The Mayor of Kingston, Andrew Swaby, is expressing his displeasure with the National Water Commission (NWC) over what he claims has been the poor treatment of water and sewage in the Kingston and St. Andrew Municipality.

Swaby and the NWC have been at odds for several months, with tensions reaching a new high in May when the Water Commission announced it intended to halt publishing and sharing its water quality reports for the corporate area with the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation.

This decision by the NWC came in the aftermath of People’s National Party (PNP) Councillor Jesse James Clarke raising concerns about the previous NWC reports. James claimed that water samples taken revealed increased levels of bacteria associated with faeces, indicating contamination.

During a meeting of the KSAMC on Tuesday, July 8, Swaby bashed not just the NWC, but also the minister with responsibility for water and housing, Matthew Samuda. In his speech before the municipal corporation, he claimed that repeated efforts had been made to reach out to the Water Commission and Samuda, but that his attempts to solve the matter were all ignored.

“I instructed the CEO to write to the NWC to see if we could have a meeting to resolve the issue… and for the better part of two months, we have been unable to have a meeting with the National Water Commission,” Swaby declared. “Those things I find distasteful. We are here to serve the people of the municipality. We may disagree on issues, but we have one common cause, and that is to serve the people of Kingston and St Andrew.”

The mayor of Kingston made clear that he was still open to discussions and was willing to meet with the government to arbitrate the current deadlock. However, Jesse James Clarke, who is also the municipal corporation’s public health chairman, went even further.

On Tuesday, Clarke suggested that the KSAMC turn to private water testing, independent of the NWC. This motion was co-sponsored by Chrishena Richards, the councillor for the Brandon Hill Division, as well as the Kingston deputy mayor, Delroy Williams. Like Swaby, Clarke stated that cooperating with the NWC was still possible, but that due to their current conduct, changes needed to be implemented.

“We are still open to collaborating with the NWC to improve the current vulnerabilities in water quality in rural St Andrew. However, their current lack of cooperation cannot be allowed to prevent the KSAMC from executing its mandate to ensure safe drinking water to customers,” he said.