PNP defiant after Jamaica MP blames them for flood woes

The People’s National Party has hit back at Mike Henry after the Central Clarendon MP blamed the former government for failing to protect Jamaicans from flood damage.

His constituency includes the town of May Pen, which was badly hit by severe rain over the weekend and led to the opening of emergency shelters.

But the People’s National Party have dismissed Henry’s comments as an attempt to “trivialise and politicise the flooding"

The extensive rainfall left much of May Pen's town centre and the Denbigh area flooded.

Many roads and pavements were blocked, and a number of houses were flooded out.

After touring the affected areas, Henry blamed the People's National Party administrations since the 1970s for having "systematically stymied structured planning to correct the major drainage flaw across May Pen".

He told Loop News that the last PNP administration had failed to correctly implement an ongoing project aimed to install road and drainage works from upper Clarendon to May Pen, “hence again denying May Pen the drainage improvements that are critical to the safety and well-being of the residents of the town”.

But the PNP has hit back, telling WIC News: “The People’s National Party is firmly refuting the false assertions recently made by the Minister of Transport and Mining, Mike Henry, that the flooding in a section of Clarendon is due to the re-alignment of the roadway from May Pen to Chapleton, which was part of a road improvement exercise undertaken in the last PNP administration.

“Mr. Henry is well aware that the road improvement exercise is not the cause of the flooding; and he should not trivialise and politicise the flooding which has affected so many families who were already facing difficulty circumstances.”

‘Stop the games’

Among the damage is a loss to the fencing at the Effortville Community Centre. This was previously lost in a flood and replaced.

WIC News spoke to one resident, who asked not to be named, who said: “I am sick of the politics and games being played.

“This is only going to get worse if they don’t get on with giving us a solution.”

Prime Minister Andrew Holness also aimed his blame at PNP’s record on infrastructure, while also noting global warming as a threat.