KINGSTON, Jamaica — The People’s National Party (PNP) is accusing the Government of acting in a partisan political manner after Councillor Dwight Salmon, representative for the Black River Division, was reportedly excluded from a stakeholder engagement on rebuilding Black River.

According to the PNP in a statement, Salmon was reportedly excluded while Councillor Derrick Sangster of the Mountainside Division was invited, attended and brought greetings at the second meeting held in Parottee.

“This is not an oversight. It is partisan politics,” said Dr Dayton Campbell, PNP general secretary. “If the councillor for Mountainside was rightly invited to the stakeholder meeting held in his own division at Parottee, there is no justification for the prime minister excluding the councillor for Black River from the stakeholder meeting held in his own division.”

The party said the engagement, attended by NaRRA Chief Executive Officer Ambassador Antony Anderson, the Urban Development Corporation, the Housing Agency of Jamaica and business stakeholders, was described on Prime Minister Andrew Holness’s social media page as a consultation with stakeholders and business leaders in Black River.

“Good governance demands consistency and transparency, not convenience,” he said. “Ambassador Anderson answers to the prime minister alone, so the prime minister cannot escape responsibility for sidelining an elected councillor in matters affecting his own division. Jamaicans should ask whose voice will be excluded next.”

The PNP is calling on Prime Minister Holness, as the minister responsible for NaRRA, to clarify the criteria for participation in Black River’s recovery consultations and to ensure every elected representative is properly engaged going forward.