MONTEGO BAY, St James – Twenty-five-year-old attorney, Ashley Ann Foster, was a short while ago elected unopposed as the new  chairperson of the People’s National Party (PNP) East Central St James constituency by delegates at the annual constituency conference.

Delegates in the constituency are still meeting at the John Rollins Success Primary School in Rose Hall with the public session scheduled to start soon.

East Central St James is currently being represented by 63-year-old Jamaica Labour Party (JLP’s) Ed Bartlett who has been the sitting member of Parliament since 2002.

The post became vacant since the departure of Cedric Stewart, the son of a former PNP councillor in the constituency, who narrowly lost to Bartlett in the 2011 General Election. The then high-profile Bartlett had polled 6,382 votes to Stewart’s 6,208, while independent candidate Royston Richards got 24, in the roughly a 49 per cent voter turn-out in the constituency. Stewart is currently the managing director of Caymanas Track Limited.

Foster, a native of St James, who has been working in the constituency for several months, told the Observer recently that she has already met a number of the constituents and they have been very responsive.

“I was born and bred here in St James and have been working in the region, and so I have gotten to know the people and the communities very well,” she said.

“As a woman, I want the constituency to represent family, children and women’s issues on matters of jobs, education and violence. As a lawyer, I want a just order where human rights are respected. As a member of the ‘west’ I want a more active role for local governance in district, community and parish governance. As a Jamaican, I want the best for my country. I want an equitable society where people have opportunities and where everyone who is willing to work hard and honestly can get the support they need to advance themselves,” she added.

She argued that as chairperson for the constituency she would develop a job description for the post.

“We must know in precise terms what our responsibilities are if we are to hold ourselves accountable. We too often expect our representatives –parliamentary or constituency — to be all things to all people. Then, we feel disappointed when we do not get what was impossible to get from them in the first place. We have lacked a job description for our MPs and we need one. The same is true for our constituency management team,” Foster emphasised.