THE Holness Administration has made clear its intention to use its majority in the House of Representatives to facilitate a move to make Portmore Jamaica’s 15th parish. All the evidence was always clear that a simple majority was all that was needed to get the ball rolling. It was a similar result in the Upper House and on through to the governor general, as is required by law.

Belatedly, those speaking on behalf of the Government have argued that parish status is a precursor to outstanding developmental issues for Portmore. These arguments, however, have not been as loud or as clear as Everald Warmington’s 2023 pronouncements that the intention was to “create a stronghold for the JLP [Jamaica Labour Party] in Portmore”. He went further and declared that this would be achieved by the removal of the communities of Lime Tree Grove, Quarry Hill, Lakes Pen, and Lilliput.

So what’s the big deal in Warmington’s utterance? For one, it laced Jamaica’s democracy in a precarious position. Jamaica took its first real step toward democracy 81 years ago with the attainment of universal adult suffrage. We’ve advanced further along the road to an open democratic society with significant milestones since then. These include the attainment of political independence and then the lowering of the age of eligibility for voting from 21 to 18.

Next, we moved from sporadic voter registration to continuous registration (with a new list vetted and published twice per year). Yet, perhaps the most transformative step was the establishment of the Electoral Advisory Committee, which later became the much-celebrated Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ). This latter move was agreed upon and designed by bipartisan consensus to, among other things, remove the administration of the electoral process — including decisions about constituency boundaries — from the respective party headquarters on Old Hope Road and Belmont Road.

Each of those steps was designed to deepen the spirit and culture of democracy and to communicate to our citizens and the wider world our deep commitment to openness and transparency.

As each national election passes, our democratic traditions have matured and have protected the State as each party has always accepted the results, remaining committed to the advancement of our society even with the vibrant and robust way we contest elections.

In 2003 a new milestone was reached, with the direct election of a mayor (Portmore) intended to be a pilot from which the society would learn and, ultimately, decisions taken to extend the practice across all municipal corporations.

In 2024 Jamaicans went to the polls in the most significant municipal elections for a generation. The results of those elections are well known and were expected to remain in force until the next general municipal elections (outside of any changes occasioned through the holding of by-elections, however caused).

It is important to recall that the prime minister actively campaigned in Portmore for his mayoral candidate, Markland Edwards. Edwards was swept away by the People’s National Party’s (PNP) Leon Thomas. Jamaicans must ask themselves: Had the results been reserved, would the Holness Administration have tabled and passed a Bill that effectively cancels the direct election of a mayor in Portmore?

The Bill also changes the February 26, 2024 will of the voters across the entire parish of St Catherine as with its passing 12 sitting councillors from St Catherine Municipal Corporation will be removed. Of that number, nine were elected on a ticket for the PNP, while only three were elected on a JLP ticket.

Based on present law, a mayor is selected in St Catherine Municipal Corporation from among those councillors belonging to the party that won the majority. Accordingly, Councillor Norman Scott was selected as mayor. The removal of 12 councillors would change the majority party and would see the removal of a duly selected mayor based solely on an act of Parliament that came after the expression of the will of the people.

In one fell swoop, therefore, the Holness Administration would have effectively cancelled the tenure of mayors Scott and Thomas. Further, Leon Thomas would be totally removed from the Administration in Portmore as, based on the relevant sections of the current legislation establishing the Portmore City Municipality, the mayor being directly elected is not a member of the caucus of councillors.

The JLP, following Warmington’s hypothesis, is also seeking to “pre-elect” its candidate in the present St Catherine East Central as constituency boundaries would be specifically achieved to exclude an area of that constituency which historically votes for the PNP by significant margins.

While the Bill is silent on where these communities will then fall, what is certain is that they would no longer be a part of the new constituency effectively created with the new parish — which was the very objective described by Everald Warmington in his 2023 statement at Cedar Grove Academy. In short, to attempt to create a JLP fiefdom with a “guaranteed” electoral result — the “garrisonisation” of Portmore — if you will.

Most alarming in all of this is the overt devaluation of the vaulted role of ECJ.

If the Holness Administration is allowed to set this precedent, what is to stop the said Administration — or a future Administration of whichever colour — from usurping the ECJ in the creation of new parishes and, therefore, new constituencies with new boundaries so as to ensure victory at the polls?

The haste with which the Government has proceeded on this path on the eve of general elections, and despite public statements by the director of elections, confirm that these are not academic nor speculative matters.

Jamaica is now clearly at a point where the choice is to uphold our democratic traditions and protect the institutions that safeguard our democracy or to choose otherwise and re-enter a period where our position within the family of democratic nations is lesser than that to which we are accustomed.

Raymond Pryce is the PNP candidate for St Catherine East Central/Northern Portmore.