As Election Day in Jamaica approaches on September 3, and the two main parties ramp up their advertising to woo voters, I am reflecting on a trip my sister and I recently made from Kingston to Negril.
We met traffic at a standstill that night, just after Johnson Town and before the entrance to Lucea in Hanover. Notwithstanding the flashing green lights, blaring sirens and erratic driving, including by police vehicles, we wondered why the Waze app was directing us to veer inland, away from the familiar coastal road on which we had travelled many times before. We later found out that the Jamaica Labour Party was holding a rally in Lucea, at which the Prime Minister would be present.
As we dutifully followed the app’s directions through communities like Dias and Glasgow to meet the main road at Green Island, what we encountered was shocking. “Where are the roads?” we asked each other in disbelief and dismay. For much of that detour, “road” could not be used to describe what we were driving on. In many areas, the surface resembled the bottom of a dry rocky river bed.
A check of the Hanover Eastern parliamentary representatives indicates that since 1980, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and People’s National Party (PNP) have each held the seat five times. In Hanover Western, the constituency was won by the PNP seven times while the JLP’s candidates prevailed three times. Why haven’t the Hanover constituents held their Members of Parliament accountable and demanded improved critical infrastructure such as roads? Surely, more could have been completed in those 45 years!
The lyrics of Junior Marley’s “Welcome to Jamrock” come to mind:
“…..to win election dem trick we,
then dem don’t do nuttin’ at all.”
Of note was that throughout the journey outside of Kingston, wherever there were hotels, the roads were generally in good condition. Aren’t local residents deserving of decent roads, no matter where they live?
Constituents all over Jamaica, please exert your power and demand better of your elected representative after the euphoria of victory subsides. Hold them accountable for the many promises spewed during rallies and constituency walks. And if they don’t perform, exercise your right and vote accordingly.
by 
