Mom not sure about voting, daughter raring to go
SONIA JOHNSON* has never voted in her life, and she will not be starting on September 3 either.
In an interview with The Gleaner, the Clarendon South Eastern resident, who resides in the community of Raymonds in Hayes, said that she has been left unimpressed with the performance of successive members of parliament (MPs) since growing up.
When she left high school at age 18, Johnson said there was nothing to woo her to the polling booth.
“Now, I have been in the education system for quite some time, and I’m seeing where neither of the two [main parties] has done anything, except for one time when Andrew Holness was a minister of education and you had seen some changes,” she said.
She said that with Raymonds being said to be a People’s National Party (PNP) stronghold, the constituency’s Jamaica Labour Party MPs, including the recently retired Rudyard Spencer, did not do much for the area.
Admitting that she has seen a change recently with the JLP’s new man, Pearnel Charles Jr, at the helm, Johnson noted:“There is still anarchy and confusion as well as chaos.”
With more young persons getting involved in the political arena, the energy is shifting, she said.
“I see where this new MP (Charles Jr) [has made some] little changes ... . I will say kudos to him and give him a tap on the shoulder, but it is still not enough for me to vote. He needs to walk in here, meet and greet the people. You are an MP for the entire constituency. Whether they like you or not, ... there are still persons you can sway,” Johnson said.
For her daughter, Joan*, however, it is different story as she is determined to place her ‘X’ beside the JLP’s bell next Thursday.
“I have seen where the JLP has done way more. For instance, I can only say only about five schools that I know of that the PNP really built. Everything is really by the Church or under the JLP,” she said, also crediting the party for constructing hospitals and the fact that she, as a small business owner, can register her enterprise for $2,500.
“The JLP removed that excessive red tape to start up a business. I only paid $2,500 to register the business. I got it in two weeks,” Joan told The Gleaner.
“The PNP has done nothing for South East Clarendon. All the infrastructure we have were diminished or dismantled under the PNP. It makes no sense to vote. The scheme that we live in now a Labourite gi wi,” she said.
Voting , according to her, is a great responsibility as she is securing the future not just for herself, but her “children and grandchildren” so they can live in a better country.
Charles Jr is facing off with the PNP’s Patricia Duncan Sutherland for the seat.