IN THE House speaks with our Parliamentarians on matters raised in the Legislature recently.
Victor Cummings, Member of Parliament for Central Kingston, tabled a motion on July 15, 2003, calling on the House of Representatives to join the Kingston & St. Andrew Corporation in the preparation of a new charter for Kingston & St. Andrew.
Today, Earl Moxam speaks with Mr. Cummings about the significance and implications of this resolution.
EM: You point out in the resolution that Kingston received its royal charter over 200 years ago and that the amalgamation of the parishes of Kingston and St. Andrew took place 80 years ago. What's the significance of those two events?
VC: When Kingston received the charter it was just a small area which is now known as the business district. Then with the amalgamation of the two parishes you have had an expansion. Currently the city limit to the East is at Up Park Camp; places like St. Andrew are not part of the city of Kingston! That's an anomaly that must be corrected. You need to incorporate other areas that are outside the official limits. Rural St. Andrew could also be incorporated in the charter and adequate provisions made for the delivery of services to those areas. EM: What should be some of the other features of the new charter?
VC: I would like the city to have a directly elected mayor, in which case there would no longer be a need for a town c lerk. There should be a system of recall for elected officials, i.e. the mayor and councillors. A recall vote would be triggered by having a petition signed by a minimum of 25 per cent of the registered voters.
EM: Should Kingston be subsumed into St. Andrew, or vice versa?
VC: We should just have the city of Kingston & St. Andrew. Essentially the two function as one. I'm not opposed to the two being merged into one, named the city of Kingston encompassing the two parishes. However, there will be those who would wish to retain the two names, for historical purposes.
EM: What of the relationship between Kingston & St. Andrew and lower St. Catherine, particularly Spanish Town and Portmore. Should that relationship be formalised?
VC: There could be some kind of agreement between the Corporate Area and Portmore to formalise the working relationship regarding shared services, including transport. There has to be some kind of understanding. The idea of regionalisation as previously enunciated by Arnold Bertram (former Minister of Local Government) would take care of that.
EM: Your resolution calls for a joint select committee of Parliament to be established to work in conjunction with the KSAC's charter review commission in preparing the new charter for the parishes of Kingston and St. Andrew. Why should Parliament be involved at this stage?
VC: Parliament will have to approve the charter. So it would be important for Parliament to be brought in on the process early so that when the KSAC approves and sends it to Parliament it would be quickly approved ...as happened with the establishment of the Portmore municipality.
