MANDEVILLE, Manchester – Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller says the country should be focusing on the relief effort rather than on “politics” in the aftermath of Hurricane Dean, which brushed the island last Sunday leaving three people dead and wreaking havoc and destruction in southern parishes.

“.I believe we should keep politics out of this disaster. We should keep politics out of this and begin to deal with the people and assist them to get their lives back together. It is terrible, people need to move on with their lives.,” Simpson Miller told journalists on Thursday after a tour of sections of Alligator Pond, South Manchester which were hardest hit by the hurricane.

“Until election date is announced, my focus is on the Jamaican people. I do not know how we can inject politics in this disaster. the Jamaican people are my responsibility and I am going to do everything to help the people as much as I can,” the prime minister added.

She was responding to questions regarding public concerns and uncertainty about the date of upcoming parliamentary elections. Until the passage of Hurricane Dean, the election date was set for next Monday, August 27.

However, the storm forced electoral officials to recommend a postponement of the election to September 3. Reports surfaced on Thursday that Simpson Miller and some members of her Cabinet were in favour of a later date, fuelling talk of a constitutional crisis and possible resignation by members of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica. There has also been media speculation about divisions in the Cabinet over the issue.

Other than to say that “at the appropriate time you will hear” and that (in time) “the country will be advised properly,” Simpson Miller avoided direct answers about the elections. But she made it clear that her Cabinet was united around the need to give priority attention to the relief effort.

“One thing I know in the Cabinet, we are all united around ensuring that we work with the people at this time to see how we can bring some level of not only calm, but to bring assistance to them,” she said.

She was highly critical of those who she said were guilty of “speculating and inciting” while hurricane victims suffered.

“Man can arrange but God will rearrange,” the prime minister said. “I have a country to run. We are in the middle of a disaster, where a number of areas in our country are under total devastation. We need to pay some attention to those persons.”

“It is a time when we should be paying attention to the suffering of those people who are affected [by the hurricane] rather than getting into speculation or trying to manufacture things that do not exist. I think we have a country to run and no matter what. until election night, when I am re-elected and I am given my own mandate, I am going to continue to pay attention to the issues affecting the Jamaican people, all the Jamaican people. The people who are quite okay and are not concerned with the majority of the Jamaican people, I cannot join them,” Simpson Miller said.

The prime minister said the rate of disaster assessment had accelerated with over 600 persons, including Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) personnel, out in the field “trying to do assessment quickly so people can get help”.

The Cabinet had also decided on Thursday that the lottery-based Chase fund would provide $50 million to ensure help for basic schools which were damaged in the storm. The Urban Development Corporation (UDC) would also provide $20 million to help in the restoration project, she said.