Dr Waul outlines vision for Old Harbour South

Although he was speaking to a partisan crowd of Comrades who had gathered inside the Old Harbour Bay Primary School’s quadrangle, Dr Waul’s message carried an unusual ring which sadly has become a rarity in modern Jamaican politics.

Sunday’s People’s National Party (PNP) Old Harbour South Division conference demonstrated a show of strength that the Old Harbour Bay native is indeed the man that Comrades, at the very least, see leading them whenever the next local government elections are called, which is expected to happened during the first quarter of next year.

Indeed, notwithstanding the usual fanfare, gimmickry and political tribal trash-talking, it was refreshing to listen to a message from a councillor caretaker that made the real issues its focal point.

Dr Waul, in a presentation that lasted just over 30 minutes, raised concerns around the politicising of some matters in the division with regard to road works, garbage and drain cleaning.

He, however, did not spend his time belabouring the point trying to score cheap political points but offered solutions within a broader vision of developing the division and the constituency.

First, he reeled off a long list of programmes he and his team have been doing since his foray into representational politics in 2019.

The donating of tablets to students, assisting with stationery and printed materials, and even printers to schools; provision of grants to cover extra lessons, install wifi services, taxi fares and lunches were among the main highlights for Dr Waul.

Free healthcare support, especially during the back-to-school period, is now a flagship initiative that thousands of constituents anticipate every year, he added. Scores of small farmers, he continued, are given a head start in poultry and other types of farming, while numerous persons – irrespective of political allegiance or lack thereof – have also benefited from his benevolence to restore their homes after a disaster whether manmade or otherwise.

“We funded and assisted with the physical work to build a bridge in Bodles, for a community that was cut off from the main road due to heavy rains,” Waul declared before pointing to the recently concluded community football competition revitalised after years of dormancy.

“These have all been well attended and appreciated by our constituents, since it has provided much needed entertainment during these depressing times and most importantly it provided much needed short term employment to scores of constituents during these tough labour times,” he said of the eight weeks long tournament that offered in excess of $500,000 in prize money.

Outlining a vision for the division Dr Waul told Comrades in attendance and those watching online via live stream, that “we are standing at the crossroads” and that the choice is between a mediocre JLP performing councillor in Lloyd Grant and a self-proclaimed transformational leader.

He chastised Grant for not doing enough to enlist the less fortunate on the state-run PATH programme, overseeing poor workmanship of road works done in the division, promoting political victimisation among a host of other issues.

“When I sit in my doctor’s office and people come visit me or I get a call from a constituent that they need a very urgent house visit, I don’t take up my phone and call Chippy, Karen or Comrade Rowe and ask them say if the somebody is Labour or PNP. I will help anyone from the community. I don’t partial.

“When I walk I see how the Councillor cleaning drain and the work pitchy patchy. Him clean in front a Miss Jane yard but him left out Tina yard because she a Comrade,” he said.

He called for more to be done to improve the Old Harbour Bay Fishing Village, which is the largest of its kind in Jamaica, and for a tourism model promoting the many seafood restaurants along the coastal community and untapped offshore cays.

“When I go pan my friend canoe out a seaside and tour the cays off the coast of Old Harbour Bay I see that nuh wey nuh pretty like deh so, we have so many Cays: big one, medium size one, small one and we not making use of them. We have so many new neighours from NHV 1, 2, 3, 4… them reach five yet? Nearly 20,000 new neighbours right by our door steps, who want to come and explore their new community but they are uncertain. We need to fix up and promote we place and the government should help. I am talking about tourism too my people. Nuff people and tourists rent expensive big boat all the way from Kingston and Clarendon to go to the islands (cays), why we can’t set up a thing where they leave from bay (Old Harbour Bay) so we can eat a food too. They, government, have Tourism Enhancement Fund where they spending billions at them friend place that don’t look quarter as good as off the coast of Old Harbour South,” said the 44 year-old medical doctor and native of Old Harbour Bay.

He further outlined a vision that will see new road networks being developed that connect the farming community of Bodles and Old Harbour Bay, both form part of the Old Harbour South Division.

He asked: “Why people living in one division of the constituency should have to travel through Old Harbour town to get to another location within the same division?”

“People from bay should be able to go to Bodles and vice versa without having to walk through bush.

“There are paths and tracks that can be rehabilitated into roads, and it can be done if the MP and the councillor did business. I want to see Bodles and the rest of Old Harbour South become more accessible to each other because we are one big community and we need to see each other more often. And is only me alone have the will to open these roads,” said Dr Waul, the chairman of the PNP St Catherine South Western constituency.