The Central Kingston constituency was featured two Sundays ago, and below is Member of Parliament Ronald Thwaites’ response.

MEMBER of Parliament for Kingston Central, Rev Ronald “Ronnie” Thwaites is happy the people of Goodwin Park Avenue have received proper housing, but he is displeased at the means by which it happened.

“The basic needs of the people of the Central Kingston constituency should not have come from charity,” he told the Sunday Observer last week.

“There should be a sustained programme of redevelopment that addresses the needs of the people. The system does not facilitate the needs of the people,” he said, pointing to the inability of residents to access loans from various financial institutions to make improvements to their houses.

“It is almost impossible to get a loan or a mortgage for a home in the inner-city,” he reiterated.

Thwaites explained that the Goodwin Park houses had previously been earmarked for residents of Prince of Wales Street in Allman Town whose homes were razed in a fire.

“The place there wasn’t large enough to accommodate the units and therefore what the people did was to accept material and rebuild themselves, and so the houses were unused and unassigned, so that when Goodwin Park took place we could call on them,” he said.

“My response to (the housing problem) is to purchase several derelict buildings in the inner city to persuade the banks to lend the people small loans over many years. We expect to begin this year with Allman Town and Tel-Aviv.”

When asked why those communities were chosen, he said those were the areas that were most available in terms of proof of property ownership.

With regard to the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), the MP said so far this fiscal year, more than $2 million has been spent on social housing.

“Two big items for central Kingston because of the social conditions are welfare and emergency and social housing. That’s what we use to provide zinc, plyboard, building blocks for people when we can’t really do a whole renewal as needs to be done in many cases,” he said.

In addition, $3 million has been spent on welfare, $3 million on back-to-school items such as books, uniforms and school fees; $1.4 million on schools like Convent of Mercy Academy (Alpha), St George’s College, Calabar Junior High and St Michael’s Primary on a programme to enhance literacy skills; $3 million on roads and drains; $2 million on disaster management and another $2 million on a revolving loan fund for small business operators.

Addressing the concerns of fishermen of the Rae Town fishing village, Thwaites decried the condition of the Kingston Harbour and agreed that there has been a lack of attention to the beach.

“It is the largest and oldest fishing beach but it has been so neglected. It stinks of sewerage and plastics,” he said.

“I have been lobbying for years to have it rehabilitated. I have been arguing that the proceeds of the environmental levy, the $5 billion, be used to put in barriers to protect the harbour and prevent solid waste from uptown from being washed down into it, but it was instead given to the NSWMA (National Solid Waste Management Authority) to do ordinary waste management,” he added.

The filthy condition, he said, is what is to be blamed for the dwindling supply of fish in the harbour.

“The dredging of the beach on the west side has killed the shrimping which Rae Town used as a source of living,” the central Kingston MP said.

As for the criticism that he neglects some areas of his constituency based on voting patterns, Thwaites said it was not true.

“I reject any suggestion that I act in any partisan manner. That would be abominable to do. It’s repugnant,” he told the Sunday Observer.