Newly appointed Jamaica Labour Party Senator, Colonel Trevor MacMillan, has accused the Government of treating Jamaicans as second-class citizens at home.

MacMillan said that the way the Government was approaching the preparations for Cricket World Cup 2007 was evidence that it was more interested in providing for the needs of visitors to the island for the event, than providing the same basic needs for Jamaicans.

“When I look at what is going to happen: the training of customs and immigration officers; the provision of ambulances; hospital upgrading; the fire station in Falmouth to be built. When I see all these things, and they are being done because of visitors coming here, Cricket World Cup coming here, when in fact the Jamaican people are just as important, if not more important, I have to draw some deductions and some conclusions,” he said.

“My deduction is that there is a feeling that Jamaicans are second-class citizens; and my conclusion is, with that coming from a party that says we put people first, they have certainly made us more second-class citizens,” he added.

Senator MacMillan was speaking on Friday in the debate on the ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007 Act (or the Sunset Legislation), which contains provisions for Jamaica co-hosting next year’s Cricket World Cup.

He said that while he wished the cricket as much success as possible, sincerely hoped that there are no incidents and welcomed, from now, the visitors who will come, he felt very strongly about the situation.

He said that recently he had heard announcements about the training of customs and immigration officers to make them better able to deal with visitors to the event.

“What about us who have to deal with customs and immigration every day?” he asked.

“I grew up at a time when I was told that if you want the road you are living on to be fixed, invite the Queen to Jamaica and if she drives on the road it gets fixed. I find that that culture, that attitude, is wrong. What about the people who use these services every day? Why wasn’t the thing given to them before?”

MacMillan noted that the new ambulances were being financed by the National Health Fund and questioned why the Fund could not have provided the financing earlier.

He said that diagnostic equipment were being provided for the hospitals in time for the World Cup, so that visitors who get injured can be better treated at the hospitals.

“What about our Jamaican people?” he asked.

“I am sorry. All these things are good, they are very important, but they should have been done before,” MacMillan said.

He also questioned why over US$25 million was being spent on upgrading Sabina Park, while a new stadium was being built in Trelawny. He said that although he suspected that the Trelawny stadium would become a white elephant, he may be wrong. But he was sure that Sabina Park would be limited to about one Test match every two years.

“So we are spending well over US$25 million for an arena that may only be used once in every two years. That doesn’t make sense to me,” he added.

MacMillan asked the attorney-general to look at section 14 of the Act which deals with work permits. He suggested that it will require a lot of bureaucracy to produce the work permits and suggested that it would be much easier if work permits for foreign personnel involved in the event were waived.

“It would be more practical than having to apply for work permits,” he said.

MacMillan also said that in terms of section 17 of the Act, he saw no reason why the tickets should not attract General Consumption Tax (GCT) and allow the Government to earn some tax benefits from them.