WHETHER you voted or not, your member of parliament is there to serve you.

Once you live in the constituency, the MP is your political representative, and you have the right to make certain demands of him/her.

Although, quite arguably, some people expect too much from their MPs, in the Jamaican context their roles are unclear, particularly since they have no known job descriptions. Over the next few months, the Sunday Observer will be visiting all 60 constituencies and asking Jamaicans to rate their MPs in our new “We are Jamaicans” series.

Dear Mr Broderick,

Following lengthy discussions with residents in your consistency, North Clarendon, these four concerns below emerged as the most pressing.

1. Residents all over the constituency say they are forced to either buy hundreds of dollars worth of water each month or carry water from the river as they have no access to piped water.

2. Others called for the building of community centres and recreational areas .

3. In addition, scores of residents want you to address the high levels of unemployment, especially among young people, and called for more income-generating projects in the constituency.

4. Residents say they need to see you more often.

Yours sincerely,

Ingrid Brown

(Sunday Observer senior staff reporter)

Rate your MP

6/10

Leslie Howell, farmer of Crooked River

I give him that when I compare him to the previous Member of Parliament Horace Dalley, who never did anything because he was too comfortable.

9/10

Winston Moore, construction worker, Ballads River

Him doing a good job fi the little time since him deh around. Him come around and you can see him and get fi talk to him, and most times him keep meetings.

8/10

Rohan Ellis, construction worker, Ballads River

Although me a PNP, me a give him that rating because fi the time him deh yah him a gwaan good.

2.5/10

Lanceford Gayle, farmer of Red Land

Me nuh see no great performance as yet, although me know it is still early days. After him fix the road in my area then I will give him a 5/10.

0/10

Garfield Austin, farmer, of Morgan’s Pass

He is not working in the constituency and he is using the economic crisis to work against us and ah know him can do better.

3/10

Lupeter Webster, farmer, Comsie

Some people see him and some don’t get fi see him. If me hold such a post me a go walk through meck people see me.

Broderick responds to

concerns from constituents

MEMBER of Parliament for North Clarendon Laurence Broderick told the Sunday Observer that he opted to spend the greater portion of his $40-million constituency development fund

(CDF) allocation on sustainable development projects rather than on welfare programmes.

In the 2008-2009 Budget, $2.46 billion was set aside for the constituency development fund, which meant that the 60 members of Parliament each had approximately $40m to spend on projects last financial year.

For Broderick, the priority areas included education, health, training and infrastructure like road, water and electricity.

He said he had expended all his funds, some of which went towards scholarships for 89 students. Of the 89, 54 were granted bursaries for tertiary-level institutions amounting to $2.4 million.

In addition, Broderick said pipes were now being laid for two major water projects, which will serve several communities, while approval had been received for another project which was out to tender.

As for bad roads, Broderick said he had been using portions from his constituency development fund to effect repairs.

“I live there too (Morgan’s Pass), and I don’t enjoy driving on bad roads and so it is down to be fixed,” he said. He, however, pointed to three major break-aways in the constituency where he said millions had already been spent to effect repairs on them.

As for not being “visible” or “accessible enough” to his constituents, Broderick said these claims were “a bold-faced lie”. He said he visited the constituency three to four times per week, and rarely ever missed a funeral. He said persons might think he is not in the constituency because they do not see him in their respective communities while he is busy monitoring projects elsewhere in the division.

Broderick also said that he was looking to farming to address unemployment among young people in his constituency. In fact, he said he was already discussing a plan with the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) to give some young people three pigs each for breeding. These pigs, he said, were expected to produce 10 piglets each, for which markets had already been identified.

Additionally, Broderick said young women were also poised to receive training in hospitality at the Crofts Hill Centre.

Meanwhile, although Broderick admitted that he had been unsuccessful in identifying lands for a community centre or recreational area, he told the Sunday Observer that this problem would soon be resolved since he was recently offered land for lease to be used for this purpose.