Gleaner Na 202111

THE WEEKLY GLEANER | NOVEMBER 4 - NOVEMBER 10, 2021 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | NEWS 3 Kingsley Johnson, owner of Any Money One Stop on Hellshire Beach, has watched as shoreline erosion eats away at the sand. NICHOLAS NUNES/ PHOTOGRAPHER CONVICTED SEX offender and former religious leader Kevin O. Smith, who is now deceased, had some of his first footprints in Jamaica at The University of theWest Indies (UWI), Mona, where he operated a mentorship programme involving over three dozen students, an inves- tigation has revealed. And respected social activist Dr Henley Morgan has also disclosed that he opened doors for Smith to meet some of Jamaica’s elites in business, politics and religion, who in turn funded the pastor’s mission to “restore” Jamaica. “He left a trail of pain and debt among those who came together to assist him and to whom he made a financial commitment,” Morgan said of ventures involving Smith and some of his un- named benefactors over a decade ago. However, Valerie Neita-Robertson, Smith’s for- mer attorney who now represents his family, said she was not aware of any personal debts held by Smith. “Smith has been in Jamaica over 10 years. If he owed anybody, they would have sued him,” she said. The mentorship programme started around March 2011 and was active for more than a year, until Smith spread his wings to Montego Bay, St James, where he established, in 2012, the Pathways International Kingdom Restoration Ministries. But it appeared that the Mona administra- tion did not know what was happening on its campus. “Kevin O. Smith did not operate a mentor- ship programme on the Mona campus of The University of the West Indies. Additionally, his name does not appear on our list of mentors here at the Mona campus or the Mona-Western Jamaica Campus,” the university said in a state- ment last Thursday. THE NATIONAL Executive Council of the People’s National Party (PNP) voted last week to elect Dr Angela Brown Burke, member of parliament (MP) for St Andrew SouthWestern, as the party’s first female chairman. Brown Burke defeated Horace Dalley, who was acting in the position since July, when then Chairman Phillip Paulwell, who was also a vice-president, stepped down from the posts. The election, which was held at Kendal Camp and Conference Centre in Manchester, saw Brown Burke polling 147 votes to Dalley’s 120. Senator Dr Floyd Morris has been appointed the party’s new deputy chairman. PNP elects first female chairman UWI unaware Pathways leader mentored students on campus [ NEWSYOU MAY HAVE MISSED ] THE WE KLY GLEANER | NOVEMBER 4 - 3