WATCH: Swaby says $400m inherited debt impacting road repairs and service delivery to residents
KINGSTON, Jamaica—Chairman of the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation Andrew Swaby says the municipality is still dealing with the aftermath of more than $400 million in outstanding bills left by the previous administration, creating a strain on the council’s ability to focus on other priorities, including road repairs.
“When we took office, it is excess of $400 million that was left of outstanding bill that Delroy Williams and his friends left for us to hug up. Of that amount, $164 million is still outstanding and I will tell you say some of the general bills that he left can go back to 2021,” he said.
Swaby made the comments while speaking at the Admiral Town divisional conference on Sunday.
The mayor argued that the inherited debt has become a challenge for the municipality as it works to address ongoing issues and improve services for residents.
“Some of the retention bills that he left go back even before that, and I want you to understand, having had to pay those bills, I can’t get to fix roads that are so important to you at the pace that we want to fix it,” Swaby added.
The mayor argued that despite numerous efforts by the business community, they were unable to meet with the Williams, the then mayor.
“I’m not going to let them forget, and I won’t let them forget that the business community couldn’t even get audience with the mayor for years. They had no faith in him because them try and try and try and what he was doing, he was partying when he should be talking to all the stakeholders. I’m not going to let them forget that their committee meetings some are in excess of two years in a call committee meetings,” Swaby said.
The mayor said despite inheriting a debt from the previous administration, the KSAMC has moved to increase the divisional allocation fund and executed improvement projects at several markets in the Corporate Area.
“I never had to make them tell me to increase it. I wanted to increase from day one, but I couldn’t because of the state that I inherited from them. But we have increased it now to each division,” Swaby said.
