ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica—Some residents of the Hurricane Melissa ravaged seaside community of Parottee are adamant that they will not leave the area following an announcement of relocation by Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness recently.

During the National Housing Trust’s (NHT’s) handing over of 27 service lots in Malvern, St Elizabeth last Thursday, Holness pointed to the coastal community of Parottee, which was among the areas hard hit, as one of the areas to benefit from relocation and container homes for residents.

“A large part of it will be deployed right here in St Elizabeth. Our brothers and sisters who are on the coast in Parottee, an area that was badly damaged, which I toured [and] it is quite clear that the cost of reconstruction there would be quite higher than the houses that you are trying to save,” he explained.

“We have already indicated to the people of Parottee that the area has to be relocated and we will do it in such a way that their livelihood will be preserved, the value of their asset will be preserved, but most importantly their dignity will be preserved. It is not going to be an overnight process, it will be a process that involves [residents] at every step; they can be assured of what we are doing,” added Holness.

He said the NHT, the Urban Development Corporation and the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation will be partnering on the initiative.

“In this relocation NaRRA (the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority) will play a critical coordinating role in ensuring that everybody is working on the same script and everybody is working quickly to ensure that the people who have been dislocated will get the benefit,” the prime minister said.

However, some Parottee residents have rejected the Government’s plans of relocation for the community.

Three fishermen and tour guides namely Ridge Harvey of Captain Ridge Boat Tours, Anthony Sinclair and Wesley Bent insist that they will not leave the community as they depend on the sea for their livelihood with fishing and boat tours to nearby areas such as the Pelican Bar.

“We don’t want to relocate here in Parottee. We want to stay here and build Parottee. The Government wants to relocate us… I am a third generation fisherman,” Harvey said on Tuesday.

“The majority of us live off the sea and the pond in Parottee. We do tourism and we catch fish, so we really don’t want to relocate. What Andrew [Holness] is talking about is not right… We do not want no relocation and we do not want to live in a hot container house,” added Harvey.

He insisted that rebuilding is already taking place in Parottee with residents helping themselves.

“The majority of the people here are building back their houses. The majority of people here are entrepreneurs, so people are building back. People are fixing up their house. People build houses that hit down from the old foundation to now they have five bedrooms, six bedrooms, so now people are building,” he said.

“People are trying to cope and get over the hurricane, but when you want to relocate the people after they have been through so much since Melissa, you are breaking the people,” added Harvey.

He took issue with what he claimed is a lack of dialogue with the residents of Parottee from the Government.

“They never come and have a consultation with us or even sit down and talk to us or explain about relocation. They just made their own decisions and it is a big community. You have Parottee Beach and then you have Hill Top, Spice Grove, so the community is kind of split,” said Harvey.

“People live off that. They make their regular day-to- day living off the sea, so nobody in Parottee wants to relocate. They didn’t have any meeting with us… I met Andrew Holness in person and he only came to where the guy drowned and where the road [collapsed],” he said in reference to a visit to Parottee by Holness in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.

Bent, who has been a fisherman since 1975, shared a similar sentiment.

“We don’t want to relocate from Parottee, if we relocate from here. We live by the sea or by the pond. Since the hurricane I lost my boat and house, but if I relocate from here I won’t have any income. Here we will survive with our daily hustling,” he said.

He claimed that the neighbouring community of Fullerswood was among areas being suggested for Parottee residents to be relocated too.

“It is a dry place. No growth can happen there for us unless it is farming we do. We don’t know anything about farming. We only know about fishing,” he said.

Sinclair expressed a similar view to Bent and Harvey in objection to relocating from Parottee.

“I have been a fisherman for a long time. I used to do it in Old Harbour and I came here to live. I have my own place in Parottee now, it blew down in the swamp. I am picking up pieces of board now. I don’t have any problem with anybody and I have to fix up my place. I am not leaving here. When I heard the [report] I decided that I have to come out and speak,” he said.

—Kasey Williams