Jamaica Labour Party spokesman, Marlon Morgan, is accusing the Opposition People’s National Party, PNP, of hypocrisy and partisanship in its rhetoric surrounding last week’s demolition of houses in Coopers Pen, Trelawny.
Morgan says the Opposition is attempting to squeeze political mileage out of the dispute at the expense of residents.
Morgan, who is also a Government Senator, listed particular arguments being repeated by members of the PNP, despite the fact that they have been disproved.
Among the arguments is the claim that the demolition was carried out by the Government, and the claim that the court-ordered notice upon which the private owners acted had expired.
Morgan says attempts by the PNP to disregard the Supreme Court’s ruling on its efforts to seize the Coopers Pen land are disingenuous.
He charges that despite what it would like the public to believe, the PNP is no paragon of virtue in championing squatters’ rights.
Morgan cites the demolition of informal settlements in Hague, Trelawny, in 2014, as an example.
Meanwhile, the JLP spokesman says the Cooper’s Pen incident serves as a lesson to deal with land and housing challenges in Jamaica and address the longstanding issue of squatter settlements across the island.
Marlon Morgan, Jamaica Labour Party spokesman.
