BARRETT TOWN, St James – OPPOSITION spokesperson on health, Senator Marlene Malahoo Forte, has called on the minister of health to respond to allegations of political bias in the recruitment of 1,000 youth workers, as part of the Zika virus (ZIKV) preparedness activities.

“I am hearing that the people are being recruited strictly along political lines and the same thing that was done under the watch of the former minister of health is what I am hearing is being done under this new minister of health,” Malahoo Forte claimed.

The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) spokesperson, who is also the party’s candidate for St James West Central in the upcoming general elections, also accused the ruling People’s National Party (PNP) administration of using the recruitment programme as an election campaigning ploy.

“The allegations are that as part of organising for the upcoming elections they are embarking on all kinds of deceptive moves and that they are recruiting under the guise of doing the nation’s work, but as a way of organising politically. Well, I want to say to the minister of health that the people of Jamaica deserve better,” Malahoo Forte said.

She was addressing over 100 JLP workers and elderly citizens who were hosted during a special Christmas dinner by Member of Parliament for St James East Central Edmund Bartlett at the John Rollins Success Primary School recently.

Meanwhile, Bartlett, who touted the JLP senator to defeat the sitting St James West Central MP, Sharon Ffolkes Abrahams of the PNP in the upcoming general election, noted that his party does not turn its back on its workers.

“And this is our last moment for this year to be gathered in this way and I wanted it to happen in a festive way and I also wanted it to happen in a way of appreciation, to show you our love for you, to show you our respect for the work that you have done and to show you that when you work in the Labour Party we don’t ignore it, we honour it, and we celebrate. This evening is an evening of celebration,” Bartlett remarked.