Sharon Hay-Webster:

Most youth believe they can get away with staying out late or sneaking their parents’ car out for a spin around the neighbourhood when they turn 18. Not so, says Sharon Hay. She had a totally different thrill when she reached that landmark in 1980.

“I wanted to go and vote, that was the biggest thing to me,” she told all woman. “There was a whole lotta tension at the time because I wore a green uniform and the guy I was involved with at the time didn’t want me to vote. He said I should not get myself involved in politics.”

Seven years ago, the former St Hugh’s High School student, now Sharon Hay-Webster, went against the wishes of the man who became her husband and threw her hat in the political ring. Running on the ruling Peoples National Party ticket, the buxom teacher easily won the South Central St Catherine seat by defeating the Jamaica Labour Party’s Tom Tavares-Finson. She repeated the feat two years ago when the PNP won a record fourth straight term in national elections.

According to Hay-Webster, 42, a career in politics had been on the cards since her years at St Hugh’s when she became attracted to the socialist message of Prime Minister Michael Manley.

“That era influenced me greatly. During the 1970s there was a move by the PNP to build a link with the youth and I was very much a part of that,” she said. “There might not have been a YO (PNP Youth Organisation) unit at the school but there were those of us who were involved in discussion groups.”

Given the high-profile incidents in which she was embroiled during the past year, Hay-Webster may have reflected on the advice her childhood sweetheart gave her in October, 1980 when she dipped her finger in ink and cast her first ballot. Her treasured weekly appearances at Merritone oldies dances in St Andrew seemed a far more pleasant proposition.

The government backbencher got the ball rolling in July. She raised more than the proverbial eyebrow in parliament when she proposed sterilisation for women with more than three children as a form of birth control. This drew the wrath of women’s groups like the Women’s Media Watch and Women Inc who described Hay-Webster’s statement as reckless and irresponsible.

Hay-Webster, just back from the Central African Republic where she acted as Prime Minister P J Patterson’s emmisary in bringing deposed Haitian president, Jean Bertrand Aristide, to this country, remains passionate about her radical method to stem multiple pregnancies.

“Yuh know how many women came up to me and said, ‘Miss Webster, is a good talk dat yuh mek, yuh nuh’?,” she asked. “Many of us quarrel about the use of our tax dollar and we only see the use of the tax dollar in respect of road, light and water…but there are also the social services and part of that must speak to how we take care of our children.”

In February, Hay-Webster was in the spotlight again when renewed fighting between the One Order and Clansman gangs, supporters of the PNP and the opposition Jamaica Labour Party, resulted in the deaths of 19 persons in the Spanish Town area. Hay-Webster was roundly criticised in the media for distancing herself from the hostilities, because she said she was unaware of her party having any ties to community dons. Her claim was shot down by Heather Robinson, the firebrand politician Hay-Webster succeeded in the volatile South Central St Catherine.

She refused, however, to comment on her reported spat with Robinson who has consistently hit out against politicians who fraternise with criminals. “I won’t go there. The media are the ones who made a big thing of that,” she said.

The divorced mother of two teenagers acknowledges that the past year has been her most challenging since she entered politics. Violence, teen pregnancy and the need for social development are just some of the problems facing her constituents, problems she says that are compounded by inadequate human resources.

Spanish Town mayor, Raymoth Notice, who has worked with Hay-Webster since taking office in June last year, says she works hard at trying to mend fences in a community that has been divided by party politics for decades.

“She is a very determined MP and a pleasant person to work with, she supports many of the programmes from the St Catherine Parish Council,” said Notice. “She has a venom that neutralises any political affiliation.”

Patterson’s decision to send Hay-Webster to Africa, along with American congresswoman Maxine Waters and TransAfrica founder Randall Robinson, came one month after the disturbances in Spanish Town. The party stayed in the West African country for less than two days, but Hay-Webster says there was such a strong military detail throughout the troubled state that it made some of the visitors on-edge.

She explained that from the airport to the Renaissance Palace, where the president resides, the roads were lined with soldiers with SLR and M16 guns.

“In Jamaica I’m used to having armed presence around me because of the nature of my constituency…it wasn’t a problem to me,” she said. “But for someone like Randall, coming from a small place like St Kitts, he was not used to that type of military presence.”

“We were committed to what we had to do and one of the challenges we faced was that it was the anniversary of the coup in the Central African Republic which made things even more tense.”

Their visit was however greatly welcomed by Aristide.

“He was so happy to see us. He had a depth of calmess about him. He was very observant, he didn’t miss a beat,” she said.

A graduate of the University of the West Indies, Hay-Webster followed some big names to the South Central St Catherine seat. Prior to Robinson, the constituency was represented by Derrick Heaven who was preceded by Ripton McPherson, both stalwarts of the PNP. Though she was born in Kingston, her family is embedded in St Catherine grassroots politics; her father, Lloyd Hay, became the first PNP candidate for North East St Catherine in 1976 while her grandfather, Lucien Hay, worked with former premier and PNP leader Norman Manley on a number of welfare programmes.

Like her hero, Michael Manley, one of Hay-Webster’s greatest political ambitions is improving the social conditions in Jamaica, as well as being a potent voice for the Caribbean at the African, Caribbean and Pacific and European Union (ACP/EU) where she was elected to the trade committee in late 2002.

But there are less stressful things to look forward to: she is planning a second trip down the aisle and there is always her weekly trek to Waterfalls on Thursdays for the Merritone dance.

“When yuh out there dancing nobody can tell you that they have a message from the prime minister or Mr Seaga, or Mr Shaw or Omar (finance minister Davies),” she said laughing. “I love a good dance…I’m not one of those you’ll see wining and grinding but I love a good dance.”