FALMOUTH, Trelawny — Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Desmond McKenzie is reminding Jamaicans that among the roughly 3,000 homeless people roaming the streets are some who, before falling on hard times, contributed significantly towards the development of the nation.

“Many of these (homeless) people have contributed significantly to the growth and development of Jamaica but something went wrong along the way. And in parts of the island… they kill them, they set them on fire, they pretend as if they [are] giving them food to eat and give them rotten meat and all the things that they don’t want they take it and give it to these people as if they are animals,” said McKenzie as he blasted those who dish out inhumane treatment to the homeless..

“As a country we need to lift the standard of how we treat these people [and treat them] as if they are our own and remember their contribution,” added McKenzie.

He defended the Government’s protection of the homeless population and criticised a picture posted on social media which ostensibly attempted to depict the State’s neglect of a homeless man captured during the rain brought on by the passage of Tropical Storm Elsa.

“I noticed over the weekend those… who are privileged to use social media, or other means of expressing themselves, found one homeless man, take him photograph and posted it on social media and were asking the question, ‘who is caring for him?’ Instead of taking the man’s picture and post it on social media, if you love him and care for him that much, you would have gone out there and pick him up and find somewhere and take him,” McKenzie suggested.

McKenzie was speaking last week in Falmouth, Trelawny at the ground-breaking ceremony for a homeless shelter, which will house 20 people in the seaside town .

The Trelawny shelter is the first of its kind outside the Corporate Area and will provide temporary shelter, meals, and bathroom amenities. The construction of the facility is scheduled for completion by the end of 2021.

McKenzie announced that in the next couple years similar facilities will be built across the country.

“We are going to be building out eight more of these facilities right across Jamaica over the next two years. And there are going to be some parishes, because of the size of those parishes, if you have one in one area it is not going to be adequate to deal with the other part of the parish,” said McKenzie.

Mayor of Falmouth Colin Gager welcomed the decision to establish the facility, just beside the Trelawny drop-in centre, which was open just over one year ago.

“We truly welcome the facility at this time. It really complements the drop-in centre. We at the Trelawny Municipal Corporation lift our hats to Minister McKenzie for affording us the opportunity to have the first homeless shelter outside of the Corporate Area,” Gager told the Jamaica Observer.

McKenzie, who following, the ground-breaking ceremony, visited the Trelawny Infirmary, argued that there will still be no additional admission to infirmaries at this time in light of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“It is a matter that we are presently engaged with the Ministry of Health having extensive discussions as to the approach that we have to take to maintain the protocols. We don’t want to open up the infirmaries and then we run into difficulties,” said McKenzie.

He pointed to the Government’s care for residents in State-run infirmaries and argued that Jamaica boasts one of the lowest rates of infection and death as a result of COVID-19 internationally.

“If you look at our record here in Jamaica, in our golden age homes and infirmaries, we have one of the lowest infection and mortality rate in the world in these institutions. We have lost about 10 lives… and that is 10 too much and many great countries that have resources than we do have suffered immensely because we take pride to ensure that we preserve those persons who are in our care,” he underscored.