Rasbert Turner, Gleaner WriterSPANISH TOWN, ST. CATHERINE:
JAMAICA LABOUR Party Councillor for the Church Pen division in St. Catherine, Gerval Weir, is an angry man. He is vexed because he believes the two contenders for the post of councillor for the division have not been ratified by the delegates. According to Mr. Weir, he will not be participating in today's run-off for the selection of the new representative.
The two challengers are Mark Occonor and Annmarie York. "By the constitution of the party, persons who would be in the run-off would need to have got 30 per cent of the delegates vote for the run-off to be carried out."
To this end, Mr. Weir said that he has written to the party hierarchy and if the run-off is allowed to take place, he will be taking the matter to court.
"I do not know if it will go on, but if this does happen, I will be pursuing the matter legally." He told The Sunday Gleaner that it was not until February 2 that he received the delegates' list and to him the list was flawed. He said to the best of his knowledge, there were 60-odd delegates when he took over three years ago and now the new list had 160 and that they were not all from the Church Pen division.
"Some are as far as from Bartons, Horizon Park and other areas outside the division," he said. "Moreover, it was after seeking the intervention of the party hierarchy that I was shown the list."
Mr. Weir is also upset that the run-off will be held at the Member of Parliament's office in Marlie Acres, Old Harbour, which he believed to be inappropriate as it was outside of the division.
"There seems to be too much direct involvement of Member of Parliament Clifford Everald Warmington in the process. It will be only appropriate if the party comes in and deals with the issue now."
