Anthony Minott photos -Mayor of Portmore George Lee (right) looks up at the Jamaican flag while Justice Daphne Clayton (centre) of the Lay Magistrates Association of Jamaica and Superintendent Terence Bent, commanding officer for St. Catherine South, stand at attention during the Portmore Municipal Council's Independence Day Flag Raising and Civic Ceremony held at the Portmore Pines Plaza on Monday.
A Waterford primary school duo performs a poem entitled: "Sistrin and Brethen" by Edward Brathwaite.

Scores of Portmore residents from various walks of life came out to witness the fourth staging of the Portmore Municipal Council's Independence Day Flag Raising and Civic Ceremony at the Portmore Pines Plaza on Monday.

The event was graced by a march past by the police, scouts and a cadet corps, flag raising and highlighted by the singing of the National Anthem.

The ceremony, which took place inside a tent on the grounds of the Portmore Pines Plaza, saw members of the Portmore Council in attendance, including Keith Blake, councillor for the Independence City division, Owen Saunderson, councillor for the Braeton division, Errol Lynch, councillor for the Waterford division, and Keith Hinds, who ran as the Portmore mayoral candidate for the Jamaica Labour Party in the last local government election.

Members of the religious community included Bishop Dr. Delford Davis, head pastor of Power of Faith Ministries, Reverend Spencer Colquhoun, of Waterford Missionary Church and Bishop Bradley S.E. Dyer and his wife.

well-wishers

Messages poured in from the Governor-General Professor Kenneth Hall, read by Justice Daphne Clayton of the Lay Magistrates Association of Jamaica; Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller read by Fitz Jackson, MP for South St. Catherine, and the Leader of the Opposition Bruce Golding read by Senator Arthur Williams, JLP caretaker.

The event was highlighted by the touching performances of Waterford Primary and Ascot High School. Waterford Primary did a poem entitled Sistrin and Brethen by Edward Braithwaite while Ascot's dramatic piece It Deh Ya, saw the youngsters showcasing the national flag to a big round of applause.

Portmore's Mayor George Lee, said the municipality had just begun as a city as the council was only three years old. In terms of our nation celebrating 44 years of independence, he said much has happened on the matter of developments, but a lot more needs to be done. He recalled in 1962 when independence was declared, he and many others wept openly with pride.

tribute to Miss Lou

Meanwhile, the MC for the ceremony, Dorothy Cunningham, a former Braeton resident, paid tribute to cultural icon Louise 'Miss Lou' Bennett-Coverley for what she has given to Jamaica's cultural achievements, both nationally and internationally. Ms. Cunningham recited the poem Under The Banyan Tree.

Portmore is celebrating its third year as a city.