MONTEGO BAY, St James — Opposition Senator Janice Allen, who was recently named as the People’s National Party’s (PNP) standard-bearer for St James Central, is seeking to become the first female Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency.

Representing the PNP, Lloyd B Smith became the first MP in the constituency — after it was created from a section of St James North Western — when he defeated the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Heroy Clarke by just under 100 votes in 2011.

But Clarke continued to work in the seat and turned the tables on the PNP’s Ashley-Ann Foster Horne in 2016 before he trounced another Comrade, Andre Hylton, in 2020.

Allen, who has conceded that taking the seat will not be a walk in the park, told the Jamaica Observer that she is undaunted by the task ahead.

“I wouldn’t enter if I didn’t think I would reverse it, and I am not saying that to be overly confident. I know it takes a lot of hard work…which I am committed to doing and I have started to do. In general terms, I am dissatisfied with the level of representation or how Montego Bay is,” said Allen.

The daughter of the late PNP councillor for the Granville Division, Glover Allen, Senator Allen, who is the Opposition spokesperson on tourism, said she was “born in politics”.

Allen, who holds an MBA in marketing from the University of Massachusetts and a bachelor of business degree in marketing from Florida International University, is of the notion that she was being inadvertently prepared for representational politics in 1997 when she started working with the then Minister of Tourism Francis Tulloch, who was the MP for St James North West.

At that time she got her feet wet in politics and tourism at the same time.

“On the political side I worked with him [Tulloch] when he would be in Montego Bay…like Thursday to Sunday before going back to Kingston for Cabinet on Monday, I would be with him in the constituency. So I would switch from tourism to politics,” she reflected.

According to Allen, she now appreciates that she was unwittingly taught invaluable political lessons at the time, which will assist her in her quest to unseat Clarke.

“At the time I thought this is not what I thought I would do. You know when you came out of university you think you going into a glamorous job and you sit in an office with air condition all the time. Oh no! I was walking the hills and valleys and going places like Blood Lane and going up to Albion, all over the place.

“He taught me how important it is to sit and listen to people; that every constituent is important. And the attention that he would place in every conversation that he had with his constituents was something to watch. It was like a master at his craft. Everybody felt important when they were in his company. He never made anybody felt less than the other,” said Allen.

She told the Observer that her father and Tulloch shared similar attributes of full-scale representation.

“Those are two good politicians that I have learnt from. From early morning people would be outside coming to my father as a councillor for something, and then he was a justice of the peace. So somebody was always coming for something — for recommendation, to bail somebody from jail, or something — and he did it all the time with a willing heart. Everybody’s circumstances is important and you have to address everybody’s problem with equal respect and recognition. At the end of the day, they are human beings, and we are here to serve. We are called to serve in different capacities, and for me it’s being a politician,” Allen said.

“I am from a political family that has always done work. My mother is probably the biggest politician in the family. She will give me the advice as to some of the little things that you can do,” she added.

Allen said the need for improvement in garbage collection is among the concerns she plans to address if she is elected as the parliamentary representative in St James Central in the next election.

“The constituency of St James Central is in the heart of Montego Bay. It’s literally the heartbeat of St James. It is where a lot of the working population resides, whether it is in Cornwall Courts or Green Pond or Farm Heights or Porto Bello or parts of Mount Salem, Rose Mount, Rose Heights. A lot of the working population reside in communities in St James Central.

“And the commercial district is St James Central. Everything from downtown to the market district, Barnett Street, St James Street. And I am not satisfied how Montego Bay is evolving in terms of attention being given to the centre of the town. The disorder, the poor garbage collection. When I talk to people… the water situation in a number of these communities that I speak of and as a Montegonian who has always advocated since I have been in the Senate for Montego Bay, I believe it’s perfect timing and perfectly cut constituency for me to contest. So I am preparing to give it my all,” said Allen, who was one of nine PNP caretakers confirmed at a recent meeting of the party’s National Executive Council.

The others are Gabriella Morris, St Ann North West; Paul Buchanan, St Andrew West Central; Stacy Knight, St Andrew North East; Joan Gordon Webley, St Andrew West Rural; Wykeham McNeill, Trelawny Northern; Paul Patmore, Trelawny Southern; Ramoni Lewis, St Catherine Central; and Wavell Hinds, Clarendon Northern.