BY ALICIA DUNKLEY Senior staff reporter dunkleya@jamaicaobserver.com
Friday, May 11, 2012
PEOPLE'S National Party Member of Parliament for Eastern Portland Dr Lynvale Bloomfield, who was forced to sit out almost two months of meetings in the Jamaican Parliament after suffering a hip injury, said yesterday that he will be taking a motion to Parliament in the future seeking a more compatible building for persons with disabilities.
Bloomfield, who underwent surgery in April, returned to the Chambers for the first time yesterday on crutches to witness the 2012/13 State opening of the Houses of Parliament at Gordon House in downtown Kingston, but was observed having difficulty negotiating the staircase.
"I'm finding it a challenge, but not beyond my capacity. My legs are a little busted, but my brain is still functioning so I felt I had to be here to represent the constituency and start off on the right footing," he told the Jamaica Observer.
The MP will be on crutches for another week and will not be allowed to drive for another three or four months. However, he will have to use a walker after the crutches are laid aside.
Asked to comment on the many calls over the years for a building that was more accessible to the members of the disabled community, Bloomfield said that the cries should be heeded.
"It's absolutely justified, it's a necessity. It's unfortunate that it has taken so long, but considering the debates about funding for a new Parliament building, this might be the last year," he said.
"We have been procrastinating for a very long time and as a result of that people with disabilities are finding it almost impossible to get here. I am trying to figure out how a wheelchair would get upstairs here because there is no elevator," he told the Observer.
"It is incumbent upon the powers that be to start to look and address these concerns in short order even given the financial constraints," Bloomfield said, adding that he would be taking a motion to Parliament on the issue in the future.
The latest voice on the matter was that of Government Senator and trade unionist Lambert Brown, who in April cried shame over the physical state of the facility which now houses the island's highest court.
In calling for his Government to sanction the publication of the history of the country's Parliament since Independence, the newcomer to the Senate said that the building, which is decades old, could not adequately serve the present generation.
"This is a sick building ... it is a disgrace, the conditions that the parliamentary staff are in. For decency's sake, let us with dispatch do something about it," Brown said, adding his voice to a long list of complainants about the inadequacy of the building.
At the time he drew attention to the cramped press gallery, which had been constructed at a time when there were far fewer media organisations.
Brown said that the gallery, with a mere 11 seats, was grossly inadequate to accommodate representatives of the more than 20 media entities, which operate in Jamaica. He also made a case for better quarters for the Hansard reporters employed to Parliament.
Brown also expressed concern that Bloomfield might be forced to sit outside the House while he recuperates, as there are no ramps for access to the building by members of the disabled community.
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