KINGSTON'S MAYOR Desmond McKenzie has embarked on an aggressive drive to raise funds for the rehabilitation and maintenance of the May Pen Cemetery, Spanish Town Road, west Kingston.
"I am going to every single international agency that I think can help," the Mayor told The Gleaner. On Tuesday, Mayor McKenzie, along with Louise Valle, of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and Morin Seymour, chairman of the Kingston Restoration Company (KRC), toured sections of the cemetery, the largest in the island and the Caribbean. Mayor McKenzie said he had been requesting assistance from several local and international agencies to improve conditions at the cemetery.
"I am hoping that by February, we will be able to make an announcement as to when we will start and what kind of funds and technical support we will get" from the United States Agency for International Development, the US Peace Corps, and the Canadian International Development Agency. He said that similar requests were made of the Italian Embassy, the Nigerian High Commision, the Environ-mental Foundation and the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF).
Mr. Seymour assured Mayor McKenzie of the KRC's support in the rehabilitation of the cemetery. He said the fact that the Mayor had decided to invite him on the tour was reason enough to lend his support.
Mrs. Valle said she was surprised to see the poor state of the cemetery. "As opposed to cemeteries in big cities like New Orleans or Paris where cemeteries are areas where people go to learn about their history, this cemetery has been abandoned. I think that in the same process you are losing a lot about your history..." She said the May Pen Cemetery had a lot of important people, including Government ministers, buried there.
Mrs. Valle said that while the CIDA was not making a commitment to provide monetary assistance, efforts would be made to acquire technical expertise for the project. "We are interested in assisting Local Government as much as we can and this is an important part of Local Government, so we will look at it and look at various options submitted ...and discuss the possibilities," she said.
