For the unexposed to Portmore, Newland is a large informal settlement located to the rear of the Portmore Pines housing scheme. It is one of a few informal settlements in Portmore that predates Jamaica’s Independence.

Other notable ones are Gregory Park, Naggo Head, and Hellshire Beach.

Norbrook is a long-standing uptown community located in upper St Andrew.

I have selected both these communities not because of any unique characteristics, but simply to make comparisons between a squatter settlement and a formal uptown community. It could just as easily have been Canterbury and Cherry Garden.

I am looking at how they differ.

So let us start with the most basic social infrastructure — water.

There is a direct pipeline to every home in Norbrook. As there should. That is what is required to have a decent flow. Well, in Newland there are about two pipelines running off the main to each lane. Each lane has several dozen homes. You therefore do not have an efficient water supply.

So, if this was Norbrook and the water supply was inconsistent for decades what would occur? It simply would ‘haffi’ fix — it would not be tolerated.

This solution may even involve the prime minister, irrespective of which party is in power. Believe me!

Let us talk electricity. The structures in Newland are wooden and improperly constructed. They cannot, with that type of construction, pass the safety standards of the Jamaica Public Service (JPS). There are illegal connections all over the place, just like tree branches. They are really dangerous and when there is rain it is even more so. Obviously, Norbrook residents do not have this issue, but to be fair they have to pay their electricity bills.

I have tried on many occasions to get JPS to provide power posts that can be safely erected and people can buy power cords and plug in their extensions. This exists in The Philippines; I have seen it myself. This problem shows no sign of being solved. So if electrical supply was inefficient, dangerous; and chaotic in Norbrook, would this issue be solved?

Let us talk crime.

So there is the existence of an imprisoned don who, from the safety of his prison cell, literally controls the community of Newland. He arms a gang, gives them orders and has killed scores of people, maybe over 100, and burnt down dozens of homes.

Could this exist in Norbrook? Not if the Government plans to stay in power. The press would ride it like a horse and that man would be shut down. However, in Newland, he has reigned behind bars for over a decade.

Let us talk extortion. Regular, hard-working people are taxed by hoodlums. Shopkeepers have to give the gangsters products as they like. You think this could occur in Norbrook?

Then there is the abuse of adolescent females. The forced sex, the family’s inability to prevent it and the utter powerlessness of the community. Could this exist in Norbrook? No, it could not, because the man who delivers that message to send the child would not survive. This would likely be followed with a visit to the sender.

Why, though, is it so much harder for Newland residents to get what they need, from infrastructure to State security intervention?

It is not political power in terms of votes because Newland has thousands of voters in the settlement.

There are many reasons.

One, the voices of inner-city residents and the impoverished in general are ignored, unless it is election time. So access to decision-makers is limited. Many of us who live uptown have ministers and Members of Parliament (MPs)on speed dial.

Acceptance is another factor. The Government, irrespective of party, accepts that the poor are going to have conditions specific to them. The inhabitants are also so minded.

Here lies the issue. If the poor really stood up and rejected politics as a group then it would force change. But this requires a unified position. It also requires hope. This is central to the issue.

Do they believe that they could cause change to their position by abstaining from voting?

This is a community suffering from abject neglect for generations. It took about a dozen MPs before this present one got them roads. Amazing, isn’t it! This community was there before Independence and watched the growth of new Portmore and the roads there, while they settled with having none. That takes either a people of great character or a broken people. I am not sure which one.

The void between these two communities under study is a micro representation of the void between the pauper and the rest of the country. The latter group is huge. Everyone from the clerk to the corporate boss is not a pauper.

We currently have about 400,000 squatters in Jamaica. They are living like people did in the late 18th century. This is really the last bastion of division. It is a problem that can be solved if we just stop accepting it as okay and if they stop accepting it as okay.

I want the next general election to have at least one of the parties promising that they will be the Government that ends the informal settlements. I want the next candidate for Newland to promise the end of gang domination. I want the same energy with which uptown approaches human rights to be geared towards the end of squalor.

If you think I want too much, then maybe you need to spend some time with me in Newland, and then you, like me, will realise that bringing an end to this type of division in living conditions trumps every other challenge our country navigates.

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