OCHO RIOS, St Ann — Annoyed at the length of time it is taking to have repairs done to roads in their divisions, two councillors in St Ann on Thursday vociferously made it clear that they have had enough. Representatives of both the ruling and Opposition parties were united in declaring that their constituents deserve better.

“Enough is enough! This thing happen from the 26 of August when we had [Tropical] Storm Ida where a section of the division was badly damaged,” said councillor for the Borrobridge Division Winston Brown (People’s National Party). “I had asked if a request was sent to the minister seeking assistance from the emergency fund to do some repair and we were told that it would be discussed at finance [meeting]. To date I have not heard a thing.”

He questioned what was being done with funds designated for repairs after natural disasters.

“Every month 20 per cent is deducted from the parochial revenue funds to assist with disaster in any parish. There was a disaster from the 26 of August and we can’t get a red cent to do any work. So why is that money being deducted for emergency?” he asked.

“I would like to invite everyone in this room to go and see the situation and then we will all know that it is disastrous. A lady called me sometime last week to say she is afraid of walking on the road because she don’t want to end up in the gully. That is a threat to lives. I’m calling on the ministry of local government to send someone there,” Brown urged.

Councillor for the Sturge Town Division, Winston Lawrence (Jamaica Labor Party), also invited his colleagues to take a first-hand look at the damage done in his division where, he said, “as the rain sneeze things go downhill”.

Unimpressed by assurances that the relevant authorities had already toured the area and an estimate sent to the local government ministry, he pointed out that, while the Cave Valley area had been visited, there was still a problem in the upper sections of the division, including areas such as Cascade.

“Nobody came there so I need someone to be sent there,” Brown requested.

However, the corporation’s CEO Rovel Morris reassured him that an estimate had indeed been sent off for that area.

“An estimate was done for your division twice and it was sent to the ministry. Estimate was also done for other divisions in the parish that were damaged. So let it not be said that the corporation did not play their part,” said Morris.