Raymond rakes Alando over performance in constituency
Published:Thursday | July 23, 2020 | 12:08 AM
People’s National Party (PNP) caretaker for St Catherine East Central Raymond Pryce has knocked incumbent Member of Parliament Alando Terrelonge for his stewardship of the constituency.
Pryce, who was recently installed as the PNP’s standard-bearer in the constituency, charged that Terrelonge has few successes to show from his four years as its representative.
“The achievement list is minimal!” Pryce, who was engaging residents in various sections of the constituency last Sunday, told The Gleaner.
Pryce’s team claims that since he was installed as the PNP’s St Catherine East Central caretaker, Terrelonge has been hot on their trail with every campaign stop.
“Everywhere we go, he goes. We are his campaign managers,” they said, pointing to the numerous stops Pryce has made in the constituency, only to later learn that Terrelonge, too, stopped by shortly after.
The early rivalry sets the platform for a fierce competition between the two at the next polls, which are due in less than a year.
In downplaying any achievement Terrelonge would have claimed, Pryce argued that the constituency is underdeveloped.
“The original design of communities across Portmore was to include a reserve of land for recessional areas, which, unfortunately, in most instances, remain underdeveloped and, therefore, underutilised,” he said.
Pryce, who previously sat in Parliament as the representative for St Elizabeth North Eastern, said that the coronavirus pandemic, for example, has demonstrated the need for such spaces, which could serve as an escape from the lockdown in houses, especially for children and the elderly.
Pryce also bemoaned the lack of healthcare and fire-services facilities to serve constituencies like St Catherine East Central and the wider Portmore community, highlighting plans to get cracking on these issues if the electorate sends him to Gordon House.
“The productive capital of the Jamaican society and economy resides in Portmore and East Central St Catherine, with the Portmore Pines division, the Southborough division and the Gregory Park division contributing significantly to the residential stock for the productive capital,” he told The Gleaner. “Yet, there is only one fire station that is there to protect that housing stock.”