Road repair drought scorches Golden Spring

THE EDITOR, Sir:

IAM sad to report that since the poor, desperate residents staged two peaceful protests – one in the town square of Golden Spring in April, and the other in June 2018 – our roads have still not been fixed.

Our political advocate, Member of Parliament Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn, has been simply incensed by our peaceful protests, forcing us to wonder whether demonstrations are still allowable in our cherished Jamaican democracy.

She has said conflicting things on each of the occasions when we demonstrated.

First, she said that she would be fixing the roads we’ve been complaining about, which only amounts to 1.8km of roadway, after she completed main thoroughfares in the constituency. (She has not disclosed the itinerary for fixing those roads.)

On the second occasion when we protested at the OPM, she told CVM in an interview that she had to consult the local authority to determine if funds were available.

We are at a loss trying to make the connection between both of these statements. Meanwhile, the community residents have been filling the potholes themselves, using large stones of the size used for packing septic pits in some instances. They feel totally betrayed by the political authority and conclude that they are not only the victims of bad roads, but also victimised simply because they dared to hold two very peaceful street protests.

DISHEARTENED

We are disheartened that as law-abiding taxpayers, we are shafted out of our entitlement to good roads and when we complain, we apparently fall from grace in the reckoning of our esteemed parliamentary representative.

Notwithstanding, we have taken no decision to withhold our taxes, and so we will continue to fix our near impassable roads by applying our blood, sweat, and tears while our souls are wrenched apart by total despair.