Jamaica: Frustration Mounts as Power Outage persists in Sheffield

Jamaica: Frustration Reigned in Sheffield, Westmoreland, as residents hit the streets in protest early Tuesday morning against what they described as the failure of the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) to restore electricity nearly two weeks after Hurricane Beryl.

The Category 4 storm, which bypassed the island, just south of the island on July 3, has left several communities in Westmoreland, including Sheffield, without power.

The main road connecting Savanna-la-Mar to Negril was blocked by residents from as early as 5:00 a.m. The protesters expressed their emotions in the loudest of ways, with community member Shawn Wright at the helm. “We waah light,” said Wright, in a comment.

“We cyaa deal wid di mosquito dem and di heat. How comes some people get back light and we cyaa get back none?” he added.

The residents’ anger is being fueled by the erratic restoration of power, being undertaken by JPS. Most of the homes within the parish, for instance, do not have electricity supply. However, in most cases, the houses right next to them do have electricity supply being restored.

Jane Williams, another resident, vented her spleen when she stated, “On some [housing] schemes, houses are side by side and one has power, and the other don’t have any.” “When I call one of my friends at JPS, they are telling me that they have no light poles to replace the broken ones so we not getting back light for now.”

The protesters were adamant that they would not stop until the police supplied them with light. Wright said they would return to block the road again if the police cleared it without fixing the issue. This just shows the rising unrest within the parish over the service of JPS.

By the time this demonstration moved into day two, the implications on the economy began showing up. Many workers, including hotel workers and other key workers, could not report to work since they were stranded. The expected inconvenience threatened to extend to the customer’s everyday life.

This much being the case, their cry for a quick solution, emanates the fact that JPS must hasten the process of restoring power to ensure it puts affected communities back to normal life very quickly.