MONTEGO BAY, St James – Uncertainty surrounds the future of the Montego Bay-based civil lobby group Citizens’ Action for Principle and Integrity (CAPI), following the resignation three weeks ago of former Senator Dennis Meadows as its co-convenor.

Meadows who was the spokesperson for the group, relinquished the post immediately after he was installed as the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) standard -bearer in the Trelawny Northern constituency last month.

Yesterday, Meadows stressed, however, that he remains a member of the group which he claims has over 7,000 members globally, adding that he has decided to “take a back seat,” because of his “re-engagement in the political process”.

“I have taken a back seat in CAPI; I will remain a member, but I will not be the face of CAPI,” Meadows emphasised.

“We are yet to identify someone…. the challenge now is to find someone who is competent and seems to have a grasp of the issues and is very public- minded. We can’t ignore the fear of many people to come out and speak openly on issues. We can’t ignore the fact that there are people who fear victimisation. Not many people have the level of independence and fearlessness that I have, and that is why there were some people who were questioning if Dennis Meadows was CAPI alone,” the usually outspoken Meadows argued.

“The real issue is that you do not readily get people who are prepared to stand up…… they will work with you behind the scenes, but they are not desirous of being the face of anything… it’s a real world out there and people fear backlash and victimisation.”

He added, however, that within the next two weeks he expects someone to emerge from the membership of the lobby group to be the face of CAPI.

“We are in an advanced stage of trying to coerce and to convince persons to fill the void even though not many people are willing to, but CAPI will still remain relevant and vibrant,” he stressed.

CAPI, which prides itself as a “non- political and non-aligned lobby group”, came to prominence almost four years ago shortly after the controversial swearing-in ceremony for new councillors in the St James Parish Council.

Days after the ceremony, the group staged a peaceful protest in the historic Sam Sharpe Square to condemn the omission of the green from a stage backdrop designed to depict the Jamaican flag at the function.

Since then, the group has been outspoken on a raft of issues, not only affecting the parish of St James, but nationally.

These include: the government’s $16 billion tax package in 2013; the government’s approval in 2013 of the lifting of $45.6 billion from the National Housing Trust (NHT) over four years for budgetary support; government’s tax on bank withdrawals; the controversial death of Montegonian Mario Deane in 2014; the NHT acquisition of the Outameni attraction in Trelawny, and the handling of the chikungunya epidemic by former Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson.

According to Meadows, the advocacy group was formed in 2013 because “a group of us with mixed political views believed that there was an absence of a voice that seeks to inform public policy and to take up issues regarding governance, particularly as it relates to integrity and principle in governance.”

He told the Jamaica Observer West that he is satisfied with the level of contribution that CAPI has made over the years, as far as advocacy is concerned.

“We have made a name for ourselves in terms of our stridency and our consistency in our position. All in all, in a short time we have been a household name,” he stressed.

The former CAPI co-convenor is expected to contest the Trelawny Northern seat against the People’s National Party (PNP’s) John Paul “JP” White in the upcoming general election.

Meadows is no stranger to the constituency, having tasted heavy defeats at the hands of the PNP in the 2007 and 2011 general elections.