Enid Bennett passes
Higglers in downtown Kingston experiencing
JAMAICANS ARE out in their numbers trying to complete their Christmas shopping. We caught up with many of them trying to squeeze their way through the crowd in the uptown plazas, trying to fit their cars in the tight parking lots, or making their street-side purchases in downtown Kingston and in the Second City of Montego Bay.
ASTREAM of tributes have poured in for Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) political stalwart Enid Bennett, who died yesterday, following a brief illness.
The unassuming, but respected, former veteran member of Parliament first represented the people of Central St Catherine, and later, West Central St Catherine, chalking up seven victories at the polls against many formidable opponents, including the People’s National Party’s Keith Cousins, Enoch Blake, and Dr Trevor Dewdney.
Bennett, who served as MP from 1967 to 1997, was 86 years old.
She held the record as the first female to be elected consecutively to the House of Representatives for three decades. She also has the enviable record of being the first female in any political party in independent Jamaica to be elected deputy leader.
In paying tribute to the former state minister during the Edward Seaga administration of the 1980s, Prime Minister Andrew Holness described Bennett as a stalwart in Jamaica’s political history.
“She distinguished herself in service to our nation, becoming a voice for the less fortunate. She was a true servant of the people with her mantra ‘I promise service’,” said Holness.
“Though unassuming, Ms Bennett was a trailblazer. She was unrelenting in her work to represent the people. She was a life member of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association; represented the Jamaican Parliament on a number of occasions during visits to India, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the Channel Islands, and several Caribbean islands. Enid Bennett gave great service to Jamaica. For that we are grateful,” added the prime minister.
Bennett was awarded the country’s fourth-highest honour, the Order of Jamaica, in 2012.
PRESIDENT OF the Jamaica Vendors, Higglers and Markets Association Dunstan Whittingham is pointing to a bumper Christmas for those he represents, saying that approximately 70 per cent of the money in circulation this year will be spent in downtown Kingston.
“It is very encouraging so far. We are seeing the crowds, and from what we observe and calculated up to this point, it is expected that this will be a bumper Christmas for our vendors,” Whittingham noted.
Fresh out of an organisational meeting at the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation, where he engaged Mayor Delroy Williams in mapping out the commercial district for a more organised shopping experience, Whittingham said that he believed that this could be a massive weekend.
BRIGHTEST TIME
“Christmas is usually the brightest time for these vendors. I can tell you that this year is going to be big in terms of the money being spent,” he said.
One bubbly vendor, who goes by the name Nadine, said she was feeling the Christmas spirit as she had been making brisk sales of her clothing items from early in the morning.
“Trust me, it a gwaan good.
Money a mek, and that is the important thing,” she said.
Quizzed as to the comparison between last year’s sales and this year’s, she said that there was no comparison as it was even better in some respects in 2016.
“It was better last year in some ways, enuh, but I feel that things a go turn out better at the end because we still have tomorrow (today) and after dat, too,” Nadine explained.
Vendors and shoppers apart, it was refreshing to witness the police taking care of traffic in a section of the city that is renowned for indisciplined motorists.
Corporal Glenville Sommerville
and his team were kept busy at the Orange and Beckford streets intersection organising the steady but slow flow of bumperto-bumper traffic, allowing for pedestrians and shoppers to filter through at timely intervals.
He told The Gleaner that things had been put in place to mitigate congestion, while safeguarding both vehicle operators and pedestrians.
“It is hard work, but it is part of our role to make sure that at this time, and in such densely populated shopping areas, people are safe and protected from those who wish to do evil deeds.”