members of the St. Catherine Parish Council, as well as the Portmore Municipal Council.
Portia Simpson Miller, Minister of Local Government, Community Development and Sport, had noted previously that the issue was discussed extensively. Among the main reasons advanced for such dual membership were that:
Municipalities were not being granted complete separation from their parent parish and would remain as part of the parish.
The Parish Council would retain responsibility for several functions and services which affect the municipality.
In light of those, the citizens of Municipalities will continue to require representation at the level of the Parish Council.
If Councillors of the Municipalities were barred from serving on the Parish Council, then a separate set of Councillors would have to be elected from the Municipality, specifically to sit on the Parish Council, as representatives of the divisions within the municipality, which would be costly and could create conflict and confusion.
The issue which emerged was whether there should be restrictions on Councillors of the Municipality when they sit on the Parish Councils, as to what matters they would be allowed to participate in.
The view was expressed by the JLP that they should not be allowed to vote on matters concerning the rest of the parish, if these did not affect the Municipality. But, the Government says that making such restrictions in the main act would be problematic and, if necessary, would be best done through the by-laws of the respective Councils.
With yesterday's third meeting of the committee scheduled to be the last, JLP member, Senator Desmond McKenzie, proposed that the resolution of the matter be postponed for a third meeting. But, the Government members were not inclined towards another meeting.
Senator McKenzie was supported by his JLP colleagues, Abe Dabdoub, Mike Henry and Arthur Williams. Mr. Dabdoub said the proposed situation would create an injustice to other St. Catherine Councillors.
He said the JLP was not against dual representation, but felt that the way it was being approached would lead to a division among the Councillors based on the communities they represented.
