JAMAICA | Fitz Jackson Exposes Political Power Play in Portmore Parish Dispute

KINGSTON, Jamaica, January 29, 2025 - In a scathing rebuke that has laid bare the political machinations behind Portmore's proposed parish status, Opposition Spokesman Fitz Jackson has accused the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) of orchestrating a calculated electoral power grab under the guise of administrative reform.

The controversy erupted after damning recordings emerged of Minister Everald Warmington boasting at a JLP conference that the parish designation would effectively neutralize the People's National Party's (PNP) influence in the region. 

These revelations directly contradict recent claims by JLP MP Andrew Wheatley that opposition to the parish status stems from PNP partisanship.

"I've been fighting before 2011... and today, I'm happy to say that we have the boundary that we wanted all along," Warmington declared at a St. Catherine East to Central Joint Divisional and Constituency Conference in November 2023, where Wheatley was also present. 

The minister went further, explicitly stating that the boundary restructuring would ensure "the People's National Party will no longer be competition in the Portmore Division once the capital is declared a parish."

Jackson, who oversees Portmore matters for the opposition, pointed to these statements as irrefutable evidence of the JLP's true intentions. "The JLP's attempt to manipulate the electoral process is not speculation—it is their own senior members who have explicitly stated they are pushing for Portmore to become a parish as a political power grab," he asserted.

The controversy strikes at the heart of Jamaica's democratic process, with Jackson highlighting a conspicuous lack of community engagement in what should be a watershed moment for Portmore's residents. 

"If this was truly about the best interests of the people of Portmore, why was there no genuine consultation?" he challenged, questioning the absence of transparent discussions on governance, resources, and representation implications.

The Opposition has maintained that any structural changes to Portmore's administration must emerge from meaningful dialogue with its residents—a stark contrast to what they characterize as the JLP's unilateral approach. 

With Warmington's candid admissions now in the public domain, the debate has shifted from administrative reform to what critics describe as brazen gerrymandering.

For a region poised on the brink of historic change, the revelations have cast a long shadow over the parish designation process, raising fundamental questions about the intersection of administrative reform and political maneuvering in Jamaica's evolving democratic landscape.

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