‘Get your facts straight’- Portmore council rejects Morris Dixon’s red‑tape claim on school fencing

The Portmore Municipal Council has sharply rebuked Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon, the minister of education, skills, youth and information, accusing her of misleading the public with claims that bureaucracy caused an 18‑month delay in building approvals for a perimeter fence at Naggo Head Primary School in St Catherine.

Speaking in last Friday’s debate on the bill to establish the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA), Morris Dixon cited the alleged delay as evidence of how red tape can stymie critical projects, arguing that such cases underscore Jamaica’s urgent need for the authority. 

She displayed the building permit during her contribution in the Senate, using it to illustrate the bureaucratic obstacles the government says the legislation is designed to tackle.

However, Portmore Mayor Leon Thomas has taken a dim view of that account. 

Addressing the municipal corporation’s general meeting yesterday, he called for the minister to apologise to both the council and the people of Portmore.

“Get your facts straight,” Thomas said.

He insisted that nothing had prevented the school from proceeding with construction, noting that it had been given the go‑ahead more than a month ago after a no‑objection letter from the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) was received. 

He explained that the hold‑up stemmed not from bureaucracy but from a dispute over an access point between the school and a church occupying part of the property under a lease from the National Land Agency. That dispute, he said, has since been amicably resolved, clearing the way for approval.

SETTLED

“It is now a settlement with the church and the Ministry of Education, for the church to be an access point.”

The disagreement traces back to concerns raised by Pentecostal City Mission Church, which in a Sunday Gleaner article accused the school of trying to box it in and ultimately evict it. The Southborough‑based church said in February last year that the school’s administration had begun constructing a perimeter wall without consultation, effectively enclosing the church without providing access.

Deputy mayor Alric Campbell, who chaired the meeting that issued a stop order after a breach was identified in the partially constructed fence, said the council’s intervention had helped bring about a resolution well before the 18‑month period cited by the minister.

“We were able to assist in this settlement, at the end of the day the school will have its perimeter fence and the church will have a lease,” he declared.

He added that the ministry of education would also benefit from a 100 per cent waiver granted by the municipal authority.

Councillor for the Waterford Division, Fenley Douglas, weighing in on the matter, said it was regrettable that more than a week had passed without the minister correcting what he described as a falsehood aired during the NaRRA debate.

“The school started out on the wrong footing by starting the construction of the wall without the council's approval.”

Setting out a timeline, Douglas said the first no‑objection letter from NEPA was issued in November 2024; the municipal authority followed with its letter on March 31, 2025; and the Ministry of Education did so on May 1, 2025.

“[The] 18 months’ time frame cited by the minister is factually inaccurate and it is prudent that she retract this misleading statement,” Douglas said.

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