'You have one week' - Hopewell threatens another major demonstration

Dale McNish, Staff Reporter

WESTERN BUREAU: FOLLOWING MONTHS of agitation by the residents of Jumpp Town in Hopewell, there is now official word that the debris filled gully running behind the community is to be cleaned this month.

Member of Parliament for the area, Canute Brown, said that the first phase of cleaning and repairs to the gully will be done under the Lift-Up Jamaica Programme at a cost of $6 million.

Work starts in another 21 days and should last for four months.

But Jumpp Town residents on Tuesday said if Government does not move fast in cleaning the 'messy' gully they are going to block the streets, in a protest organised along the same scale as the last major demonstration they had three years ago.

"We are giving them one more week to do something about the gully, which is a threat to our safety and health," warned Patsy Kerr, a resident of the area.

Ms. Kerr was a central figure in the Hopewell demonstrations in 1997 for phones, roads and water, and was among protesters brought up on charges before the court as a result.

The state of the Jumpp Town gully, the areas main drainage channel, has made the news on several occasions. "We can't wait for another three weeks before they do something... the rainy season is now on and this gully has been in a terrible state since last year September, they need to deal with this thing urgently," she added.

Government's clean up plan for the gully will see a total of $15 million being spent under a phased programme. "We have to go through the process of awarding a contract and in addition to that there will be a week of training for the workers, before the actual start up time," Mr. Brown said.

But the residents claim their Member of Parliament is dragging his feet on the matter. "Would he feel comfortable living in this mess? We can't take it any longer, action now!" they said.

When The Gleaner visited the area on Tuesday, the gully, which stretches 15 miles from Chigwell, which is about five miles from Jumpp Town, was blocked with numerous boulders, tree limbs, old pans and other debris, preventing the free flow of waste water.

At least five families, comprising 50 persons live on the edge of the gully, their yards have the resemblance of a garbage receptacle. "Everything just bank up inna the yard dem when the gully come down because there is nowhere else fi the tings dem go," said Zacchaeus, a resident.

"This gully change watercourse about three times and instead of taking things into the sea, it tek wi yard," he said.

The residents say the gully, which was constructed in the 1970s, was not built properly in the first place and whenever it rains, overflows its banks and dumps its contents into their yards. "Rain doesn't have to fall in Hopewell for the gully to come down, if Chigwell gets rain we feel the effect," Ms. Kerr said.

Mr. Brown told The Gleaner an allocation of $50,000 was made available for the cleaning of the gully last December, but Ms. Kerr said as far as she knows only $30,000 was spent to clear the gully of some boulders.

The work to be done under the Lift Up Jamaica Programme is expected to provide employment for some 50 young people from the area.

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