By John Myers Jr., Staff ReporterPETER ESPEUT, executive director of the Caribbean Coastal Area Management (C-CAM) Foundation, has blamed Government's neglect for the widespread destruction and the deaths of eight persons in Portland Cottage in Clarendon and has called for an investigation into the tragedy.
"It seems to me that this is not just to be put at the feet of Hurricane Ivan, some other agencies have blood on their hands," Mr. Espeut told a Gleaner Editors' Forum yesterday at the Lionel Town Police Station in Clarendon.
IMPROPER BEHAVIOUR
"It is through the improper behaviour of some Government departments that certainly the eight people in Portland Cottage, Clarendon, died," he charged.
The C-CAM director pointed out that approval was recently given to Food For the Poor, a charitable organisation that assists the poor, to build hundreds of houses in the small seaside community in south-east Clarendon.
"I would like to see an investigation into this. Somebody needs to take responsibility for this decision. Who could possibly have given permission for houses to be built in wetlands?" he asked. "Just on sanitation grounds alone, the law says you cannot build a house without sanitary conveniences."
Milton Brown, Mayor of May Pen and the chairman of the Clarendon Parish Council, admitted that the Local Government body had not been as vigilant as it should be, disclosing that approval had not always been sought for the construction of some houses. He added that he could not recall seeing a building plan for Portland Cottage in his six years as a councillor in the Clarendon Parish Council.
He also admitted that the Council's building inspection unit "is not as effective as it ought to be. I think that emphasis has not been... on the quality of construction." The Mayor said because people were not submitting building plans for approval, the Council had been concentrating, perhaps too much, on getting people to submit plans. However, "I think this happening here has brought home in clear terms that we need to be firm as it relates to where people build," Mayor Brown said.
BE VERY FIRM
Charles Learmond, Member of Parliament for Clarendon South West, agreed. He said "the Government, or whoever the authorities be, will have to be very firm." He said persons will not be forced off lands, but "we will have to talk to them, persuade them, encourage them to move..."
The southcoast of Clarendon, of which Portland Cottage is a part, falls within the 724 square miles of protected area under the Portland Bight Protected Area (PBPA). Mr. Espeut lamented that despite C-CAM being established in 1999 as an environmental protection agency to manage the PBPA, the requisite legislations to give the organisation regulatory powers, are yet to be approved by the Government. "We have signed a contract with the Government to enforce the regulations (but) there are no regulations, so it is really an empty document," he said.
