National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) Executive Director Audley Gordon has pushed back at an attempt by Mayor of Spanish Town Norman Scott to shift the blame for the pile-up of garbage at the No 5 Cemetery in Spanish Town to his
agency.

In an interview with the Jamaica Observer on Monday, Gordon rubbished the response by Scott, who, on April 5, claimed that the NSWMA should be the ones contacted about the dumping of solid waste on the cemetery grounds as that agency is responsible for collecting garbage.

“Law and order in the cemetery is squarely the prerogative of the municipal corporations. The NSWMA don’t get to police cemeteries and the day-to-day management of cemeteries. So the question has to be asked: What level of management and security or enforcement are around our cemeteries, and to the extent that those may be inadequate? The question also has to be asked: How do we move to fix that so that we can have our loved ones, the remains of our loved ones, rest in dignity?” said Gordon.

The cemetery, located on Wellington Street in Spanish Town, is owned and operated by the St Catherine Municipal Corporation, for which Scott is the chairman. It has been closed for more than 20 years and is now a dumping ground for residents in the area.

Section 6 subsection (e) of the Public Cemetery Management and Regulation Act states that the council “shall keep the cemetery and buildings and fences thereof in proper repair and in good order and condition”.

For Gordon that is enough to remove the NSWMA from responsibility for the disgraceful condition of cemeteries across the island.

“This is an embarrassment for the country, for all of us Jamaicans, and it’s really not helpful when we seek to blame and to pass the buck. It is more helpful for us to look at how collectively we can manage these places that are important to all of us who will someday be lying in one of them,” said Gordon.

He added that in many other jurisdictions cemeteries are kept in pristine condition, and often used as parks where residents have picnics.

“We have a lot to do as a people, as a country, to get our cemeteries… the sort of resource and budgetary support so that we can do the necessary things to make them sacred places, and I believe that’s where I would love to direct my energy,” said Gordon.

He implored residents in the Spanish Town community to cease their illicit dumping practices, urging them to respect the sanctity of the cemetery and honour the memories interred within the grounds.

“In a civilised, self-respecting country the approach has to be that we treat the graves of our loved ones with more respect, and I have to call out those people who are not doing that and I would love Mayor Scott to join me in that call,” Gordon told the Observer as he recalled a visit he made to Cuba where he found well-kept cemeteries hosting residents for social activities.

“People who seek to deface and to degrade State apparatus, or State-owned facilities must know that in doing so they put a burden on themselves because every time they create these things is more taxes have to be found to correct it.

“Who pays the taxes? All of us, so we are shooting ourselves in the foot, so to speak. I am calling for a more responsible approach to the management of these facilities. I am calling [for] more collaborative approach,” said Gordon.

He said that the NSWMA is open to discussion with the municipal corporations to see how they can best address the issue of dumping at cemeteries and restore them to their former glory.

When the Observer sought a response from Scott on Monday to Gordon’s comments the mayor argued
that the No 5 Cemetery has been closed for 20 years and people continue to use it as a dumping ground for garbage.

“What are we suppose to do, go and collect garbage that the people have been dumping over there?” Scott asked.

He said that once a year the municipal corporation cleans the grounds and there are plans to repair the broken gate at the entrance, but it is the NSWMA that should tackle the garbage issue.

In March, Minister of Local Government Desmond McKenzie announced that $200 million will be made available for the cleaning of the 39 public cemeteries across the country.

McKenzie admitted that some cemeteries that have run out of space and have suffered from neglect but said the allocation of the funds will address the issue.