THE multi-billion-dollar SPARK (Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network) programme being implemented by the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government could be the magic carpet on which two-time St Andrew West Rural Member of Parliament (MP) Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn rides back into Gordon House.

But that goal could also be missed because of the lack of potable water in several communities in the constituency.

Cuthbert-Flynn is in a face-off with the People’s National Party’s (PNP) Joan Gordon-Webley as she seeks a third-consecutive term in the House of Representatives, but several residents are concerned that the incumbent has not done enough to alleviate the roads and water problems in their mainly rural communities.

This has not escaped the attention of Cuthbert-Flynn who used a JLP Area Council One meeting in the constituency in February to defend her record.

“We have done some good work, we have made a lot of progress in West Rural but I need a third term to make sure that I finish the work… We want to make sure that West Rural, and the wider Jamaica, is the place to live, work, raise famil[ies] and do business,” said Cuthbert-Flynn.

“We are on the right track…when you look at health care…I try to make sure that West Rural is on that map. That health centre in Stony Hill right down there — all the persons here remember what that health centre used to look like when rain fall… Now you have a beautiful health centre to go and take care of your health, and persons in the surrounding area can go to that health centre,” added Cuthbert-Flynn.

The two-term MP continued to brandish her scorecard, saying, “When you look you see a brand new police station…that is your Member of Parliament working for you. And yes, Red Hills, soon a renovation coming for you — a health centre is going to be renovated in the Red Hills area to a tune of 40 something million dollars, and before I leave here we will see a brand new health centre for Lawrence Tavern.”

Three months later, during a commissioning ceremony in the Mount Prospect area for a 50,000-gallon water tank to serve communities including Mount Friendship, New Garden, Mount Prospect, Mount Airy, Brandon Hill, and Mount Pleasant, Cuthbert-Flynn promised that a new road was on track for the community of Lime Edge in the Mount Friendship area.

But when the Jamaica Observer visited the constituency last week, roadwork was at fever pitch in several areas, inciting a tug-of-war between hope and cynicism amongst residents.

“The road has been that way for years and it deteriorating more and more. She never do no road rehabilitation here from she a Member of Parliament. She do some things but most of what she do nuh innna this division [Red Hills],” said Marcus, a resident of Burnside Valley in the constituency.

“It’s the councillor, Rohan Hall, who she has in the division who is really doing the work for her. Them do some road patching and a him really responsible. Right now them a do some work round a Blue Mountain/Belvedere area; it did really need some work,” added Marcus.

He said the community could also benefit from some kind of meaningful engagement for unattached youth.

“We need more things for the younger generation, the youth who a leave school. There was a training centre here, when you leave school you coulda get some skill. [Former MP, the PNP’s] Paul Buchanan opened it. Them change the name when she win, it run for one or two years, and then it just lock up. We want it open back because a nuh every pickney who go school [is] book smart; dem woulda quicker fi learn a trade. That is one of the major concerns,” charged Marcus.

The Observer’s attention was drawn to the entrance of the community, which is little more than a dirt track, with one resident saying the non-existent road surface is a constant pain and source of expense to those who have to travel on it.

“Plenty progressive people live round here,” said the resident as he gestured to neatly constructed houses with vehicles parked in the area.

He charged that for those not fortunate enough to own their own vehicles, taxis demand an additional $200 to take individuals into Burnside Valley.

The nearby Pitcairn Valley road, which is reportedly earmarked for repair, is also in urgent need of attention.

In the Belvedere/Ghetto area of the constituency, workers with heavy-duty equipment was a sign that road repair was underway.

One worker, who gave his name only as Garfield, said the work was being carried out under the SPARK programme.

“This road, from mi live a Blue Mountain a so it stay— no proper drainage, nothing at all — so now is time to get it together the right and proper way. I live here close to 30 years now [and] this is the condition of the road all along,” said Garfield who claimed that he had been laying curb wall blocks for about a month.

It was fairly quiet in Lacey District on the opposite side of the constituency.

“We just don’t care about the politics because it just nuh mek sense. Mostly, them do things only when time a come fi voting,” one 19-year-old business operator who aspires to own a boutique in Kingston told the Observer.

Asked what work the political representatives had undertaken in the area, she said, “Them fix some parts of the road but up Rock Hall side, up there so really want to fix. I am just here doing what I am doing for me; I don’t really care about the politics,” she said.

In nearby Cavalier, one shop owner said Cuthbert-Flynn could see a third term if she plays her cards right.

“All she has to do is give the people them road and water, you don’t have to give no handout to nobody. I see her fixing up some road and give people water. We have a better water system since she come round; we nah seh it great but we get water every week in we pipe,” the shop owner told the Observer.

“All we a seh, she need fi come round more and correspond with the people. Nuh bring no crowd, just come one on one. But, she a gwaan good. Them gooda seh mi a Labourite but she a gwaan good because mi have wata inna mi pipe. She a do wah she fi do but she can do likkle betta still,” he said.

A third term, he opined, was possible as, “is nuh like nobody have nuh stronghold”.

Over in McGlashen, farmer Ezra Willis — whose coffee house was damaged when 80 metres of road collapsed during heavy rains from Tropical Storm Rafael in November last year — believes Cuthbert-Flynn might not find favour with voters this time around.

He argued that with residents having to carve out a road under their own steam after they were cut off due to the collapse of the road during the heavy rain, they might not be inclined to re-elect Cuthbert-Flynn.

Decorated Olympian Cuthbert-Flynn entered the political arena in 2014 and was hand-picked as the JLP’s standard-bearer for St Andrew West Rural.

In the 2016 General Election she defeated the PNP’s then incumbent Paul Buchanan, polling 9,736 votes to his 7,638.

She defended her seat in 2020, polling 8,658 votes to defeat the PNP’s Krystal Tomlinson who managed 5,550.

This time her opponent will be Gordon-Webley, who at 28 years of age in 1980 became the youngest woman to be elected to Parliament when, running on a JLP ticket, she defeated the PNP’s Lloyd Stultz in St Andrew East Rural.

Gordon-Webley retained the seat in 1983 in an uncontested poll but by the next contested election, 1989, she was out of Parliament, having lost to the PNP’s Ginnard Barrett.

Since then, Gordon-Webley contested one other general election on a JLP ticket before switching to the PNP and contesting three general elections — the last one in 2020 in St Andrew East Rural — without success.

Construction worker Garfield lays berb blocks last Friday along the Belvedere/Ghetto road in St Andrew West Rural where rehabilitation works are being done under the Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network (SPARK) Programme.

GORDON-WEBLEY… in search of her first general election victory since 1980

CUTHBERT-FLYNN… we want to make sure that West Rural, and the wider Jamaica, is the place to live, work, raise famil[ies] and do business

The shuttered Red Hills Skills Training Centre, situated next to Red Hills Primary School in St Andrew West Rural.

The road serving Burnside Valley residents in St Andrew West Rural

This motorist makes the best of what remains of the road serving residents of Burnside Valley in St Andrew West Rural, last Friday.

The battle lines are drawn in St Andrew West Rural.