KINGSTON Mayor Lee Clarke has hit out at the church over its criticism of his proposal to start a City Lottery that he intends to use to finance projects run by the Kingston & St Andrew Corporation which he chairs.

In a letter to the editor, Clarke, who was elevated to the position of mayor last month, stopped short of outrightly calling the church hypocritical, but highlighted one action that he felt warranted an apology by the revered institution.

"I would like to ask these church leaders, how come they found it so comfortable and spiritual to pour millions of dollars, collected from thousands of poor members islandwide, into schemes like Olint and Cash Plus and lose those funds, and have never even had the decency to apologise publicly for both participating and promoting these schemes, which have destroyed thousands of Jamaicans, financially?" Clarke wrote.

Clarke insisted that the introduction of the lottery would redound to the benefit of several thousand people.

"I have heard church spokesmen suggesting that even if the (lottery) provides jobs for 7,000 persons, as we have projected, thousands more would be affected by the betting aspect. But, I wish to explain to them that the (lottery) would not only produce 7,000 jobs, but the profits would benefit some 700,000 residents of Kingston and St Andrew, whose roads and drains would be rehabilitated, as well as thousands of homeless and indigent persons who need shelter, food and clothing, which we cannot provide without the resources to do so," Clarke wrote.

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