KINGSTON, Jamaica —A group of protesters gathered on Duke Street, downtown Kingston, Tuesday afternoon to register their concerns surrounding several issues, including the recently disclosed $40 million annual salary of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA), Antony Anderson, and the proposed $115 million to lease Digicel headquarters to house the authority.
The placard-bearing protesters, who were decked out in yellow, questioned the motive surrounding the proposed salary.
“Jamaica does not belong to the prime minister and his members. Jamaica belongs to us. We select you September 3rd. We are telling you need to take directive from us. You don’t lead this country as you feel like you want to lead it.
When you take $50 million to give Major General Antony Anderson, what are you saying to us. $50 million or $40 million just for pay, plus you’re going to pay for the building downtown. I know the agenda that you have; we are telling you this, make it be known for the record: we don’t want Antony Anderson in the building. I am going to tell you this: we are standing up against being in that building downtown,” said Ricardo Hall, a protester.
Another protester, who gave her name as Maroon Queen, called for the resignation of Minister of National Security and Peace Dr Horace Chang and Police Commissioner Dr Kevin Blake.
“We’re here to tell Kevin Blake that you’re not doing a good job. You’re acting like it’s a gang, like it’s a criminal organisation. So we need you to step down and we need proper people in the position. That means we’re not talking about being soft on crime. We need someone who loves Jamaica and knows what is happening. Know that there’s corruption in the police force. We already have criminals outside we don’t need criminals inside the police force,” she said.
The group is also raising concerns surrounding the state of the country’s hospitals and slow pace of hurricane relief to affected Jamaicans.
READ: Gov’t defends $40m salary for NaRRA CEO
(Video: Llewellyn Wynter)