KINGSTON, Jamaica – The People’s National Party (PNP) has called on the Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Desmond McKenzie, to urgently address the negligence of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) and protect the health and safety of citizens.

In a release today, the Opposition stated that the NSWMA, which falls under Minister McKenzie’s governance, has shirked its responsibility to maintain a sanitary environment for Jamaicans and has not shown any convincing indication that there will be improvements in the near future.

Opposition Spokesperson on Local Government and Community Development and Member of Parliament for St Catherine Eastern, Denise Daley, stated that the overflowing of garbage and waste left uncollected in communities across the island, is damaging to the health and safety of all Jamaican citizens.

“We will not sit and allow the mismanagement to continue. I appeal to the Minister and the management of the NSWMA to get their act together,” Daley said.

Daley added that she has made representation to the Minister in Parliament, as recently as last year, and has only received promises but no action to date. She expressed that the flooding which occurred in several parishes across the Eastern belt of the island highlighted the gross mismanagement of the country’s garbage disposal and drain cleaning programme.

“Work needs to be carried out on drainage systems nationally, especially in areas prone to flooding. We must design contingency plans to mitigate disasters such as these,” said Daley.

She added: “We are all aware that the NSWMA needs additional service units to manage the magnitude of work it has to do, but why is this matter being treated with scant regard? How long did it take the organization to realize that units were needed? How long did it take for the approval to be granted for the procurement of these units? Why is the Government continuing to put the health and safety of Jamaican citizens at risk?”

The Opposition is demanding that the Government approaches this matter with alacrity and clean up the country once and for all.