LUCEA, Hanover — While attorney-at-law Heatha Miller Bennett — the People’s National Party (PNP) candidate for Hanover Western in the September 3 General Election — might be a newcomer to representational politics, she’s not new to politics.

Her father, Fredricous Miller, is a retired deputy mayor of Lucea and councillor for the Green Island Division, who also served on the same ticket as his daughter.

Miller Bennett, who said she currently lives in Kendal in the constituency, is banking on her family’s rich history of service as well as her work in community development to secure the seat in the winning column for the PNP.

“I know that they know of my work and what I have been doing outside of politics, because even before entering politics I was involved in other community development and giving back. And, as I said before, I’m from a family of service. My father was a former counsellor, so they know the work and they believe in what I’m doing and they believe in me,” Miller Bennett told the Jamaica Observer in a recent interview.

She will be vying for the seat against incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) Tamika Davis, who is also an attorney-at-law, and Jamaica Progressive Party candidate Leonard Sharpe. Davis won the seat on a JLP ticket in 2020 after amassing 6,028 votes to three-term MP Ian Hayles’ 4,999 votes.

Hayles, who is now a candidate for the PNP in the neighbouring Westmoreland Western constituency, was at the helm of the constituency between 2007 and 2020. The new PNP candidate believes she can bring out the voters to again secure the seat for the PNP.

“I have a passion for community and national development as a whole. My desire to serve came from a place where I see where over the last couple of years the state, in terms of infrastructure and youth development, has been non-existent. And so, as a true Hanoverian, I decided to put myself forward to lift my parish and my community,” argued Miller Bennett.

She has a list of what she called “bread-and-butter” issues in the constituency that she would like to address, if elected.

“Right through the country today we’ve been having issues with water and infrastructure over the last many years,” stated Miller Bennett.

“The state of the roads have been…just unacceptable,” she added. “There has been no maintenance of our roads. A journey from Green Island into my community, which would have normally taken me seven minutes, is now taking me 35 [minutes] because the road is so bad. So infrastructural development, on a whole, is very needed in the parish.”

Youth development and employment are also key, according to the MP aspirant.

“We have a lot of young people in the parish that are not working, unskilled, [and are] unable to get a job, and I believe training and development are needed in certain skill areas,” said Miller Bennett, who noted that sports development for youngsters and the implementation of recreational areas are also important.

Beside these “low-hanging fruits”, Miller Bennett also wants to create an elegant corridor between the capital town of Lucea and Green Island.

“I want to make sure that it is attractive to those passing through from Montego Bay into Negril, and they can make a stop there,” she said.

Turning to local businesses, the PNP candidate told the Sunday Observer she wants to lend support by assisting them with accessing low-interest loans and brokering partnerships.

“There are some areas that are rural [with] heavy farming, like over in Askenish; so it is a mix, as…there is some kind of urbanity because of tourism [with] the amount of hotels that we have here.

”So there is a mix of both urban and rural [areas in the parish]. And so you have lots of farmers in Hanover that will require support and intervention as we go forward,” argued Miller Bennett.

As the general election draws closer, she is promising hope for Hanover as she focuses on making the parish a location people desire to visit.

“There are many opportunities. I have a strong leadership that will give strategic investment and as well as collaborate with my community in building a better Western Hanover,” Miller Bennett said.

The constituency has 34,819 registered voters. Between 1980 and 1989 the seat was held by current JLP General Secretary Dr Horace Chang.

Since 1989, the PNP won the seat seven times before the cycle was broken by the JLP in 2020. Among the MPs who held the seat were Benjamin Clare, 1989-2002. He died in 2010. Ralston Anson served between 2002 and 2007, and Hayles.