Accompong Maroons dispute heads to court

Meredith Rowe’s court action has pushed a long-running leadership fight inside Accompong, the Maroon community in St. Elizabeth, into Jamaica’s Supreme Court. Court filings reported by Jamaican media show Rowe, a former colonel and prospective candidate, is seeking an injunction to stop Richard Currie from continuing to act as colonel and to halt a May 22 election that Currie announced days earlier. The filing also asks the court to void actions taken after February 18, the date Rowe says Currie’s five-year term expired. Jamaica Observer and IRIE FM both reported the filing on May 14, citing Rowe’s lawyers and the court application. ### What exactly is Rowe asking the court to do? The May 14 court report said Rowe wants the Supreme Court to immediately prohibit Currie, his agents and servants from implementing decisions as colonel. The filing seeks an interim Maroon council, an election council, a list of eligible voters and an order preventing Currie from calling an election himself, according to the Jamaica Observer’s account of the document. (jamaicaobserver.com) The same filing also asks the court to declare that acts done by Currie after February 18, 2026 are “null and void,” the Observer reported. Rowe further wants Currie to hand over Accompong Town Maroons assets, money and documents in his possession to a justice of the peace or the nearest police station, according to that report. ### Why is February 18 at the center of the dispute? (jamaicaobserver.com) February 18 is the date multiple Jamaican reports identify as the end of Currie’s five-year tenure. The Jamaica Observer reported in March that Currie’s term ended on February 18, and Radio Jamaica said Accompong elections are held every five years on February 18 or the following Monday if the date falls on a weekend. Currie was elected in February 2021 after defeating Ferron Williams, according to contemporaneous and retrospective reports. (jamaicaobserver.com) Richard Currie said in late February that election preparations had been disrupted by Hurricane Melissa, according to the Observer and Radio Jamaica. Challengers said the delay itself breached custom and left the community without a properly convened succession process. ### What are Rowe and other challengers saying is wrong with the election process? Meredith Rowe and Ferron Williams said this week that the schedule announced by Currie was too compressed and did not follow past practice. (jamaicaobserver.com) The Jamaica Gleaner reported that Rowe objected to nomination day on May 15 and polling on May 22, saying previous elections usually allowed 16 to 21 days after nominations. (jamaicaobserver.com) Ferron Williams also alleged that the voter roll had been inflated. The Gleaner quoted Williams as saying the Maroon voters’ list had reached 1,408 over more than 40 years and then gained 1,401 names in three months under Currie. Rowe separately told the Observer in April that candidates were not properly consulted on enumeration and that the process was not being carried out with the customary candidate oversight. (web5.jamaica-gleaner.com) ### What has Currie’s side said? Richard Currie told IRIE FM on May 14 that he had not received the injunction document. Clavie Johnson, identified by IRIE FM as director of Accompong’s Electoral Committee, also said he had not been served and that nomination and election activities would proceed as planned. (web5.jamaica-gleaner.com) Earlier reports quoted Currie as urging patience and tying the delayed election timetable to hurricane recovery. Radio Jamaica also reported that Accompong’s constitution provides a role for the Electoral Office of Jamaica and the Maroon Council if the chief does not call elections within the prescribed period. ### Where does the Electoral Office of Jamaica fit in? (iriefm.net) The Electoral Office of Jamaica had not fully entered the process as of late March, according to the Observer. The outlet reported that the office was awaiting unspecified “particulars” from the Maroons before becoming involved. That detail has become part of the challengers’ case. (jamaicaobserver.com) Rowe told the Observer and the Gleaner that past elections involved consultation with candidates and cooperation with the Electoral Office to ensure transparency. ### What happens next? May 15 was set as nomination day and May 22 as election day under the timetable Currie announced, according to IRIE FM and the Observer. (jamaicaobserver.com) Whether those dates hold now appears to depend on service and enforcement of the injunction Rowe’s lawyer George Traille said had been granted, while Currie and the electoral committee said they had not received the order. (iriefm.net) (jamaicaobserver.com)