THERE are reports of increasing concern from some residents in Portmore, St Catherine, who are uncertain which constituency they will be living in when the dormitory community is made a parish.

Reports reaching the Jamaica Observer suggest that the residents are wary as the planned parish boundaries, released last year, would leave parts of some constituencies — including St Catherine Southern and St Catherine East Central — in the new parish of Portmore, while other parts of these constituencies would be in the St Catherine parish.

Sitting Member of Parliament for St Catherine Southern Fitz Jackson, who is also the People’s National Party (PNP) spokesman with special responsibility for affairs concerning Portmore, last week told the Sunday Observer that while there is still uncertainty about what will be the parish boundaries, there is cause for concern.

“I cannot comment on it fully because I have no clue, honestly, what is contained in the proposal,” Jackson said as he argued that it would be idiotic if it is true that Municipal Boulevard, popularly known as I95, would be considered a boundary of the new parish.

“So I want to assume that is a non-starter,” said Jackson as he responded to an announcement by minister with responsibility for information Robert Morgan who told a post-Cabinet press briefing last Wednesday that the Cabinet has approved a map of the proposed parish of Portmore, prepared by National Land Agency (NLA).

According to Morgan, the Government remains committed to Portmore’s designation as a parish, and the map’s approval is a technical step that forms part of the process.

“As you know, this process started a very long time ago — from, I think, as far back as in the 2000s — and there were town halls with the citizens of Portmore. The NLA was engaged, the Portmore Municipal Corporation was engaged, and other various stakeholders within and outside of Government were engaged to come up with this boundary,” he said.

“The next step is to table… the Bill in Parliament so that Portmore can finally become a parish, which is a commitment that this Government has consistently made,” said Morgan who was not asked to provide details of the proposed boundaries.

But Jackson said the PNP remains prepared to take on the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Administration if it continues to push creating a parish of Portmore “for its own agenda”.

He told the Sunday Observer that the proposed boundary for Portmore, which was sent to the municipal corporation by the Ministry of Local Government last year, used East West Highway 2000 as the northern boundary.

“That proposed boundary would cut off portions of my constituency, cut off portions of East Central St Catherine, and make them no longer in the new boundary of Portmore but leave them [some residents] without any constituency because they would fall out of existing constituencies — and as we know, it is the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) which has the responsibility to readjust constituency boundaries. There have been no readjustments of the constituency boundaries in Jamaica since 2010 by the EOJ,” said Jackson.

“You can’t exist in a democratic society where the Government of the day just seeks to foist its own wishes on the people in a unilateral way. If you’re going to establish boundaries — in an area [where] the area already exists [and] people exist there and you are proposing changes — why is it that the Government finds it so difficult to engage the people in whatever changes they’re proposing?” argued Jackson.

He charged that the Administration of Prime Minister Andrew Holness “is continuing its autocratic and dictatorial tendencies… that we have seen manifested over and over. It’s part of the arrogance that they know it all. They know what is best and they are going to foist it on the people, whether they want [this] or not”.

The Opposition spokesman argued that claims by the Government that it has consulted extensively on making Portmore Jamaica’s 15th parish are a sham as the parliamentary committee which discussed the matter was designed to just endorse the plan of the Administration while the town hall meetings only heard from a minute fraction of the residents of the community.

According to Jackson, the PNP has repeatedly made it clear that any steps taken by this Administration to make Portmore a parish, without widespread consultation, will be reversed when it is elected to form the Government.

“Because the will of the people must rule supreme. [And], as we have said before, the existing structure, governance arrangement in Portmore was not brought about by the PNP. It was brought about by the people of Portmore, facilitated by a PNP Government,” argued Jackson as he reiterated his party’s concerns over statements by then Cabinet member Everald Warmington that the JLP plans to create a political stronghold in St Catherine East Central through adjustment of the constituency’s boundaries with the creation of the parish of Portmore.

According to Jackson, the leadership of the JLP is yet to distance itself from Warmington’s statement so the PNP holds that it is true.

“The PNP, I promise you… will fight it through the courts, and we’ll fight it on the streets,” declared Jackson.