MONTEGO BAY, St James – While mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Leeroy Williams has said that he maintains control over the three St James divisions now without sitting councillors, residents and former political representatives are painting a picture of neglect and despair.

Along with his Montego Bay North Division, Mayor Williams is in charge of the Salt Spring Division, the Catadupa Division, and the Cambridge Division. The Salt Spring and Catadupa divisions were represented by People’s National Party members Sylvan Reid and Gladstone Bent, respectively, who were both expelled from the St James Municipal Corporation in 2020 after being absent for three-consecutive months. The Cambridge Division was last represented by Member of Parliament for St James Southern Homer Davis after he was elected in the 2020 General Election.

Williams told the Jamaica Observer that he has been working closely with the Parish Development Committee (PDC) to ensure that the needs of the people living in these three divisions are met.

“Once there are no councillors, the mayor is in charge, so I’m the one who is responsible for dealing with the matters in the community. But as I said, the assistance is through the PDC,” Mayor Williams explained.

He further noted that he has also partnered with the division community groups to maintain strong relationships with the residents.

“There are citizens’ association meetings, and I do attend these meetings. We also have community meetings in these divisions, and so I would, from time to time, communicate with the president of the various citizens’ associations,” he told the Sunday Observer.

However, former councillors Reid and Bent believe that both the Salt Spring and Catadupa divisions have been neglected since they were expelled from their posts.

“There is absolutely nothing substantial happening in the Salt Spring Division that anybody from the area can really speak about now since they did what they did almost three years ago. The people are presently suffering for water, and this is not just from three weeks ago,” Reid said, referring to the recent outcry made regarding a lack of running water in the Salt Spring area.

Reid went on to explain that some people living in the Salt Spring Division have complained about being unable to access the benefits provided by the Government due to not having a sitting councillor to lobby for their needs.

“There are farm work cards that come, nobody knows where they go because the people don’t get them. The back-to-school help, the people don’t get it. Everything that happened for other divisions, nothing happened for the people in the Salt Spring Division, and that is dangerous,” said Reid.

He added, “No drains have been cleared as they normally would when I’m there. It is like nothing is happening; it’s a false division where people are suffering tremendously.”

Reid, however, acknowledged that the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) has played a major role in social and infrastructural developments in the Salt Spring community.

“Apart from JSIF, which has been doing some work in that area, we can’t contribute that to any political party, and JSIF has made that very, very clear. They have done some good for the school. We are very grateful for it. They also gave us a park there, and the people are happy for it, but the main problem we are having is that there is no representation from the Government when it comes to the resources,” Reid told the Sunday Observer.

Theresa Skirvin, a resident of Salt Spring, said that the community’s lack of water supply has reiterated their view that they have no support from the local authority.

“We have nobody to call on, and there is nobody visiting. We have had no water for about two weeks now. Normally we would call Mr Reid and he would assist with sending water trucks, but we haven’t had any help,” she said.

For former councillor Bent, the roads in the Catadupa Division have been a major concern for the residents, whose main source of income is through farming.

“There is a road from Catadupa to Mocho that is just about four-and-a-half miles in a farming area, but it is a hard road. I heard that it is very bushy now, so if a small vehicle is passing, you won’t be able to see the top of it,” Bent told the Sunday Observer before explaining that he had gone blind since he was expelled from the St James Municipal Corporation for missing three general monthly meetings.

He also explained that his plans to rehabilitate that farm road did not materialise because of the expulsion, and at the same time the process of starting some road work in the Niagara area had paused. Bent told the Sunday Observer that over $2 million were allocated for that road rehabilitation project as both the Niagara Primary and Niagara Basic schools were being impacted by poor road infrastructure.

“There is another section where people do farming, but they have difficulties getting out their crops,” he said.

Bent, who was the councillor for the Catadupa Division for 30 years before he was expelled, told the Sunday Observer that he still does not understand why that action was taken.

The announcements made by the prime minister said that if you are 65 or have an underlying sickness, then you stay at home. I was just four months from being 70 years old, and I have had diabetes for over 20 years, but I didn’t know that they said councillors were exempt,” he said.

According to Catadupa resident Junior Brissett, living in the rural St James community without a councillor has been “very hard”.

“Right now our needs are not being met because we don’t have a councillor, so we need one. We have a lot of roads here that are owned by the municipal corporation, and they haven’t really gotten any attention for a while now. There are a lot of things that the councillor would do but now we have to go to the Member of Parliament, and he cannot do everything,” he told the Sunday Observer.