Dear Editor,

Now that the director of elections has offered some well-needed information as to the dilemma in the Portmore municipality where the councillors for the Portmore Pines Division and Greater Portmore North Division sit not in the Portmore Municipal Council, but with the St Catherine Parish Council, my disappointment is eased somewhat.

Eased because this information is now made available to the public, but I wish to point out to Mr Orette Fisher that this information should have been made available to the electorate of Portmore. Also, a letter to the editor in the media belatedly cannot be deemed appropriate, given the nature of the information, and given the fact that the media is under no obligation to publish any letter regardless of where and from whom it may originate.

I believe the EOJ had other ways of getting the information out, and the fact that this was not done speaks volumes.

To say that the redefinition of the municipal boundaries is outside the remit of the ECJ is what I call a “Teflon-like” declaration, rather than acceptance of basic responsibility, which is to ensure that all is in place to hold an election; and for the last local government polls all was not in place to facilitate the election in the municipality of Portmore.

This has been vindicated with the electorate of two parish council divisions voting in Portmore and ending up in the St Catherine Parish Council, and legal ramifications to correct this. The EOJ/ECJ cannot do what the political directorate must do, but they have the responsibility to inform the electorate, and they did not. What everyone must understand is that the political representatives who sit with the ECJ are there primarily to ensure that their political counterparts do not enjoy any clear political advantage. They being there is on their party’s behalf, and as such the independent members who are without political clout must rely on the wider electorate for their muscle, and this they can only achieve through effective communication so we can be informed of what is/or not happening.

As it relates to the preparation of information regarding the gazetting of new boundaries being sent to the parliamentary counsel for drafting, was the ECJ/EOJ not aware that some amount of public consultation needed to have been completed within the community? It seems that they were not aware, which now compels me to ask what sort of advice are they privy to in these matters?

Questions I must now also ask publicly of the EOJ director are:

* If the councillors for the Portmore Pines and Greater Portmore North Division now sit with the St Catherine Parish Council and report to the mayor of Spanish Town, does that in effect mean that the mayor of Spanish Town is the mayor for these two divisions?

* If the above is answered in the affirmative, then what would have happened to the votes cast for mayoral candidates within the municipality since,

I believe, we cannot have two

mayors simultaneously.

* In the affected parish council divisions, the majority of voters lie within the Portmore municipality with only about 14 polling divisions being “outside” the boundary. Could you advise on the law that dictates that the two divisions are grouped within the St Catherine Council and not within the Portmore Municipal Council?

It is ironic that because of the foul-up, Mayor George Lee, who championed the cause of the municipality, is operating from offices officially based in Portmore, but with an electoral division in Spanish Town. Untidy and unacceptable, to say the least.

Howard Hamilton

Portmore Pines

St Catherine

how_hamil@yahoo.com