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FEATURE
THE GLEANER, THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2017
H6
Alando Terrelonge
Contributor
“T
HE ELECTION is
coming.” Those
words were echoed
constantly over the two years
that I was caretaker for the
constituency of East Central St
Catherine. Like any new
candidate, I was filled with
mixed emotions about the road
and the work that lie ahead.
Sometimes overly anxious, at
times confident, and at other
times just simply unsure of what
the future would hold. And then
the words “the election is here”
became a constant, and my team
and I were in full battle mode
ensuring we were prepared for
victory. By 8:00 on the night of
February 25, 2016, I felt a sense
of happiness and relief. The
election had come and gone and
we had won. For the fist time in
36 years, a JLP candidate had
now become the member of
parliament for a seat in
Portmore, St Catherine.
The real work began. It was
time to fulfil campaign promises.
Better roads, better infrastructure,
working with students and the
elderly. Transforming lives and
communities. This was now the
mission, and my team and I were
ready to embrace it. As the newly
elected member of parliament, my
first public engagement was a
community consultation held at
the Cedar GroveAcademy with
all stakeholders. I told myself that
as the elected official, it was my
responsibility to listen to the voice
of the people and give life to their
hopes and dreams of more
prosperous lives and communities.
Different communities had
different needs and it required
Solomonic wisdom to ensure
that right decisions were made
and that the needs of different
communities were balanced
fairly. I then met with the head
of the Constituency
Development Fund and senior
parliamentarians to devise
ingenious ways to disburse the
$20 million that was allotted to
the constituency for its
development. My team and I
later devised a budget that has
guided our actions for the last
year. For education, we
allocated $6.5 million, for
sports $2 million, for economic
enablement and welfare
$5 million, and so on.
Alando always makes time for the elderly and children.
Classroom, sports field, mosquitoes and employment
AS A child growing up in the inner-city
community of Grants Pen, my parents
taught me the value of a good education,
and so in March 2016 I expanded the
GSAT programme I started in 2015. With
our sponsors, we were able to provide
stationery and other materials to more than
650 students sitting the exam across the
constituency, during the devotions and
motivational speeches we conducted at
their schools. I also started a welfare
programme offering assistance to persons
to improve their homes; to assist single
mothers and the elderly with groceries; to
help the needy with medical supplies, and
to assist needy families in their time of
bereavement. Our farming programme and
programme geared at assisting small
business owners in the communities have
also seen a change across the communities
as we do our part to empower more persons
to be self-sufficient.
Of major importance was my back-to-
school programme, which saw more than
800 students from basic schools to tertiary
institutions benefiting from scholarships,
awards, school grants, book vouchers and
school bags. In our primary schools, we
started the Terrelonge Award for
Excellence, which saw academic bursaries
being given to the top GSAT performers
towards their high school tuition. This will
certainly be continued every academic year
and I look forward to having more sponsors
on board as my team and I seek to make an
impact on our nation through education.
DEVELOP COMMUNITY MORALE
For our sporting programme, we provided
assistance to community clubs to enable
registration, gear, balls and transportation. The
highlight, however, is our ongoing negotiation
with the Ministry of Housing to secure a
permanent home for a football field and mini
stadium in Christian Pen. This, we hope, will
increase youth involvement in the community,
develop community morale and reduce crime.
I am also extremely proud of our
community rehabilitation programme,
which has seen major drain cleaning and
vector management programmes across the
constituency during the National Labour
Day project and also our Christmas
cleaning project. We have also rehabilitated
and constructed five new roads in less than
one year, and the budget has also been
approved for two more roads, which will
start next month. These projects have also
had the added benefit of providing
temporary jobs for the residents.
By working with our partners, I have also
been able to source jobs for more than 300
young persons in several fields. My team
and I remain driven to do more for the young
people in East Central. I constantly remind
them, however, of the importance of having
at least four CXCs to improve their job
prospects. The truth is, at times opportunities
arise and there are persons who I would love
to recommend for the positions but they lack
the requisite qualifications and consequently
miss an opportunity to better their lives. This
has been very disappointing for me. Even
more disappointing, however, are the persons
who you are able to assist with getting a job
who end up losing their jobs due to a lack of
care or just not expecting to work hard to
earn a living.
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH
TAKEN TO DEVELOPMENT
CONTRIBUTED
PHOTOS
Alando
Terrelonge
observes
the drain
cleaning and
community
development
in Silverstone,
Portmore.
Election butterflies, victorious determination
... Alando reflects on East
Central St Catherine journey