THE Charles Gordon Market in Montego Bay will be one of 15 markets that the Jamaica Labour Party will upgrade if it forms the next government, according to Opposition Leader Edward Seaga.

After a tour of the market Saturday, he expressed concern about the effect the vending area’s unsanitary conditions could have on vendors and buyers alike.

“As far as the market is concerned, it continues to be a sore point. Our policy is to build and replace 15 markets, and certainly a market in a main town like Montego Bay would have to be included,” Seaga told journalists after the tour.

He said that the dirt and the filth that exists in the market is a deterrent to shoppers and a danger to the vendors. “Women should not be exposed to those sort of filthy conditions,” Seaga said.

The St James Parish Council, which has overall responsibility for the facility, has spent millions of dollars on its repair and upgrading over the years. The council has successfully removed persons who used to sleep in the gun court section of the facility, it was paved and additional stalls were put in place.

But during Saturday’s tour, some vendors still had their wares displayed on the ground outside the facility and even though the drains looked freshly washed, an unpleasant odour emanated from some sections near the butchery.

There were very few buyers visible and, according to Seaga, this was an indication of the poor state of the country’s economy.

As they grabbed Seaga’s hands and chanted “shower”, many of the vendors complained that they had sold very little since the day began.

“The economy is so run down that there are very few shoppers in the marketplace and the vendors will all tell you that. It is their common cry,” Seaga said.

The tour of the market was one of the many stops during the JLP’s blitz of St James, which began with Friday night’s US$1,000 a plate fund-raising dinner for deputy leader and East Central St James candidate, Ed Bartlett.

Yesterday, neither Seaga nor Bartlett would reveal how much money had been raised at the gala that was not open to the press. But the deputy leader maintained that “it was a good fund-raiser”.

Yesterday also, the JLP team toured the Jamaica Public Service Company’s Bogue plant, as well as the police’s St James Divisional Headquarters at Freeport.

Seaga had high praise for the facilities at the police station and called for similar stations to be erected across the island.

“As far as the police station is concerned, it is a well thought out plan, it provides for all the necessities. It was a little bit run down, needing some painting but I think it is a great improvement over the kind of police stations that we have,” he said. “And what is necessary is to have not one of those or two of them, but certainly many of them, certainly in each division to lift the morale of the police and make for a better and more efficient force.”

The JLP also toured the city’s craft markets during their whirlwind tour of all four constituencies in the parish. Activities continue tonight with a mass rally in Sam Sharpe Square, beginning at 6:30 pm followed by a press conference at 9:00 am tomorrow.