FORMER minority leader in the St Mary Parish Council and incumbent candidate for the Richmond Division in St Mary South East, Richard Creary, says he is expecting the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) to win nine of the 13 divisions in St Mary, which would give the party control of the council.

Speaking with the Jamaica Observer in Annotto Bay following the nomination of four candidates, including himself ,for the Richmond, Castleton, Belfield and Annotto Bay divisions in the constituency, Creary charged that less has been done with the People’s National Party (PNP) in control of the council as opposed to when he served as mayor for Port Maria before the party’s loss in the 2012 Local Government Elections.

“During my tenure, we did a lot for St Mary. At that time we got half the money in terms of parochial revenue fund, which is used to fix roads, clean drains, etcetera. We used to get an average of $6 million a month and when motor vehicle licence fees went up it was doubled to $12 million a month, yet we did far less during the last four than we did the previous four years,” he said.

Creary added: “We were the ones to erect street signs, clean up our town and fix a number of roads. Our record stands for itself; it’s just for us to continue doing what we were doing and stand for the people of St Mary. The Port Maria Market project that should have been done while the PNP was in control was not done. For four years they told people there was no money for it to be done. Well, I can guarantee the people of St Mary that the minister will come shortly to do a ground-breaking for that market and it is going to be a market like no other because, rather than building a big open shed, we will put a plaza on top. The focus of this council is that every councillor wants to know how much they can get each month for drain cleaning. But in terms of doing things for the parish and earning the revenue we can spend on behalf of our citizens, it’s not the focus of this council and we need to return to such a focus.”

However, mayor of Port Maria and the PNP’s candidate for the Belfield Division, Levan Freeman, said while lack of funds hampered a lot of his projects, he is confident that his candidates will retain the majority in the St Mary Parish Council.

He also addressed claims by JLP candidate for the Belfield Division, Joe Robinson, that as a councillor he only caters to his party supporters, saying “it would be stupid to do such a thing.

“He must be dreaming. I don’t know what he’s speaking about. I am from Belfield, where most people are related. Tell him to get his act together. As chairman of the council I don’t use the opportunity to allot more funds to my division, I deal with equity across the board. Mr Robinson is from a different era,” Freeman said.

On the other hand, Robinson, a former councillor for the Belfield Division and deputy mayor in the 1980s, said the work he did in that time is enough to guarantee him victory come November 28.

“People remember my work from that time. My goal is to lift the standard of the Belfield Division and that will be done,” he said.