Mobay Mayor Calls on Citizens to Make Child Safety A Priority on Labour Day

Mayor of Montego Bay and Chairman of the St. James Municipal Corporation, Councillor Homer Davis, is encouraging citizens of St. James to make child safety a priority when they work in their communities on Labour Day.

Labour Day, which is observed annually on May 23, is being celebrated under the theme ‘Child Safety: It’s You, It’s Me, It’s All A Wi’.

Speaking at the monthly meeting of the St. James Municipal Corporation on May 8, Mayor Davis said the safety and protection of the nation’s children is “everyone’s business”, as far too many children are being neglected by society.

“The theme and the focus is one that this municipality supports, because there is no doubt that children are being abused and they are being murdered, and as local representatives, we must take an interest,” he said.

Mayor Davis emphasised that the focus on the nation’s children must not only be reserved for Labour Day but should be taken into consideration at all times.

“We should take an interest in the communities that we represent to make sure that whenever we speak, we echo our disgust at how our children are being treated. Some of them are treated very badly in the homes that they are living. Some of them are treated even [worse] when they go out in the public space,” he lamented.

The Mayor noted that the parish project for Labour Day will focus on the installation of safety features and landscaping along the stretch of road at the Barrett Town and John Rollins Success Primary Schools’ intersection with the north coast highway.

The project, which will be spearheaded by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), will also include the painting of a pedestrian crossing in the Barrett Town community.

In the meantime, the Mayor advised that the Municipal Corporation will be undertaking two additional projects on Labour Day – one at Farm Primary and Junior High, “where the repairing of the perimeter fence will be done along with landscaping; and at the Mafoota Community Centre, where repair work and painting will be done”.