GREEN ISLAND, Hanover — Jamaica Labour Party Leader (JLP) Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has declared that Member of Parliament (MP) for Hanover Western Tamika Davis outperformed the People’s National Party-led Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC) over the past five years.

Attorney-at-law Davis was elected MP for the constituency in the 2020 General Election on a JLP ticket, breaking the PNP’s more than 30-year stranglehold on the seat. But the PNP has kept control of the municipal corporation over that time.

“Tamika has taken on a big task to run a seat like this. The reality is that, for decades nothing was happening in the seat. Tamika has come and worked with you and she has done the best that she can do with the resources [given] to MPs,” Holness told Labourites at a Hanover Western Constituency Workers Meeting at Green Island High School on Thursday.

“Truth be told, if you compare what Tamika has done relative to what the parish council and the councillors have done, Tamika would have done far more work than the PNP parish council,” he added, eliciting a frenzied reaction from the crowd.

According to Holness, the quality of work done within the constituency is obvious for all to see.

Earlier in the meeting, Davis blasted the PNP for underperforming and, in contrast, highlighted some of her achievements.

“They had 31 years and you said nothing was going on,” she said of previous interaction with Labourites and others gathered at the meeting.

She listed her accomplishments starting with her favourite topic, education, saying that more than $35 million has been spent on improving that sector in her constituency.

She also pointed to youth employment and development, citing the Lord’s Multi-purpose Court rehabilitation project in Malcolm Heights, Lucea, that was officially opened two weeks ago.

The project was carried out under the Spruce Up Jamaica programme. She also used the opportunity to remind the gathering that despite her advocacy for the project, the Hanover Municipal Corporation had placed a stop order on it in the initial stages.

Davis also noted that while there are sections still in need of repair, the constituency is now enjoying better roads than when she took office.

The first-term MP also pointed to developments in the parish such as the 4,000 hotel rooms being built.

Turning to the issue of crime in Hanover, Davis highlighted the 25 per cent reduction in murders year to date — eight compared to 26 last year this time. She also noted that there had been no murders in the month of May this year.

“Western Hanover, this time, whenever the bell rings, we have a lot to be proud of. We have in our prime minister a visionary and where there is no vision, the people will perish. That will not happen to us. In me, you have an MP who is working and will continue to work. In me, you have an MP that is from here, will stay here, will remain here and will love and continue to love the people,” assured Davis.

Holness also sought to assure the supporters that their concerns about roads, water, cost of living, and insufficient street lights are being addressed.

He reiterated some previously announced plans for the parish, among them a bypass road for the capital town, Lucea; a new “massive housing development”; the construction of an urban centre for Lucea similar to the one in Morant Bay, St Thomas; assistance for schools; and and the construction of houses.

Holness also pointed to the recently launched $67.5-billion Western Resilience Water Project aimed at improving the water system in the north-western parishes of Jamaica — Trelawny, St James, Hanover, and Westmoreland.