Dr Waul decries political bias in SPARK road programme

The programme, officially named Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network (SPARK), is the largest road infrastructure initiative in Jamaica’s history, with a budget of J$40 billion. It aims to repair roads across all constituencies and was designed through consultations with residents and political representatives to identify the most critical areas for improvement.

However, Dr. Waul claims he was excluded from consultations for the programme in the St. Catherine South Western constituency, represented by Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) MP Everald Warmington, who has held the seat since 2002.

Under the SPARK programme, communities such as Water Lane, Martin Lane, Bushy Park, and New Mountain have been slated for road repairs. All these areas, Dr. Waul points out, fall under divisions represented by JLP councillors. He contends this is a clear case of political favoritism, as roads in Old Harbour South are also in dire need of repair.

Speaking to Old Harbour News, Dr. Waul expressed disappointment.

“I spoke with Warmington sometime last week and he told me that he was going to involve the Old Harbour Bay main road but based on my assessment of that road, only the part in Old Harbour will need any form of urgent repair so technically there are no road in Old Harbour South on the list.

Dr. Waul also revealed that Warmington refuses to repair roads previously fixed under his tenure, regardless of how much they have deteriorated.

“He directly told me that he is not going to repair any road that he previously fixed during his tenure. So even if he fixed a road 10 years ago and it mash up now, he will just not fix it again but wants to spend the money on a new road project in an area,” he explained.

This controversy revives backlash from comments Warmington made 10 months ago after Dr. Waul defeated JLP candidate Lloyd ‘Brass’ Grant in the local government elections.

In a now infamous video, Warmington declared at a JLP meeting: “Mi in charge ya so…I am the Minister of Work, I am the Member of Parliament and no PNP councillor going to spend my money”. 

The remarks, condemned by the opposition, civil society, and business groups, led to his dismissal from the Cabinet by Prime Minister Andrew Holness. Although Warmington later issued a public apology, the incident left lasting damage.

Now, with no roads in Old Harbour South included in the SPARK programme, Dr. Waul feels the apology was insincere. He described Warmington’s approach as dismissive, recounting how the MP recently promised to inspect a road in poor condition but failed to provide a timeline, saying only he would assess it “at his convenience.”

He also criticized the decision to include Martin Lane in the programme, noting that residents and external donors had already rehabilitated the road with minimal funding.

“If we get our share, we would be able to do a great amount of well needed work to alleviate a lot of stress with the people who use these roads every day. One of the four roads that he mention to be repaired, Martin Lane, it was already fixed by the residents which was a pretty decent job with some funding from overseas and I even put in some money to so that road don’t need much to put it back in a reasonable condition,” said Dr. Waul.

“Bottom line is the process was not intended to be executed like how he is doing it. You can’t be victimizing my division because you don’t like the representative…Old Harbour South has a representative and we are supposed to speak on these issues in regards to monies being allocated to fix the roads.”

Efforts to contact MP Warmington for comment were unsuccessful.