TWO potential candidates for the leadership of the Accompong Maroons in St Elizabeth are crying foul over what they deem to be irregularities in the enumeration process.

Meredith Rowe and Ferron Williams, two former colonels who plan to challenge sitting Colonel Richard Currie in the upcoming election, say they are concerned about the enumeration process now reportedly under way.

Over the past two months, potential candidates have been complaining that Currie’s five-year tenure as colonel ended on February 18 and they were hearing nothing about plans for the hosting of an election.

Some potential candidates have argued that an enumeration process should have started six months before the election became due. They accused Currie of deliberately stalling the process.

In his defence, Currie took to social media to argue that Accompong was still recovering from destruction caused by Category 5 Hurricane Melissa which hit Jamaica on October 28 last year, and appealed for patience.

But since last week the Jamaica Observer has been receiving reports out of Accompong that the enumeration process has started.

On Thursday, Rowe complained that no consultation was had with him, or any other potential candidate, about the enumeration process. He argued that what is being done now goes against tradition.

“Collectively, we are prepared to use legal means. It will not work. By way of the process that is being applied, the vast majority of the people who are Maroons are not aware that enumeration is on, save and except for those in Accompong. We requested that steps be taken to engage all the media houses as is the custom — both traditional media and social media as well — to ensure that everybody has the opportunity to be party to it,” said Rowe.

“When enumeration is being done, each prospective candidate is expected to be present and go house to house and send a representative to ensure that those who are being registered get a basic interview to prove their Maroon connection. Nothing like that is being done. Important questions are being avoided.

“We see a whole cloud of darkness surrounding the way things are being done. There is no transparency and no openness. We suspect there is a high degree of unaccountability, and it will not work. I don’t see where anybody locally or overseas should give any money with respect of the election. There is no guarantee that there will be accountability,” Rowe added.

He told the Sunday Observer that it is customary — when the election is due every five years — for steps to be taken by the colonel to inform everyone, and meetings must be held to discuss the format of the enumeration exercise.

According to Rowe, “If enumeration is going on and only the leader’s team is aware, then you are going to find people on the list who are not qualified to be enumerated and to vote.

“We have reached out. We have sent written and verbal notices and they have been ignored. So it is not just ignorance of the Maroon way of life, but it is arrogance as well. We will have none of that. We don’t want that kind of system where the one man talk and no dog bark. It will not work and it cannot work,” Rowe said as he charged that people who are not Maroons were being approached to be placed on a list to vote.

“What is being set now is a bad precedence. We are accustomed to having nine polling locations, one in Kingston, one in Montego Bay, one in Elderslie, one in Garlands, Cedar Spring, Whitehall, Aberdeen and one in Windsor. In respect of Montego Bay and Kingston, the electoral office is kind enough to provide a venue,” said Rowe.

In the meantime, Williams charged that the enumeration process now under way is seriously flawed.

“The honest and decent citizens of Accompong are very much wanting to have the election over and done with; however, we understand that people who are not Maroons are being encouraged to come with an ID and birth certificate and they can go on the Maroon Voter’s List. This practise is illegal and should stop.

“There are three ways you may qualify to be a Maroon in Accompong. You have to be born a Maroon, married to a Maroon, or you live in the village for seven years. People are being enumerated who are not Maroons. The person enumerating them is not a Maroon. We want to take out an injunction to stop the illegality, which is the enumeration of people who are not Maroons,” Williams told the Sunday Observer.

“We are in dialogue with a lawyer to stop the enumeration process that is being done illegally. People were in Montego Bay taking information of potential voters. It is only a few who are aligned on one side know about the process. This was to be done from August of last year, but certain people were too busy campaigning, running up and down in east Portland campaigning for the general election instead of dealing with Maroon election,” Williams charged.

Accompong Maroon Chief Richard Currie

ROWE…we see a whole cloud of darkness surrounding the way things are being done