Phyllis Thomas, Enterprise Editor
A section of the roadway on Beadles Boulevard that was washed away during the heavy rains in Santa Cruz, last month. - IAN ALLEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
THE MEMBER of Parliament for North West St. Elizabeth, J. C. Hutchinson was cooperative. He agreed to The Gleaner's inquisition without a fuss.
We did not see his files containing the records of how SESP funds were spent, and therefore analysis here is based on the data he provided, via the telephone.
These data showed that apart from the Christmas Work Programme, most of the $2.7 million he gets each year financed school fees, sports and a water project. For example, in the 2003-2004 period, he spent $270,000 in the New Market division on what he describes as a water drum programme. He said that there was no piped water in the division, hence the need to address the difficulties that people in the communities experienced.
"Most of the residents don't have piped water," he said.
There was also the half-a-million-dollar road rehabilitation and drain-cleaning programme in that period.
Spending on such projects has continued into the 2004-2005 period. Mr. Hutchinson said that the severe drought experienced in the parish exacerbated the problems experienced by his constituents. Most parishes in the country, not in the least, St. Elizabeth, the bread basket of the island, wilted under the impact of the drought this year. Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke described it as one of the worst to hit the island. Such was the impact that vegetable and root crops especially buckled. Farmers reported that they had to buy water from the Rapid Response Unit.
Mr. Hutchinson said he spent another $360,000 on the water tank project.
He also spent another half-a-million dollars on road repairs in the 2003-2004 period.
There was also major spending on sports and on welfare. Where education is concerned, the MP said he has paid the school fees for several children and had helped some to get tertiary education.
"They get $10,000 each and for the high schools, it depends on the school and fee but the range of contribution is from $2,000 to $4,000."
However, he said he shifted his emphasis from spending on school fees to spending on books because he found that quite a number of students, while they had the fees, had no books.
A project with which Mr. Hutchinson seems exceptionally pleased is what he calls his economic enablement programme where each person gets between $3,000 and $5,000 the package costing $175,000.
This is a programme he said, "to give persons a push-start in life". He said there were young and vulnerable persons in the communities who may be tempted to "go the wrong path". Some of these persons have expressed the desire to be productive, they wanted to go into farming or to start businesses buying and selling. The enterprise that one person wanted to undertake was the lucrative cooking business. To set him on this path, he was given a stove and a cylinder of gas.
It should not be too easy to abuse Mr. Hutchinson's system of assistance under the SESP fund, he indicated, as he has a mechanism for determining genuine need. "We have community development committee and in some instances (we rely on) JAS (Jamaica Agricultural Society) branches and the youth clubs. Persons are recommended by these organisations. "
Others, he said, will go to his office but in those cases he will verify their status with the organisations.
"I also go out and visit them," Mr. Hutchinson said.
