-Ian Allen/Staff Photographer
One of the run-down communities in South-West St. Andrew, constituency of Member of Parliament, Portia Simpson Miller.
Glenda Anderson, Staff Reporter
RUNDOWN HOUSES, tenement yards barricaded by zinc fence and crude grill gates, dirty, deserted streets, and empty shops, are just one side to the fearsome communities which comprise the political division of southwest St. Andrew.
Pockets of stagnant water and potholed roadways mark small streets bordered by gullies with overgrown vegetation, or open lots. In some sections the images of poverty are stark.
Still, residents tell of poorer ones "down the bottom" or "over the train line" without running water and proper toilet facilities.
The area is home, too, to a large business district along Waltham Park Road, Three Miles and Spanish Town Road, worlds away from the degradation of nearby communities.
Both worlds fall under the watch of Member of Parliament, Portia Simpson Miller, a veteran of representative politics for close to 30 years.
Seen by many as the next Prime Minister of Jamaica, Mrs. Simpson Miller is believed to be a staunch defender of the rights of working class and poor Jamaicans.
BLAME AND SYMPATHY
MP Simpson Miller has received both blame and sympathy from those outside her constituency. Inside, an almost blind allegiance or casual indifference masks the gaping lack of social amenities.
"Them a feel it y'nuh but them nah talk," one man said. "One thing wid dem, dem nuh ask fi much and if them feel seh she a try them nah go say nuttin."
But the brave face may be wearing thin.
At the Haile Selassie Comprehensive High School in Payne Lands, one mobile police patrol had just completed its watch, driving slowly out the school gates.
Residents say the area is like a ghost town with a shaky peace.
"Every other community have something, something nice, we nuh get anything, only gunshot we get in here," one woman lamented. She said the police now made regular patrols after numerous outbreaks of violence among the youth in the community.
"One time Payne Lands use to be nice, but the last four years we caan get nothing going. Every minute it's just war."
She said a meeting with Mrs. Simpson Miller last Wednesday was almost disrupted by unco-operative residents, mostly men.
"She decide to just keep a meeting with the women to find out what they need. She helpful y'nuh but she caan help who no waan help themself," the woman said. "She come talk to them, them say peace an' by the next day them war again."
But despite the depressed conditions, residents refuse to blame their political representative.
"You know when people just love somebody? Because them poor enuh but them nah talk, them jus go 'long wid har, and she stick wid them," Ralph, an elderly Whitfield Town resident explained.
"Up to the other day she come and gi' them bun and cheese. She nuh mek no trouble, she just alright wid the people dem. If anybody dead or nobody get shot she help out. She help school some, help one and two get house, and just help out the poor people dem. She do har work," he said. "You know why the place look so ...a the lickle forbidden boy dem weh no have no responsibility, a dem mash up the place. She talk to them, but nothin'."
'GIVE THE YOUTH SOMETHING'
In Greenwich Town, one middle-aged male resident, was unapologetic.
"Portia Simpson caan lose yaso. The people like her. She under some stress now but the people nah bawl. She do har little good. Right now 'ow me see it she have the heart but she really no have the money. Them get money fi the constituency yes but what kind of money she a get so? She work hard. She try fi do what she can."
His colleague, however, voiced his frustrations.
"Give the youth something fi do, too much youth on the corner. Take for instance we don't have no community centre, no area fi the boys and girls weh leave school get some training. Apart from the Tinson Pen football field, there's nothing else but that alone can't help.
"Wi nuh dunce y'nuh, dem talk bout tax and all dat but even we know seh if you get like some factory and ting going, production, then you nuh haffi worry bout the tax."
But for now the communities stand solidly behind their 'Ms. P'.
