( L - R ) Douglas and Peralto

Lisia Lynch, Gleaner Writer

With St. Mary being considered by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) one of the poorest parishes in the country, residents of its South East constituency expect much from whomever takes up the mantle of representing them in Parliament after the next general election.

The People's National Party's (PNP) Harry Douglas is the sitting Member of Parliament and he will be looking for another term whenhe goes up against the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) Tarn Peralto.

"Though much progress has been made in the last few years, there is still much work to be done to make St. Mary effective and competitive," said one resident.

The main communities in the St. Mary South East constituency are Richmond, Castleton, Belfield and Annotto Bay. This constituency is agriculture-based, with banana being the main cash crop. Other produce include cocoa, citrus and coconuts.

In terms of heath care, there is one hospital in Annotto Bay, which has been classified as Type C.

Type C hospitals are the smallest and they provide in-patient and out-patient services in general medicine, child and maternity care. There are, however, other small health-care centres in the constituency.

Major transport route

The Junction route is the major transport route in the constituency, which connects the parish to Kingston. The road is in fairly good condition, but needs to be widened to allow commercial vehicles to comfortably manoeuvre the route. Others roads in the constituency are in relatively poor condition.

The desire of most residents in St. Mary South East is to see the agricultural sector, mainly the banana industry, revived and improved; the road networks restored and maintained; the health centres upgraded; and, most important, jobs being created.

"Due to the lack of jobs many young people, including myself, have to leave the parish to get work," said a resident from Richmond.

"It is not that many young persons are idle and don't want to work, but the jobs are not available; look how dem close wi factory," added another resident, making reference to the closed Highgate Foods factory which provided jobs for many residents in St. Mary South East in former years.