ST ANDREW, Jamaica — People’s National Party (PNP) candidate for St Andrew North Central, Christopher Henry, is challenging a recent promise to improve the appearance of the Manor Park bus lay-by and vending area.

Pointing to the fact that the constituency has been under the leadership of the Jamaica Labour Party’s Karl Samuda for well over three decades, Henry questioned why plans had never been put forward to address the space sooner.

Henry dismissed the promised improvement as just another election promise likely to fall by the wayside.

“The timing of the promise, which, if you noticed, doesn’t say ‘we will fix’ but says ‘we will put together a talk shop to explore possibilities about improving the appearance of the space’, is questionable,” said Henry.

“When the market was destroyed… where was the consideration for what would happen to those vendors… now vendors have essentially sprawled off onto the roadway because we’ve displaced them,” added Henry.

According to Henry, the time for discussions had long passed, adding that what was needed now was action.

“Let’s not sell people pipe dreams. Of course, the space will be improved, but the truth is, we will have re-skill some of these vendors,” said Henry.

“Operation Jumpstart is my solution to help these vendors, who are entrepreneurs, in this constituency, access capital. So, if you’ve got a good idea. I want to transform your idea into a profitable business, and I want to do this by mobilising the business people in north central — and we’ve got plenty of them — and connect them with you to help you to elevate your idea from thought to a profiting business,” added Henry.

Henry further warned constituents not to get side-tracked by last-minute promises.

“If they could have done it. They would have. Eight years is a long time,” said Henry.

“My plans are solid, they were developed through consultation with the people and have been in place for the last two years and publicly available,” he added.