File
Residents of the Mt. Salem community in St. James paint a pedestrian crossing in their community in this May 2007 file photo. There is a recent call for the Government to extend the 'Spruce Up Jamaica' beautification programme to this and other communities beyond the coastal resort strip in St. James.

Adrian Frater, News Editor

Western Bureau:

Reacting to the recent death of 16-year-old Shameika Crooks of Mount Salem, St. James, after contracting the dreaded dengue fever, the Community Organisations for Management and Sustainable Development (COMAND) is calling on Government to extend its 'Spruce Up Jamaica' campaign to communities facing serious health concerns.

In a press release on Friday, the Montego Bay-based COMAND, noted that while it had no objection to the Spruce Up Jamaica campaign to beautify tourism resort centres, it believed that the programme should be extended to outlying communities such as Mt. Salem, which are facing serious health issues.

"We are calling on the Tourism Product Development Company and the Tourism Enhancement Fund to redirect their efforts away from the current cosmetic measures such as sprucing up the coastal strip at the expense of the obvious threat to the tourist industry posed by the unhealthy, unhygienic, unsanitary and environmentally degrading conditions within some of our inner-city and marginalised communities," says social activist O'Dave Allen, who heads COMAND.

Allen said something needed to be done urgently to address the algae-infested network of drains, which originated in Mt. Salem and passed through areas such as the Montego Bay Transport Centre and the River Bay Fisherman Complex before emptying into the Montego Bay Harbour.

Environmental assessment

Allen said that in 2005, COMAND conducted a socio-economic and environmental assessment on sources of pollutants that affect the Montego Bay flood plains and identified various critical deficiencies, which are still to be addressed by the authorities.

According to Allen, COMAND's research showed that certain sections of the Montego Bay flood plains did not have adequate toilet facilities, which has resulted in the following unacceptable situations:

The disposal of human waste in empty lots and gullies, a practice popularly known as 'parachuting';

Five per cent of the households surveyed had no proper mechanism through which to dispose of human waste;

Twenty-three per cent relied on sharing toilet facilities with other households, but these figures are much higher in some areas.

"The current situation poses a substantial risk to human health and livelihoods, as well as to the marine environment," stated Allen. "This problem is particularly acute in the Montego River corridor, in which 11.7 per cent of the households surveyed do not have access to proper toilet facilities."

Endorsing commitment

He said that COMAND fully endorsed a recent commitment made by Montego Bay's new mayor, Councillor Charles Sinclair, to clean up the city, describing it as a step in the right direction and an initiative that should be supported.

"We welcome the commitment made by his worship the mayor in his inaugural address to the citizens of Montego Bay to clean up the city," said Allen. "His pledge is timely as it is fortuitous. On behalf of the Community Organisations for Management and Sustainable Development (COMAND) we wish to lend our support in this endeavour."