Audit CDF allocations to North Trelawny - Meadows

Nagra Plunkett, Assignment Coordinator

WESTERN BUREAU:

Senator Dennis Meadows, Jamaica Labour Party caretaker for North Trelawny, has issued a call for the audit of projects that benefited from the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) allocations to that constituency.

"We in North Trelawny have a concern because the member of parliament received nearly $100 million since 2007. If I was to ask you today to look into your communities and see which road, which school, which community centre, or which playing field was built by the Constituency Development Fund, you would be found wanting," he told supporters.

The senator, who was addressing his constituency conference at the William Knibb Memorial High School in Martha Brae last the weekend, lamented that the area was in need of proper political representation.

"Our prime minister, the Honourable Bruce Golding, made a commitment in 2007 to establish the Constituency Development Fund to empower members of parliament to serve their people effectively," he stated.

"There is cause for concern in North Trelawny and I am calling on the powers that be - whether the auditor general or the contractor general - to audit the constituency development funds allocated to Northern Trelawny."

'Ludicrous' assertions

But sitting People's National Party (PNP) member of parliament, Dr Patrick Harris, rubbished Senator Meadows' assertions and labelled them as "ludicrous".

"I will agree that the constituency needs proper representation, because people who do not understand the way government funds are spent should inform themselves because the member of parliament's office does not spend money; agencies of government spend money," Harris told Western Focus on Tuesday.

"We would welcome any audit, as transparency is expected in spending public funds. We have done more infrastructure work, economic enablement and education support. Our constituency has moved leaps and bounds with the assistance of the constituency fund."

Senator Meadows also used the conference to officially launch his campaign for his second attempt to wrest the constituency away from the PNP.

"When I came here in 2006, I made a commitment to you that win, lose or draw, I shall be here with you. I have honoured that commitment ... . Here is true representation, here is youth, here is energy, and here is dynamism in your candidate."

CAPTION: From left: Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Councillor for the Duncans division in Trelawny, Donovan White, and his colleagues speaker of the House of Representatives and member of parliament (MP) for South Trelawny, Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert; minister of industry, investment and commerce and JLP deputy leader for Area Council Four, Christopher Tufton; and Senator Dennis Meadows officially open the JLP's North Trelawny constituency office in Duncans on Sunday. Meadows has been the party's caretaker for North Trelawny since 2006. - Photo by Richard Morais