News

Portmore residents' constitutional rights

THE RESIDENTS OF Portmore, St. Catherine are not giving up their fight for the government to leave the Causeway as the alternative route to their community.

Several visitors to the island are commending the residents of Portmore for the battle they have been fighting .

"The residents of Portmore must be commended for the stand they are taking to compel the government to let the Causeway remain," a visitor to the island said last week.

" The citizens of the country have rights and the government should think of the citizens first and foremost before certain plans are put in place by the government.

"Portmore is a low income community and most of these residents can scarcely afford to pay their mortgages and take care of their family. The government will argue that there is another route to the community of Portmore but for years these residents have been accustomed to travelling that route to their community.

"I have left the island for more than 30 years now and I am not very familiar with Jamaican laws but to me it seems that the people are being forced to give up the road they have been accustomed to travelling on for years.

"I have friends and relatives living in Portmore and I know that they cannot afford to pay the toll because they are already overburdened with the high economic costs. I wonder why they should be forced to travel a longer route at greater expense to enter their community?"

Another visitor to the island says from what he has read about the dispute he wonders whether the residents' constitutional rights are not being breached .

The Portmore residents are contending that the Causeway was built specifically for them and some have vowed to take the issue to court if necessary. The court would be asked to determine whether the citizens' rights are being infringed or whether the Government has the power to proceed to charge a toll on the Causeway without offering an alternative.