THERE is one thing St Catherine West Central constituents don’t deny and it is that their Member of Parliament Dr Kenneth Baugh offers free back-to-school medical examinations to children and teenagers each summer.

But, for a constituency that has spawned Prime Minister Bruce Golding, Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller, comedian Volier Johnson, musician of international repute Brian Thompson, formerly of duo Brian and Tony Gold, it is a proverbial drop in the bucket when stacked up against its needs.

Its rich legacy, which also includes a high school named after Golding’s father and a former speaker of the House of Representatives, Tacius Golding, has not translated into a community of which residents are proud.

Patrice Harvey, a resident of Point Hill, perhaps says it best.

“I don’t think Bruce (Golding) would approve of (this community) knowing that he came from near here,” she says.

Golding spent the first two years of his life in Ginger Ridge, roughly nine kilometres from Point Hill. He also lived in nearby St Faith’s and Watermount. Simpson Miller grew up in Wood Hall, some 14 kilometres from Ginger Ridge.

Residents of the prime minister’s hometown fear their community may be dying; they point to not having piped water for more than 20 years now, a lack of farm roads, the closure of the post office a few years ago and a dwindling population at Ginger Ridge All-Age.

Calls to the principal, George Allen, went unanswered last week but the school caretaker and parents say that classes for grades seven, eight and nine are combined because there aren’t enough students to support individual classes. They blame it on the fact that no student has been placed there through the Grade Six Achievement Test.

“A district like this where Golding come from should be more uplifted,” says Dalton Smith.

In an attempt re-inject some life into Ginger Ridge, Thompson says he is working on setting up a studio, wood and metal workshops, and is seeking to encourage large-scale farming.

Farmer and facilitator of the USAID-sponsored Farmers’ Feed School Kipling Newell, who is educating farmers on measures to optimise yields, would be only too happy if a similar push towards agriculture makes it to Bellfield.

“This is a big coffee and cocoa producer, but it is being neglected because of the (cheap) price and because young people not interested,” he says.

As a result of their disinterest in farming, President of the Jamaica Agricultural Society group in the Marlie Hill area, Festus McCalla, says finding jobs for them is crucial.

“We need water. We need better roads. We need some jobs for the young people because they not into farming. We need a community centre because people don’t have anywhere for recreation,” he says.

The water problem is a common concern. Residents of Kitson Town and surrounding areas, including Dover, Cherry, Content, Spring Village, Wynter’s Acres, Top Mountain, and Pryce Pen pay at least $150 per drum or $1,200 per 600-gallon tank for water.

“From me know miself we don’t have no piped water and me is 51,” one woman says. “We have to buy from the truck or wait on rain.”

And what’s worse, residents of Dover say the water they buy is not clean and often has mosquito larvae and tiny fish in it.

“They (political representatives) have been talking a long time about laying pipes and getting water to us, but there is nothing after the talk. Some communities still have no water,” Point Hill’s Harvey says.

Some of those other communities, according to her and her neighbours, are Mendes, Pusey, Snake Hill, and Garden Hill.

Point Hill residents also say there is nothing in the community to keep the youth occupied. There is a community centre with a recently built multi-purpose court but no co-ordinated programmes, such as skills or fitness training. Another sore point is that there is no doctor at the community clinic.

“There is a nurse but she leaves at four and there is no doctor. If we need a doctor we have to go to Spanish Town or to Lluidas Vale,” an expectant mother says.

One thing for which residents are happy though, is that the roads are not in bad condition.

But elsewhere in the constituency roads are a problem. In communities like Fairview Park and Ebony Vale, the driving surfaces resemble hardened river beds with stones and undulating mounds. In others, like Dover, gaping holes in the asphalt make the journey bumpy and longer than usual.

“We need a taxi route to Dover because it costs $250 to turn off (the Kitson Town or Old Harbour main roads),” one woman says.

“Is not just the turn-off that makes it expensive,” another adds. “Is because we don’t have no road them charge we extra. If I’m to travel from Spanish Town on a daily basis, if I don’t have $1,000 or $1,500 I can’t go back and forth.”

Residents in Dover, as well as in the well-to-do community of Green Acres — both within a stone’s throw of Kitson Town where the bodies of two former funeral home employees were found last week — complain about an increasing number of robberies, house break-ins, and hold ups. Kitson Town residents cite the incidents too.