Whiteman. twenty-four Haitians will leave soon

TWO hundred and forty-four Haitians who fled to Jamaica during the violence which ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in late February want to remain in the island permanently and have applied for refugee status.

Minister of Information Burchell Whiteman told yesterday's post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House that their applications are being processed.

The procedure, he explained, included the verification of applicants' identities, an assessment of whether each person would be in personal danger if he/she returned home, and determining whether the application was really about political or economic pressures, as opposed to personal safety.

While stressing that it would be in Jamaica's best interest to complete the process as quickly as possible, Senator Whiteman cautioned that the procedure, in general, was time-consuming and would be even more so with 244 applications to wade through.

The information minister explained that 235 Haitians had already returned home while 24 of the 268 who were still here are awaiting the appropriate arrangements for their return journey and are expected to leave shortly.

There was a general outpouring of sympathy when the first set of Haitian boat people arrived on the island's shores in mid-February but as the numbers swelled to almost 600, there were rumblings about the financial strain they were creating. The official position of the government, however, has always been that everything possible would be done to help the country's Caribbean neighbours.

After it was announced that the government would spend more than $30 million to make the ramshackle Montpelier facility in St James into a camp for the Haitians, the criticism intensified from some quarters. Placard-waving protestors, for example, would often rap the government for spending limited resources on the boat people while failing to attend to their needs which ranged from road repairs to ensuring that there was water in community pipes.

There were also complaints from cops who were assigned to the Portland camp, that their working conditions were less than satisfactory, as well as concerns that some of the Haitians would leave both compounds without permission.

Yesterday, Senator Whiteman denied that there were any problems with the Haitians, specifically those staying at Montpelier, St James.

"I am not aware that there has been anything more than the normal level of difficulty which you have when any group of people is in unfamiliar surroundings," he said. He added that there had been no report to Cabinet to suggest that there is any real danger to the Haitians at the facility.

The Jamaican government has been working in collaboration with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and the International Migration Organisation to accommodate the Haitians and the total cost to the Jamaican government has been estimated at $61 million.

Mothers can't father

Trousers in Denim

Cream of the 'Crop'