The Jamaica Labour Occasion (JLP) is ramping up strain on Kingston Mayor Andrew Swaby, demanding his fast resignation as Chairman of the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Company (KSAMC) amid what they describe as a deepening corruption scandal linked to the Folks’s Nationwide Occasion (PNP).
The demand was made throughout a media convention held on Monday on the JLP’s Belmont Street headquarters, the place social gathering officers outlined their considerations in regards to the dealing with of KSAMC assets beneath Swaby’s management.
Through the briefing, JLP Communication Taskforce Spokesman, Senator Marlon Morgan, revealed that on October 30, 2024, a senior administrative staffer working carefully with Swaby’s KSAMC workforce allegedly instructed a PNP caretaker to find out the political affiliation of a number of people in Central Kingston earlier than granting them help and paid work from the KSAMC.
The choice to offer help was reportedly made solely after affirmation that the people had been PNP supporters.
Senator Morgan accused Mayor Swaby of deceptive each the KSAMC and the general public, stating:
“The rising data contradicts and confirms as deceptive and false assertions by Mayor Swaby that the KSAMC has been distributing entry to help and advantages to individuals on a non-partisan and honest foundation and ruled by rules of transparency. The mayor misled a latest assembly of the KSAMC and Jamaica when he insisted that the KSAMC has not been distributing assets in a vulgar and partisan method.”
Morgan additionally dismissed Swaby’s earlier denials that funds distributed by his workforce to PNP caretakers on the KSAMC compound had been privately raised, suggesting that the leaked audio recordings and WhatsApp chats contradict these claims.
Given the rising controversy, Morgan reiterated the JLP’s demand for Swaby’s resignation, stating:
“In gentle of the conflicting statements issued by Mayor Swaby and the leaked audio of conversations which have given rise to the PNP/KSAMC corruption scandal, the Jamaica Labour Occasion requires the fast resignation of Andrew Swaby as Mayor of Kingston and Chairman of the KSAMC. We don’t consider that Swaby will be trusted to manipulate the affairs of the KSAMC in a good, equitable, and clear method.”
Morgan additional famous that not less than three legislation enforcement businesses are reviewing the scandal, together with the leaked WhatsApp conversations involving PNP Normal Secretary Dr. Dayton Campbell, Mayor Andrew Swaby, and different senior PNP figures.
The JLP insists that the matter have to be totally investigated, because it raises critical considerations in regards to the misuse of public assets.
As of now, the PNP and Mayor Swaby haven’t issued an official response to the JLP’s calls for.
