ST ANN’S BAY, St Ann — Supporters of the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in St Ann North Eastern on Thursday padlocked the constituency office and dumped multiple T-shirts bearing the image of their Member of Parliament (MP) Marsha Smith, whom they want to quit political and elected posts.

At the crack of dawn, the group of about 100 descended on the constituency office in St Ann’s Bay and padlocked the grille located at the entrance to the building, leaving the three office staff with nowhere to go to work.

One of the employees at the constituency office — a senior citizen employed for some 20 years — spent the workday on a stool in the shade of a nearby building, her lips sealed in relation to the heated protest around her.

The residents accused Smith of not being cordial, and said she does not visit the constituency enough or address major issues such as deplorable roads. The protesters also claim the MP has launched a broadside against constituents who occupy land illegally in St Ann North Eastern.

To solidify their stance, the demonstrators discarded and trampled on a number of green T-shirts — the same ones they wore proudly in support of Smith when she won the constituency in the 2020 General Election.

Members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force kept a close eye on the happenings, which protesters threatened to resume if Smith does not budge.

Smith was chosen by the JLP to contest the 2020 election after the previous MP, Shahine Robinson, died on May 29, 2020 after a prolonged illness. She was 66 years old.

Robinson had scored an upset victory in the traditional People’s National Party seat in the 2001 by-election and had held it until her passing.

On Thursday, the irate constituents argued that in addition to their complaints, no one knows or is familiar with Smith.

“Three-quarter of the people who vote [for Smith in 2020] never know her; dem jus vote for her because of Shahine and the JLP,” said Melody Rhoden, a resident of the St Ann’s Bay Division.

She asserted that more than a year after the election, Smith is yet to make herself better known to constituents.

Rhoden, like other placard-bearing protesters, said the late Robinson was the epitome of a good MP. The protesters donned T-shirts with Robinson’s image and mounted a life-size image of her at the front of the constituency office.

“If Marsha Smith can’t fill the shoes of Miss Robinson, she should at least do something mek people si her,” Rhoden insisted. “Wi need proper representation. From Marsha win, is about three times she come to the [constituency] office… Wi need road. Look at the condition of St Ann’s Bay Police Station! Wi have a lot of issues in North Eastern St Ann. Marsha should not stay in Parliament and get comfortable because, if and when wi ready, we shall turn this [seat] over to the People’s National Party, and that is what wi nuh waan do.”

Jennifer Burgess, another protester, opined that the benefit of having Smith as MP has not been manifesting in the JLP stronghold of Steer Town where she lives.

“The Steer Town CDC (Community Development Committee) cannot get any benefit; the old shut-in people cannot get any benefit; and the children going to school who need the benefit most of all cannot get any support,” Burgess claimed. “Shahine Robinson turn in her grave because Shahine supported everybody. Smith is not supporting anybody, and wi need her to go with immediate effect. Wi need [JLP leader and prime minister] Andrew Holness to come down here because they were the ones that handpicked Smith [to represent the JLP] and that is unfair to us. Everybody down here a suffer and no help wi naah get.”

Asked who they would like to see replace Smith as JLP representative, some protesters mentioned Lisa Marsh and Councillor Genevor Gordon-Bailey of the Lime Hall Division. However, the majority of them declined to give a name, adding that their only wish is for democracy to reign within the JLP regarding candidate selection.

In addition to being MP, Smith is an attorney-at-law as well as minister of state in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service. Her father, Ernest Smith, is a late former JLP parliamentarian who caved to similar protests in the twilight of his political career.

No response has been forthcoming from Smith, and several calls made to her phone number rang without an answer.