By Janet Silver, Gleaner WriterWESTERN BUREAU:
AFTER 266 years, the Maroons of Accompong are still struggling, but now their focus is on basic needs such as consistent water supply, proper roads, and peaceful relations among local leaders.
"There is a distant, although muted sense of unease among Maroon leaders, because of the effortless approach of successive Jamaican governments," said Colonel Sidney Peddie, Accompong Maroon chief, in his opening remarks at the annual celebrations on Tuesday.
He said as a result roads in and out of Accompong are virtually non-existent, impacting the economic life of the community which depends largely on farming for its income.
"Because of the lack of roads we are held in a stranglehold."
The Colonel said recent efforts made by Government to provide the community with roads have fallen by the wayside as the project was stopped because of a shortage of funds.
TREACHEROUS EXIT ROADS
A new but narrow roadway leading into the community has been constructed, but getting out of Accompong, especially at nights, can be treacherous as the exit roads remain in a deplorable condition.
On the positive side, the Accompong leader lauded the intervention of the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) two years ago.
"In the past two years, TPDCo has trained our tour guides, taught us about food and hygiene, built five public toilets and refurbished the community centre, among other things," he told The Gleaner.
But he wants more effort made to effectively promote the community as a unique tourist destination, but admits that Accompong itself needed improvement to become the type of destination that tourists will want to visit.
"But we are short of funds to put in place development and improvement which would make it more attractive to tourists," he said.
Calling for outside help, Mr. Peddie said the community was in need of benefactors, but he also noted that internal differences could hamper potential investors as each time help is given, he is accused of selling out their ancestors.
The Maroon community, which is located in the hills of St. Elizabeth, has been without regular water supplies since last January.
"The water problem has been on and off. We got regular water from July 31 until August 7 and we have not had water for a full day since," said Melville Currie, a member of the Maroon Council.
At the start of the celebrations on Tuesday there was no water for more than half of the day, limiting access to toilet facilities for the thousands that turned out for the event.
