POWELL. I am leaving (Photo: Vivian Tyson)

WESTERN BUREAU - St James Parish Council Secretary Manager Christopher Powell quit yesterday, hours after his home was riddled with bullets in a late-night attack. He told the Public Services Commission that he would work in any other parish, but not St James.

"I am leaving today," he told the Observer yesterday after a hastily called meeting at the council to inform the local body of his decision. "I am going on departmental leave, then I am going on vacation leave. I have already contacted the (Public) Services Commission, so they have to make a decision, because I am not coming back. Why would I want to come back to St James? You could be walking on the street and anything can happen to you."

The attack was immediately condemned by Local Government Minister Portia Simpson Miller, the Jamaica Association of Local Government Officers (JALGO) as well as the association of Local Government Managers (LGM).

"I view the attempt on the life of Mr Christopher Powell. as another sad day in the lives of Jamaicans," Simpson Miller said in a statement last night.

She pointed the finger at "criminal elements. who are intent on creating mayhem".

Staff members of the St James Parish Council vent their anger at Tuesday night's attack on secretary manager, Christopher Powell, at the council's Union Street office in Montego Bay, yesterday. (Photo: Vivian Tyson)

The Montego Bay police have, in the meantime, launched an investigation into the shooting, which took place at the official residence of the secretary manager at about 12:00 Tuesday night. The Leader Avenue home is located near the official mayor's residence.

According to Constabulary Communication Network liaison officer for St James, Camille Tracy, the gunmen were travelling in a white Toyota Corolla motor car. Cops who went on the scene said they found a number of bullet fragments, as well as spent shells, she said.

The Observer was unable to gain access to Powell's home, but there appeared to be bullet holes on the front of the house as well as on its metal fencing. According to the secretary manager, two of the bullets lodged under his kitchen window; two hit a verandah pillar then ricocheted onto another post, and more shots were fired at other parts of the building.

He was not injured during the incident.
"I am an ex-army officer, so I knew how to take evasive action," Powell said.

The civil servant, who was on the job before the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) took control of the council last June, has had a stormy relationship with JLP members of the council for months.

However, there was no indication yesterday that Tuesday night's shooting at Powell's house had anything to do with quarrels with JLP councillors.

In December, Montego Bay Mayor Noel Donaldson called for him to be sacked, saying he had lost confidence in Powell's ability to act in the council's best interests.

Powell and the JLP councillors also locked horns over the controversial lease of council-owned lands at Bogue in Montego Bay. Then in early January, after the mayor vowed to call in the cops to investigate an invoice-padding scam he said he had uncovered at the council, Powell challenged him to substantiate his allegations or shut up as he could damage the reputations of members of the council's administration.

Up to press time yesterday, Donaldson could not be reached for comment on Powell's decision to leave.

However, according to the secretary manager, quitting was the sensible thing to do and no one could convince him to remain on the job.

"I did not know that a secretary manager's job was so important, because I have not done anything or crossed anybody that I can think of," Powell said. "Why would somebody go to this length to want to shoot up where I live? It's kind of shocking; I am just an ordinary civil servant trying to do my job."

Yesterday, members of the council's administrative staff protested outside the Union Street building, calling for Simpson Miller's intervention while chanting "No Powell, no work!"

Some cried openly and lashed out at those who they held responsible for his departure.

The attack on Powell's home came on the heels of reports, last week, that officials at the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation had been threatened.

Yesterday, president of the association of Local Government Managers (LGM), Ian Reid, expressed concern at the "increasing pattern of threats" to officers within the local authorities and condemned the attack on Powell's home.

JALGO's general secretary, Helene Davis-Whyte, said the incident was the "first time that anyone can recall that a secretary manager. had his/her life threatened by way of an armed attack on his home and person".

"We deplore the act and hope it is not intended to drive fear into local government officers and thus prevent them from carrying out their lawful duties," Davis-Whyte said.

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