Dear Editor,

The people of Parottee, St Elizabeth, have seen through what I believe is the Government’s ‘gentrification’ plan and have come out swinging. On a recent Television Jamaica (TVJ) newscast the residents were clear: “We are not moving.”

Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett has spoken about plans to develop that part of the south coast, all the way to Black River and beyond, as Jamaica’s ‘South Beach’.

Consider a third-generation fisherman who has no other skill and has made a decent living, supported his family, and sent his children to school to all of a sudden be told: You are being relocated inland. How does that fisherman then survive and feed his family?

If this place is so dangerous that it can no longer be inhabited by locals who have lived there for generations, why is it good enough for this top-tier tourist destination. Hurricane Melissa was said to have been a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon, and even in the face of climate change, there is no concrete evidence that this kind of weather event will ever happen again. And if you believe it will, then the Government ought not to be planning this new multi-billion-dollar tourist destination there.

Leave the people alone, they have survived there for years. Help them to rebuild, don’t destroy their lives. They have suffered enough.

Additionally, if the Government insists that the people of Parottee must move, there can be no justification for allowing other coastal towns to remain. Consider a town like Lucea, for example. If the Government’s argument is to be followed, Lucea needs to be evacuated immediately.

I applaud the people of Parottee for saying no.

Shakey Williams

shakeywilliams2022@gmail.com