Portmore boundary row sharpens as opposition MPs snub EOJ exercise

Opposition members of parliament refused to endorse Electoral Office of Jamaica efforts to settle constituency lines for Portmore last Thursday, deepening a long-running fight over the island's proposed 15th parish. Sharp splits emerged at an EOJ-organised boundaries committee meeting in Portmore as the office began finalising constituency and electoral boundaries.

St. Catherine Southern MP Fitz Jackson and St. Catherine South Eastern MP Dr. Alfred Dawes declined to back the process. Government representatives, including St. Catherine East Central MP Alando Terrelonge and former St. Catherine South Eastern MP Robert Miller, supported the exercise, saying the EOJ was carrying out its constitutional duties.

Jackson maintained that although both Houses of Parliament passed the Portmore Parish Bill, the Governor-General assented to it and it was gazetted, the measure has not taken legal effect because of ongoing court proceedings. "The exercise today was to explore ways of seeking to have the bill conform to the constitution but I think they have run into a roadblock," Jackson told reporters after the meeting.

He said Parliament's Boundaries Committee, controlled by the government and chaired by the Speaker of the House, had mandated the EOJ to make changes to comply with what the court ordered. In his view, the office was being asked to prescribe constituency boundaries for a parish that does not yet exist, contrary to a constitutional requirement. "We have a difficulty with this. I would expect that they would seek some proper legal advice as to whether or not they can set constituency boundaries for a parish that does not legally exist," he said, indicating further legal action remains an option if needed to compel constitutional compliance.

Dawes was equally critical, calling the proceedings illegitimate and saying he would not take part in future meetings. "My participation will be limited for the simple reason that it is a kangaroo committee. They have already decided they will have a Portmore Parish based on gerrymandering. The last time I checked, voters decided who their representative should be and not the other way around," he said, adding that he saw the committee as powerless.

Terrelonge defended the EOJ's work. "The EOJ is doing their job and we are here to support them. There are three constituencies in Portmore and they will have to be renamed," he said. He continued, "This is just the technical work and I believe the EOJ is competent to proceed with their work and it is incumbent on everyone to support the work they are doing."

The Portmore Parish Bill remains under a constitutional challenge brought by the opposition and is pending before the courts after the Chief Justice directed that the constituency boundary issue be addressed before the government proceeds with implementing the new parish. The opposition has argued that the legislation breaches constitutional provisions stipulating that the boundary of a constituency shall not cross the boundary of a parish as established under the Counties and Parishes Act 1867, and that the proposed parish would affect four parliamentary constituencies, 13 electoral divisions and nearly 400 polling divisions in St. Catherine.

Separately, former Manchester North Western MP Dean Peart was hailed on Sunday as the visionary behind community centres across that constituency. His cousin, People's National Party Spur Tree Division Councillor Ryan Peart, said the elder Peart built 13 community centres in the New Green, Mile Gully, Spur Tree and John Hall divisions, and also advanced roads and school improvements. Peart, who died Sunday morning at 77, served as a Cabinet minister leading at various times the ministries of labour, environment, lands and local government, and was a former mayor of Mandeville. First elected in 1989, he won the seat for the PNP five times running before returning in the lead-up to the December 2011 elections. A Peart relative who switched from the PNP to the Jamaica Labour Party and is caretaker for the south-eastern seat also paid tribute, describing him as the family's main political motivator and pledging to carry on his legacy.