Daraine Luton & Gareth Manning, Sunday Gleaner Reporters

Taxi drivers and other motorists have great difficulty traversing the poor and dangerous roads in Thompson Hill.

HUNDREDS of people who live in the constituency of Eastern Hanover, the subject of weeks of legal wrangling over electoral results, have never experienced the joy of turning on a tap in their homes.

There has never been any piped water there and residents dream of the day when they will not have to pay people to bring water to their homes in pans, buckets and jugs.

This is the story of the people of Old Pen, Chigwell and Thompson Hill, among other communities in the hilly interior of Hanover.

"We want water, we want roads, we want representation! We have no one to represent us," Bibsy Brown, a resident of Thompson Hill, complained.

Even before she had finished speaking, the driver of a taxi, which had to crawl because of the bad roads, shouted in disgust: "We nuh have nuh MP, nobody fi talk fi wi!"

without a representative

The issue of a missing Member of Parliament took The Sunday Gleaner into Eastern Hanover last week. Six weeks after the September 3 general election, the constituency is still without a representative.

It was only last Friday that the Appeal Court threw out a case by Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) candidate Barrington Gray contesting the counting procedure being used by the judge in a magisterial recount of the votes cast on election day. Based on the Appeal Court's ruling, Resident Magistrate George Burton is expected to finalise the recounting process this week.

The People's National Party (PNP) candidate, D.K. Duncan, seemed to have won the count on election night. But the JLP's Gray, who represented the seat for five years before the election, was assigned the winner of the contest by nine votes after the official count a few days later. But the PNP raced to court and succeeded in a securing magisterial recount.

When The Sunday Gleaner visited Eastern Hanover last week, many residents with whom the team spoke said it was important that the new MP start working immediately.

"Dem fi declare di seat ... one way or another. Mi is a Labour man and mi would like it go our way, but dis thing a tek too long. Dem need fi gi wi a MP and mek him start work," says a Sandy Bay resident.

Another resident claiming to be a PNP supporter says: "Dem need fi let go D.K. now. A whole heap a work down yah fi do and wi want wi MP inna Parliament fi defend wi interest".

The call for a working MP to be declared was a well-rehearsed chorus among the residents. They identified many issues that needed to be addressed. From the more affluent coastline communities of Hopewell, Tryall, Sandy Bay, to the hills of Bamboo, Fence River, Cold Spring and beyond, water and jobs topped their wish lists.

A typical home in Eastern Hanover where residents have to rely on rain water for drinking and domestic purposes.

Bibsy Brown, a resident of Thompson Hill, bemoans the lack of development in her Eastern Hanover community. - photos by Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

jobs scarce

Sandy Bay residents said jobs are becoming scarce in the constituency as the Jockey garment factory scaled down its operations in preparation to relocate. The Tryall Resort and Round Hill properties, which also provide employment for scores of residents, now employs out-of-towners, the residents claim.

In the interior of the constituency, the cry is the same.

"No employment no deh and lazy woman them stay a yard and have pickney cause nutten else no there to do," Petula Ferguson said jokingly.

"My babyfather no have no work one month now," Paulette Peddie chimes in. She has six children and she is finding it difficult to send them to school.

Many persons are admittedly unemployable because they have no skills. While there is a training facility in the community, they claim they don't have the subjects to be enrolled or the money to commute.

"Me wan't go back a school but me haffi see to it seh the pickney them go school first. Me no want keep them back," Ferguson stated.

roads, street lights

Another of the priorities on the new MP's 'to-do' list is the fixing of roads and installation of street lights. This is mainly the cry of people in Thompson Hill where a taxi driver cried out to our news team as he manoeuvred the bumpy trail in his Lada motor car.

"Me front-end mash up. We want a MP fi come talk fi we," he lamented.

The bad roads are also contributing to flooding of some residents' homes. The road, which was raised in an attempt to fix it a few years ago, redirects water from the road into Ms. Bibsy's yard and house whenever it rains.

But MP or no MP, life goes on for many residents of Eastern Hanover. As one woman put it: "Even when somebody is in Parliament as a MP, we never yet get representation, so it nuh matter. It feels no way," the woman complains.

Since Independence in 1962, Eastern Hanover has voted for a PNP MP six times and a JLP MP three times. Aside from 1980, when the PNP did not contest the election, the PNP was unbeaten in the constituency from the 1967 polls. Gray broke the dynasty in 2002 when he beat Lloyd Hill by 736 votes to win the seat for the JLP.