KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Committee established to deal with issues raised by leadership from the Rastafari community has been directed to refer the matters relating to the property at Pinnacle to the Ministry of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change.

At the direction of Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, chair of the three-person Committee appointed by her met with Robert Pickersgill and officers from his ministry on Thursday to provide documents and information related to the issue, a release from the Office of the Prime Minister said on Friday.

The National Heritage Trust has declared the lot on the property containing the ruins of the Great House a National Heritage site. Discussions will continue on the determination of other lots to be similarly declared and protected. The Rastafari community regards Pinnacle as the spiritual home of the Movement, founded by the late Leonard P Howell who headed a community at Pinnacle between 1939 and 1945.

Pinnacle is located in the St Jago Hills Housing Development, where most of the lots are currently owned by private individuals, the release continued. The Committee, which includes Professor Rupert Lewis and Judith Wedderburn, held a meeting with representatives of the Rastafari community on January 28 and is expected to meet again shortly.