Chaotic crowd forces halt of Solidarity Programme registration in Darliston, Westmoreland

Today’s registration exercise in Westmoreland for the Government’s Solidarity Programme, which aims to provide a one-time $20,000 grant, was brought to an abrupt end due to chaotic scenes caused by a large, disorderly crowd.

The registration was held at the Bethel United Church in Darliston.

A similar sign up site was also at the Whitehouse Community Centre in Whitehouse.

Regarding Darliston, from as early as 3:00 a.m., persons had gathered at the church to sign up.

As the day went on, the crowds swelled and disorder ensued, with Liaison Officer for the Solidarity Programme, Mahalia Haughton, telling The Gleaner that the situation became unmanageable.

“From morning it has been hectic; the crowd is extremely thick. It reached a point where persons were pushing and shoving, and vehicles couldn’t pass—that’s how dense the crowd was,” Haughton said.

“Persons were refusing to move to let workers through. We had to beg or push people just to allow staff to come in so we could start,” she added.

She said that while personnel tried their best to continue operations, the behaviour of the crowds did not improve, and the exercise had to be halted.

Haughton declined to provide figures on the number of persons who were able to register.

However, The Gleaner was informed that up to the point when registration was halted, around 2:00 p.m., just over 300 names were written down, with only 49 persons successfully completing registration.

Meanwhile, Member of Parliament for Westmoreland Eastern, Dr Dayton Campbell, described the situation as unsustainable and called for an increase in the number of registration sites.

“We can all accept that this is chaotic, and it needs to be dealt with in a more orderly way. There are four divisions in the constituency, so we probably need at least two locations in each division. That would mean fewer people at each site, making it easier to manage,” Campbell said.

Arguing that some of the persons who turned out may not have qualified for the grant programme, the MP also suggested that the Ministry of Labour and Social Security strengthen public education around the initiative.

“Some of the persons who are here don’t qualify for this programme. There are different programmes that the Government offers, and this one has eligibility criteria. Once the Ministry puts out that information so people know who qualifies, you’ll be able to attract only eligible persons to the venue and achieve better structure.”

- Mickalia Kington

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