Ras Dawit – Cauldwell Division, Hanover:
ON LOCAL government election day, incumbents Wynter McIntosh of the Chester Castle Division and Devon Brown of the Hopewell Division will be the only two councillors seeking another term in the Hanover Municipal Corporation.
McIntosh, who is the outgoing mayor of Lucea and chairman of the corporation, says he believes the People’s National Party (PNP) has performed well and will retain control of the corporation and could even win all seven divisional seats.
“I think we stand a good chance of retaining the council as a party because of the work that the past councillors have put into their respective divisions,” McIntosh said. “As it relates to the candidates now on the ground, I have put a lot of work into the Chester Castle Division and work with the community groups, and so on, and that should give us a very good chance of winning Chester Castle Division.”
“The last general elections (results) show that we would have been getting four seats, but it is always like that in the general elections, but council (elections), people vote more on a personal line, and from all indications, if we put in everything, we stand a chance of getting all seven seats,” McIntosh added.
McIntosh said the major achievements that will help to propel the PNP to retain control of the municipality include the establishment of a drain-maintenance crew in Lucea, preliminary works at Fort Charlotte, a parish-wide birth certificate programme, and the repair of roads across all seven divisions.
“My tenure as mayor was not for the full term, but we have started the Fort Charlotte discussions. We have cleared the area now. That is something that will come on stream in a very short while,” McIntosh said.
“Persons are saying to me that the (Lucea) drains look much better than they used to. There’s still some work that we have to do as it relates to creating a sidewalk. I know if I return as mayor, that is one of the projects I will be looking at ... . We have created a birth certificate programme across the parish where persons without birth certificates now have birth certificates. We have done a number of roads across the parish – Haughton Grove, Chester Castle – roads in Hopewell,” McIntosh said.
MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS
However, the lone JLP councillor, Devon Brown, said he was unimpressed by the performance of the PNP-led municipality and even described some of the projects cited by McIntosh as major achievements, as colossal failures. According to Brown, his party is set to win five of the seven seats, and the PNP’s bid to retain control of the council would only remain a dream.
“Their performance has been abysmal. Twice, Hanover has made the news in the most disgraceful way. This is a council with only seven divisions, and the Hanover Division has made the news headlines in every negative aspect. They have failed miserably,” Brown said.
“The drain cleaning in Lucea is no achievement. That birth certificate programme has failed to materialise. I have birth certificate applications at my house from last year to today, and to date,nothing. They said they would do it in Local Government Month, and nothing has happened. If you go and take a look at the fort, there is nothing significant there. I am unimpressed. They have not looked after the needs of the people,” he stated.
He added: “Local government is not about the PNP and the JLP. It is about the candidates themselves. When I look at it, the support I got in the parish council, I couldn’t do much work because the resources were not distributed fairly. I am sure when we take over, the entire parish will see Hanover transformed into what it needs to be, which is something bright and beautiful.”