LAWYERS representing a potential candidate in the upcoming maroon election in Accompong, St Elizabeth have gone to court to seek an injunction to prevent Richard Currie from further exercising the powers of colonel of Accompong.

A representative of the law firm, Phillip, Traile and Company confirmed to the Jamaica Observer on Wednesday that an injunction was filed in the Supreme Court in Kingston last week to block any election from taking place in Accompong at this time, especially under circumstances the complainant Meredith Rowe deems unacceptable.

Currie announced on Saturday that the election for the next colonel of Accompong will be held on May 22, with nomination scheduled for this Friday, exactly one week before the long-awaited election.

The request for an injunction to prevent the holding of the election was filed in court last week by lawyers representing Rowe, a former colonel and a potential candidate in the Maroon election that became due on February 18.

The document stated that Rowe was seeking an injunction to be granted immediately, prohibiting Currie, whether by himself, his servants or agents, from implementing several decisions.

Aside from Rowe wanting to prevent Currie from acting any further as colonel of the Accompong Maroon community, Rowe called for an interim Maroon council to be selected. He also called for the creation of an election council, a list of eligible voters, and for Currie to be prevented from being able to call an election.

Rowe is also seeking an order from the court, declaring that all acts and deeds done by Currie after the expiration of his tenure on February 18, 2026 as colonel of the Accompong Town Maroon community are null and void and of no effect.

He is also seeking the court’s intervention to compel Currie potential candidates to nominate two persons to sit on the election council, “in accordance with the customs, traditions and practices of the Accompong Town Maroon community”.

The court document outlined that Rowe is pushing for Currie to turn over all assets, monies and documents belonging to the Accompong Town Maroons which are in his possession, to a justice of the peace, or the nearest police station.

Although calls for the announcement of the election were growing since February 18, when Currie’s tenure as leader of the Accompong Maroons officially ended, potential candidates now insist that they will not be participating in any rigged process come next week.

Another potential candidate told the Observer on Wednesday that he and about four others are prepared to fight “tooth and nail” through legal channels to stop Currie in his tracks.

One of their main issues of contention, according to Rowe, is that it does not appear as though the Electoral Office of Jamaica will be participating in the process. Rowe said that if the electoral office is not involved in the process as it has been since the 1950s, then a high degree of fairness cannot be guaranteed.

Rowe claimed that Currie has been making his plans without informing them and setting up conditions and creating rules that suit him and his agenda. He claimed it was ridiculous that nomination day was scheduled for this Friday and the voter’s list was not even finalised.

Rowe and other potential candidates contend that Currie is trying to implement a document which he refers to as a constitution which he claims governs Accompong. It is said that the document states, among other things, that candidates for colonel must be living in Accompong for three years or more. Some of the candidates are currently not living in Accompong although they have property and family living there physically.

But According to Rowe, Accompong has never operated by any constitution as Currie is claiming now.

In an interview on Nationwide News Network Currie responded to his detractors as he claimed that the Maroons of Accompong have a constitution, which has been ratified and gazetted.

Currie stated during the interview that the election process is being undertaken based on the stipulations of that Maroon Constitution.

But Rowe scoffed at that claim.

“I am puzzled as to what constitution he is talking about. Who are the originators and who implemented it? Who are the people who initiated that? I, as a former colonel, and Ferron Williams, are not privy to that document… Ferron Williams and I are the only two living former colonels. Richard Currie arbitrarily does things by himself, all alone.

“He doesn’t know anything about customs and procedures. He wasn’t born in Accompong, him nuh grow there, never go to school there, and never lived there. He does not understand it. In fact, we don’t even know if he has Maroon blood in him. His grandmother is from Manchester. This so-called constitution he is speaking about, I don’t know who and who joined with him to frame it,” Rowe said as he charged that Currie should pack his bags and go.

“He needs to do that. No one man should be allowed to come and violate every aspect of our culture, customs and traditions. It just cannot work and I speak on behalf of the people, Maroons and even non-Maroons who are aware of what is happening. They are very critical of the semi-human approach to things. There are no moral principles,” Rowe said.

“We are seriously upset and we are going to fight it tooth and nail through the legal channel to block him and when that is done he has to leave Accompong because he is not belonging to there,” added Rowe.

Richard Currie