By Roy Sanford, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
MERIDIE ROWE, former Colonel of the Accompong Maroons, St. James, has objected to having the Electoral Office of Jamaica's (EOJ) employees act as presiding officers and poll clerks during the Maroon elections scheduled for April 6.
"I am strongly objecting to the fact that the EOJ wants to bring in their own employees as presiding officers and poll clerks in the maroon elections," Rowe told The Gleaner on Sunday.
"This cannot work and I am going to write to the Director of Elections on Monday (today) to express my concerns."
But Neville Graham, public education officer at the EOJ, said it was "standard procedure" for the organisation to provide its own presiding officers when it was called on to assist in special elections. He said there were no objections to the idea when the EOJ met with the Maroon Council in their village of Accompong two weeks ago.
"I want to hear what he (Mr. Rowe) has to say before I comment further," Mr. Graham stated.
QUALMS OVER EOJ'S INVOLVEMENT IN POLLS
Mr. Rowe, who is president of the Maroons' Federal House of Assembly, said his objection was to "what appears to be the EOJ's attempt to dictate to the Maroons, the terms of their own election."
"The EOJ was called in to assist in the election, not to dictate what the Maroons should be doing," he said.
"I am going to use all my might and energy to resist the EOJ's attempt to deprive Maroons who have been presiding officers in the past."
DEEP-SEATED RIFT
Two weeks ago a potential rift in the Maroon leadership was averted after the Maroon Council, on the advice of the EOJ, agreed to retain at least nine polling stations outside of Accompong.
Disagreement among the leadership surfaced when the incumbent colonel, Sydney Peddie, proposed that a clause be added to the Maroon Constitution that all future elections be held in Accompong.
The colonel wanted all polling stations outside the village shut down to prevent Maroons who did not participate in the politics and daily activities of the village from participating in choosing the leader.
However, Mr. Rowe did not agree with this and said Maroons should not be denied the right to vote in the areas where they live.
