Kingston, 3 September 2018 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has expressed disappointment at the lack of maintenance of the statue of National Hero, the Right Excellent Norman Manley at St William Grant Park.

Minister Grange has given instructions to the Jamaica National Heritage Trust to immediately begin conservation work on the statue and that the process must begin on Tuesday (tomorrow).

The Manley statue, as well as the Bustamante statue, were scheduled to be conserved at the same time.  However, work on the Manley statue was delayed because someone had painted the sculpture and it therefore required a different and longer process of preservation and repair, which includes paint removal.

Minister Grange has expressed her displeasure that it took the JNHT several months to re-schedule the conservation of the Manley statue.  She has instructed the agency to prioritise the conservation of monuments of our National Heroes to ensure that they are always in the best possible condition.

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