Verbal clash at StJMC over mayor’s decision to remove political signs

WESTERN BUREAU:

Tempers flared at Thursday’s St James Municipal Corporation meeting after Montego Bay Mayor Richard Vernon shot down attempts by People’s National Party (PNP) councillors to challenge his authority to remove political banners and paraphernalia erected across the parish.

Councillor Kerry Thomas, the PNP councillor for the Mount Salem division, tried to raise an objection to Vernon’s recent announcement that the corporation would ban the placement of political signage in St James ahead of any announcement of an official date for the impending general election but never got far.

“Mr Chairman, I noticed you mentioned in your presentation regarding political signs, and I just want to say you are wrong,” Thomas told Vernon moments before the meeting was brought to an end.

However, Councillor Charles Sinclair, the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) councillor for Montego Bay North East division, immediately raised a point of order, saying the decision had already been taken at a meeting held at the corporation on Wednesday and that it should not be raised again.

“Once a council decision is made then there is no possibility of amendment. It should not be raised because there is nothing that can be done in respect to the decision that was made at council,” Sinclair said.

However, Thomas would not be deterred as he, backed up by the PNP Councillor Michael Troupe, of the Granville division, questioned whether the minutes of the meeting where the decision was taken had been sent out to the councillors.

“No councillor had a chance to read the minutes, so how can they ratify what was not circulated? A kangaroo business you a go on with,” Thomas said as Vernon repeatedly tried to end the meeting.

“You are raising a matter that was dealt with at a committee meeting. You are out of order, in terms of the meeting structure, to bring it back here. We ratified the minutes of the meeting earlier in this discussion, and you all said ‘aye’ to ratify and accept all the recommendations of the minutes of the previous meeting,” said a defiant Vernon.

During the PNP’s Montego Bay Central Divisional Conference on April 6, Thomas said there would be political consequences if Vernon followed through on the removal of political banners across St James.

PNP General Secretary Dr Dayton Campbell has also urged Vernon to cease and desist from destroying PNP advertising boards that were mounted in St James, citing provisions in the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertising) Regulations, wherein advertising relating specifically to an independent parliamentary or local election may be undertaken without the express consent of the municipal authority.

Campbell said the PNP has contacted the Electoral Commission of Jamaica, in its capacity as the political ombudsman, for a ruling on the matter.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com