KINGSTON, Jamaica— Opposition Spokesman on Water, Ian Hayles says the majority of the more than 547,000 customers of the National Water Commission (NWC) will not benefit from the three-month amnesty announced on Sunday by Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

According to Hayles, it is a desperate knee-jerk reaction on the part of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government. He also suggested that the government was playing politics with water.

Hayles was speaking Tuesday at a press conference called by the People’s National Party (PNP) at the party’s Old Hope Road headquarters.

He was responding to the announcement made by Holness at the JLP’s annual conference at the National Arena. The prime minister announced that some individuals, in particular pensioners and beneficiaries of the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH), could see their entire NWC debt written off. The amnesty is set to start on January 2 next year.

According to Hayles, the announcement was not properly thought out with staff of the NWC calling the Ministry of Labour and Social Security up to Monday to ascertain the number of Jamaicans who are on PATH and how many are pensioners.

“So this was not well thought out, it was a knee-jerk reaction and it shows a level of desperation on the part of the government,” Hayles said. He asserted that the amnesty will not benefit more than 10 per cent of the NWC’s customers. He said the Government has failed in nine years to better the lives of Jamaicans.