MONTEGO BAY, St James — President of the influential Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI) Janet Silvera is tipped to return as head of the 88-year-old chamber during the advocacy group’s annual general meeting (AGM) at the Montego Bay Convention Centre tomorrow.

“Up to today no one has indicated that they will be challenging Janet for the post. Usually when someone is going to challenge an incumbent you would know long before,” a director of the chamber told the Jamaica Observer yesterday. He said, however, that the floor will be open for nominations at the AGM.

Silvera, a journalist, was selected to serve as acting president in June 2019 following the sudden resignation of then president Winston Lawson. At that time, Silvera had been first-vice president of the chamber. She was returned unopposed as president during the group’s AGM last July.

Yesterday, Silvera told the Observer that she was looking forward to continuing her work in that position as part of efforts to pursue the interest of Montegonians.

She added that she was satisfied with the work that the chamber achieved under her stewardship over the past year. “Going through the [novel coronavirus] pandemic the way we did, and achieving as much as we could through the pandemic, I believe I should go back as president,” Silvera said.

She said that during the past 12 months the chamber had undertaken a raft of initiatives to cushion the blow of the pandemic.

These, she said, included the distribution of more than 30,000 masks in the resort city; the distribution of care packages valued at more than $7 million in 12 communities; the donation of over $3 million worth of personal protection equipment (PPE) to the Cornwall Regional Hospital; and a donation of $500,000 to the Committee for the Upliftment of the Mentally Ill.

She also disclosed that during the year, the membership of the MBCCI had been in discussions with the St James Municipal Corporation regarding the removal of huge billboards from the historic Sam Sharpe Square in Montego Bay.

“…We have had a very encouraging meeting with the municipal corporation and the possibility exists that they will remove those billboards eventually,” said Silvera.

The chamber, she said, had also been very vocal on matters relating to the Montego Bay bypass road.

And while not giving too much away on her plans for a new term in office, Silvera said she would be pushing for a crime summit to be convened, in a bid to come up with solutions to decrease crimes plaguing the parish of St James, particularly in inner-city Montego Bay communities.

Additionally, she stressed that greater emphasis would be placed on the provision of medical care for State-run homes across Montego Bay.

At tomorrow’s AGM, Oral Heaven, the chamber’s first vice-president, second vice-president Karlene Maye, and third vice-president Damia Dawes-Monthrope are expected to seek re-election.