Campbell: 11 months after Melissa, announcements by gov’t will not ease plight of constituents

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Member of Parliament for Westmoreland Eastern, Dr Dayton Campbell, says announcements by the Government will not ease the plight of his constituents who are still struggling to recover nearly a year after Hurricane Melissa struck on October 28 last year. Speaking in the State of the Constituency Debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Campbell reminded that the Category 5 hurricane made landfall in his constituency. He told his fellow parliamentarians that “policy is not abstract when rain enters a family’s home”. “A budget is not merely an accounting exercise when a child cannot reach school, a farmer cannot reach market or sick person cannot get care after dark,”he said. “People know the difference between an announcement and improvement. An announcement does not patch a roof, make water run or reopen a classroom, preserve a fisher’s catch or place a title in a family’s hand,” Campbell added. The Opposition MP said eastern Westmoreland was not asking to jump ahead of Jamaica. Rather, he said it was “asking Jamaica to recognise where Melissa struck hardest and respond accordingly to their need with clear answers and timelines”. Campbell argued that “government should be felt when water comes through the pipe, a child travels on a safe road to a safe classroom, a farmer reaches market, a fisher lands a catch at a working facility, a patient receives care in time, and a roof holds when rain falls”. Earlier in his presentation, Campbell lamented that 11 months after Melissa struck the government had not provided a single house in his constituency. “Across the constituency, people ask me the same question in different ways; ‘MP, when will the tarpaulin come off, when will the roads be fixed, when will the schools be restored, when will water come through the pipe,” he said. “They are not asking for luxury, they are asking for basic things for which citizens work, pay taxes and vote,” he said. He said when Melissa made landfall in the constituency, it caused severe damage to houses, businesses, schools, churches, tax offices, police stations, markets, drains, bridges, water tanks and roads. — Lynford Simpson