WESTERN BUREAU – Residents who live near the North Gully in Montego Bay, St James, on Thursday staged a rowdy, but peaceful four-hour demonstration in the city, to protest against the filthy condition of the gully.

The protesters, most of them young men and women, said the gully has not been cleaned for almost two years, and claimed that the authorities were doing nothing to address the matter.

They, however, admitted that some residents were among those dumping garbage in the North Gully. Persons guilty of this practice, the residents said, claim that their waste was not being collected because the garbage trucks are unable to access sections of the community.

“The gully needs to be cleaned,” said Daphne Bruce, who lives in the area. She claimed that the gully was also a breeding ground for mosquitos, and that it was a health hazard.

Judi-Ann Saunders, a teacher at the Albion Lane Basic School, which is located near the North Gully, told the Observer that the condition of the gully has been posing serious environmental problems, and as a result the school has stopped the children from playing outside. “The place is not safe; if the place was safe and properly kept, then I would allow them to play outside,” Saunders added.

Desmond Ellis, who lives near the gully, said the problem could be tackled with some of the money that the government will be spending on the accommodation of the Haitian refugees. “Look how the community look, it need cleaning and they are spending millions of dollars on the Haitians. That nuh right.”

Mayor of Montego May Noel Donaldson, who toured the community following the protest, assured the protesters that work would be done to have the gully cleaned and maintained.

“I believe as the governing local authority, the St James Parish Council has to take a more active role in dealing with the problems of the citizens,” Donaldson said.

But the mayor said, “The situation in which we are totally dependent, in most instances, on central government cannot continue, because the people are living in conditions which are simply not acceptable”.

He said the St James Parish Council would continue to lobby the minister of local government to implement a plan to keep the gully clean. “We are going to do our best to see that the gully is clean on this occasion, and we are going to continue pressing the Ministry of Local Government.,” Donaldson said.