By Onika Campbell and Denise Clarke, Gleaner WritersWESTERN BUREAU:
LUCEA'S MAYOR, Councillor Lloyd Hill, has called for the resignation of some officers employed to the Hanover Parish Council, whom he claims are aligned to the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and are consistently undermining the council's activities.
The People's National Party (PNP) Mayor is accusing a number of officers attached to the Council of trying to hinder projects on the PC's agenda, which would reflect positively on the Council. Speaking to The Gleaner on Tuesday, Mayor Hill said the practice has become even more obvious now that Local Government elections are approaching.
"There is a clear sign that they are leaning on one side because while they will co-operate and give support and carry out functions for programmes for the JLP councillors, they try to hold back things that would affect the PNP councillors or the Council in a positive way. And it is more obvious now closer to the election than ever before," the Mayor claimed.
These persons, Mayor Hill said, are quick to support programmes presented by the JLP but hold back their support for PNP projects. He further insisted that employees guilty of such behaviour should not remain on the job, but rather should opt to resign or be asked to do so.
"I feel that if a person is so much interested in being political then they probably should stop hiding under the cloak of being an officer of the Council. Rather they should go out there and seek to become political candidates for whichever party they choose," Mayor Hill declared.
According to him, work on some projects including road work and drain cleaning have been hampered by persons in the Council who are slow to carry out their duties. He said the foot-dragging occurred mainly in the accessing of funds to carry out projects, and the implementation of such projects.
The Hanover Parish Council has seven divisions, with three represented by JLP councillors and four by People's National Party (PNP) councillors.
