Dear Editor,
I recently returned to the parish of St Thomas for the first time in over 20 years. I set my trip to coincide with the 150th anniversary celebrations of the Morant Bay Rebellion led by National Hero Paul Bogle. I felt that this was an important milestone and as such had to be there in person.
I must say in no uncertain terms that I was disappointed with the very poor level of organisation of the anniversary activities and the very poor state of the parish on a whole.
St Thomas has its problems, but it never looked anything like this when I resided there up to 1994. Plus, my hotel had no restaurant facilities and very little water, forcing guests to scramble for buckets. I was shocked!
Beyond that, let me register my disgust with the Saturday night Paul Bogle vigil, which had no light whatsoever. There were, seemingly, no wet weather plans, despite the obvious 99 per cent chance of rainfall. Many of us were soaked and found it difficult to shelter under trees in the midst of lightning strikes.
The programme also lacked the quality touch that I expected from a celebration of this nature. While I congratulate the participants, more could have been done to make the offerings better.
The day after, on Sunday, was the march from Paul Bogle's Stony Gut to Morant Bay, reflecting the historic march in 1865 that triggered the rebellion and subsequent mass murder of innocent people by the British. It was shameful that neither the prime minister nor, at best, a minister of Government saw it fit to walk the route with the scores that showed up. Neither Culture Minister Lisa Hanna nor Dr Fenton Ferguson, who is an MP in the parish, was anywhere to be seen. Incidentally, the Opposition was well represented by James Robertson and Delano Seiveright, who appeared to have walked the entire route and warmly greeted onlookers.
I do not want to go on much longer, but the ceremony that took place in Morant Bay following the march and motorcade was long, mediocre, and terribly disorganised. Here reigned confusion over seating, the lack of a wet-weather plan, and gross politicisation of a clearly civic ceremony, where men with orange colours seemed to have been lured in with the promise of white rum drinking.
The people of St Thomas and Jamaica deserve better. I also found it interesting, too, that the mayor and so many government leaders were conspicuously absent. St Thomas has indeed been abandoned. The team, the 150th Morant Bay Rebellion anniversary committee, and the relevant ministry in charge has a lot to answer.
I pray to God that things will change for my once great parish.
Elizabeth Roberts
Bronx, New York, USA
elizabeth_lord1@hotmail.com
Morant Bay Rebellion anniversary celebrations disappointing
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I recently returned to the parish of St Thomas for the first time in over 20 years. I set my trip to coincide with the 150th anniversary celebrations of the Morant Bay Rebellion led by National Hero Paul Bogle. I felt that this was an important milestone and as such had to be there in person.
I must say in no uncertain terms that I was disappointed with the very poor level of organisation of the anniversary activities and the very poor state of the parish on a whole.
St Thomas has its problems, but it never looked anything like this when I resided there up to 1994. Plus, my hotel had no restaurant facilities and very little water, forcing guests to scramble for buckets. I was shocked!
Beyond that, let me register my disgust with the Saturday night Paul Bogle vigil, which had no light whatsoever. There were, seemingly, no wet weather plans, despite the obvious 99 per cent chance of rainfall. Many of us were soaked and found it difficult to shelter under trees in the midst of lightning strikes.
The programme also lacked the quality touch that I expected from a celebration of this nature. While I congratulate the participants, more could have been done to make the offerings better.
The day after, on Sunday, was the march from Paul Bogle's Stony Gut to Morant Bay, reflecting the historic march in 1865 that triggered the rebellion and subsequent mass murder of innocent people by the British. It was shameful that neither the prime minister nor, at best, a minister of Government saw it fit to walk the route with the scores that showed up. Neither Culture Minister Lisa Hanna nor Dr Fenton Ferguson, who is an MP in the parish, was anywhere to be seen. Incidentally, the Opposition was well represented by James Robertson and Delano Seiveright, who appeared to have walked the entire route and warmly greeted onlookers.
I do not want to go on much longer, but the ceremony that took place in Morant Bay following the march and motorcade was long, mediocre, and terribly disorganised. Here reigned confusion over seating, the lack of a wet-weather plan, and gross politicisation of a clearly civic ceremony, where men with orange colours seemed to have been lured in with the promise of white rum drinking.
The people of St Thomas and Jamaica deserve better. I also found it interesting, too, that the mayor and so many government leaders were conspicuously absent. St Thomas has indeed been abandoned. The team, the 150th Morant Bay Rebellion anniversary committee, and the relevant ministry in charge has a lot to answer.
I pray to God that things will change for my once great parish.
Elizabeth Roberts
Bronx, New York, USA
elizabeth_lord1@hotmail.com
Morant Bay Rebellion anniversary celebrations disappointing
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