Dear Editor,

After a long day at work I usually take a virtual stroll across my social media pages. The evening of Monday, April 4, 2022 was no exception.

I strolled inquisitively across Twitter and, to use the beautiful Jamaican vernacular, “Mi buck up pon a tweet.” That tweet was made by Member of Parliament (MP) for Portland Eastern Ann-Marie Vaz in which she reminisced with pride on having won the seat three years ago. What caught my attention, though, is the last sentence: “I will continue to work relentlessly for our prosperity.”

I paused at the word prosperity.

Nonetheless, I watched as many of those who had never returned to Portland Eastern post-April 2019 retweeted and quoted from the tweet, adding baseless accolades.

Let me quickly admit that, in 2019, I, like many Portlanders, were hoodwinked by glorious promises. I had returned to Jamaica and thought that “my Portland” should have been more developed.

Three years after winning, the reality has set in; many of the platform promises were just that, promises. The promise that Portland would be clean and green was the biggest farce.

The lack of garbage collection across the constituency is gut-wrenching, and it has become the norm for garbage pile-up to extend for four to six weeks, during which we are left at the mercy of rodents.

Certainly, I’d much prefer to take a stroll across social media than on Harbour Street or West Street. The stench on those two main thoroughfares is stifling. I have to literally hold my breath when traversing those two streets.

The constituents of Eastern Portland continue to hold their collective breaths in relation to the promise of water. Does the MP understand the plight of the constituents of Norwich Heights who still have to congregate at the standpipe at first and last to fill their buckets and drums? Water lock-offs in Port Antonio used to be twice per week prior to 2019. Fast-forward to 2022, water lock-offs have increased to four times per week.

I remember hearing much talk about roads. Has the MP driven through the town of Port Antonio lately? Has the MP driven on the Dolphin Bay road recently? Has she driven through Breastworks or Boundbrook Avenue or Norwich Heights? The entire road network across Port Antonio has become worse than what she inherited in 2019.

So, while the twitterati actively heaps empty praises on the MP for ‘action’, the people of Eastern Portland are in no way better than when we started with her in 2019.

John Scarborough

scarborough876@gmail.com