Battle for SE St Bess - Witter, Parchment in tight tussle

Garfield Myers

Thursday, December 22, 2011

SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth - BOTH the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) loudly predict a “four love sweep” in St Elizabeth in the December 29 parliamentary elections.

But neutrals believe that after all the votes are counted, there is much more likely to be a 3-1 majority in favour of the JLP as is now the case, or a 2-2 tie.

Political analysts say the seat that could provide the balance is South East St Elizabeth — once thought of as safe PNP territory, but which was taken by the JLP in 2007 with Frank Witter beating the PNP’s Norman Horne by 456 votes.

Now Witter is being challenged by businessman Richard Parchment who has pledged to again “paint South East St Elizabeth orange”.

A shortage of water for householders and farmers, joblessness, inadequate educational opportunities, poor roads, and other social services are among the issues that most affect voters.

Witter told thousands of Labourites massed in the constituency's main town, Junction, last Friday night that his track record as Member of Parliament is a statement of “performance” that will sustain green as the dominant colour in the constituency.

He listed among his achievements a “beautiful playfield” at Cheapside, a new classroom block now being built at Ballards Valley Primary, a new basic school in Nain and the laying of water piping infrastructure “from as far as Nain”, which he says will bring consistent running water to Junction and its environs in 2012 as part of the Essex Valley domestic water scheme now in its third phase.

In a follow-up interview, Witter listed repairs at basic schools in Cheapside, New Building, the purchasing of land for the building a basic school in Comma Pen and the near completion of a “special school” for behaviourally challenged teenagers across the road from Munro College in Potsdam as examples of the JLP’s commitment to education.

Witter also boasts of improvements in road infrastructure including the total rehabilitation of the Mount Plymouth/Smooth Land road which links Leeds to Schoolfield as well as the Queensbury to Bellevue and Seaview to Queensbury roads and repairs to roadways in Comma Pen, Nembhard Town, Tryall, Ballards Valley, Genus and Red Bank and Litiz.

The SE St Elizabeth MP says he is particularly proud that his representation has led to the arrival of electricity for a number of remote villages including Ivor Cottage, Mount Pleasant, Jackson Town, Down Country (in Top Hill) and Dunkin (in Bull Savannah).

Water has long being a vexed issue in SE St Elizabeth with both political sides accusing the other of not doing enough to bring piped water to areas of rapid urbanisation such as Junction. But the National Water Commission (NWC) has long said that a major problem is the “theft” of domestic water by farmers downslope — who not only siphon off potable water for their crops but end up damaging and even destroying piping infrastructure.

Both Witter and Parchment agree that the way to deal with the problem of “theft “is to provide irrigation water for farmers.

Witter claims that completion of the Comma Pen to Duff House Irrigation Scheme should go a far way in meeting the needs of farmers. Efforts were also being made through rain water catchment dams to assist farmers — with one already built at Bellevue at Top Hill and another being built at Tryall.

Parchment who claims that Junction is “the biggest town in Jamaica” without running water, says that as MP he will be doing all in his power to ensure that “basic infrastructure” is put in place to ensure the supply of water to communities like Junction from wells at lower elevations.

“We have to put in the infrastructure to bring water to town; bring water to farmers for irrigation purposes, and if after all that is done, water is being stolen by farmers we need to take criminal action against the perpetrators…,” said Parchment.

He argued that the absence of water was holding back the progress of Junction and connected communities since trucked water cost 17-20 times the cost of piped water. A range of businesses including popular fast food restaurants would rush to Junction if the water problem could be resolved, he said.

Parchment identifies the reopening of the Alpart bauxite/alumina plant as a priority for him once he is elected. He says he will be lobbying government regarding ongoing negotiations with the bauxite/alumina company to ensure that there is prioritisation.

Parchment pointed out that an active plant would result in not only the direct employment of hundreds of people, but indirectly to thousands, with increased purchasing power providing a boost for farming and the business sector.

He also wants a scrapping of the two-shift system at the centrally located BB Coke High school which he believes is holding back education. “We need to get to a single-shift system so that children can go to school at a normal hour and leave at a reasonable time and at the same time facilitate the healthy extracurricular activities that any normal school should have,” he said. “The problem is not a shortage of teachers, we have those, the problem is that we need to build additional space to accommodate the single shift and I will be pushing for that,” he said.

Parchment also wants an additional high school in SE St Elizabeth, since many students were being asked to travel as far away as Black River and Manchester to attend high school.

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Battle for SE St Bess - Witter, Parchment in tight tussle