MONTEGO BAY, St James — Two St James councillors have raised concerns over the quality of life to which 23 children removed from the Bayith Yahweh compound were exposed.

The children, who are now in State care, were taken from the property during a multi-agency operation spearheaded by the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) on Wednesday morning under suspicions of underage marriages and child abuse. They were later taken before the St James Family Court as the authorities aim to protect them.

During Thursday’s sitting of the St James Municipal Corporation (SJMC) Councillor David Brown (Jamaica Labour Party, Montego West Division), the elected representative for the Albion area where the Bayith Yahweh facility is located, urged the St James Public Health Department to carry out a similar operation at the compound.

“Now that the operation has been done, I would strongly recommend [that] a team from the public health department is sent to the establishment… to see what type of living conditions the children were being forced to reside under. And if it is not suitable and up to standard, what can be done to the establishment?” Brown asked.

The councillor, who went on to query whether a stop order can be placed on the establishment if it’s deemed unsuitable for residential use, told the meeting that he has had his fair share of interactions with Bayith Yahweh.

“I am very familiar with the institution because I have been at odds with them for years. In fact, they actually carried me to court… because I made a statement saying that any forced marriage of any underage child, whether boy or girl, is illegal,” the councillor said.

Brown’s comments came after Councillor Anthony Murray (Jamaica Labour Party, Rose Hall Division) raised concerns over allegations that the compound had communal living quarters that house both adults and children.

“For a building to be housing children and adults, would they need public health approval? Would that building need to be certified by the public health [department] for them to keep children there?” Councillor Murray asked.

In response, Dr Tanique Bailey-Small, medical officer at the St James Health Department, advised the council that their branch of the health department was not involved in the operation on Wednesday.

However, in his response to the councillors’ concerns, acting chief public health inspector for St James Steve Morrison stated that his team would be looking into the living conditions on the compound.

“We have a programme that we call institutional health where we visit institutions [such as] day cares or schools. Our ammunition will definitely be used to look at that situation,” Morris said.

The Bayith Yahweh group is no stranger to controversy, as there have long been concerns over what takes place behind its chained gates. Wednesday’s operation is not the first of its kind as members of the police carried out a similar search of the premises in 2019.