White Hill residents feel let down by Government

Promises made, but never kept. That was the unified cry from residents of the White Hill community in St Andrew, as they met Sunday on the anniversary of the main road into the area collapsing into a nearby gully.

After years of promises from Government about rectifying the dire situation, residents in the area say they are no longer looking for talk, but instead demand action. 

One resident, Carlitha Andrews, says the situation for her area has grown from frustrating, to ridiculous, in terms of the silence from Government officials.

“We have been getting promises on promises of this road being fixed. All that we have learnt, is from what has been said in the media. No one is coming to us and telling us anything about what is going on, and we are here today to let the public know what is really going on up here,” she said.

Andrews said in addition to no realistic road connection being available to residents, the lack of any form of consistent bus service has been a never ending issue, leaving the community feeling even more cut off

Andrews shared copies of a letter a sent to several departments, including the Prime Minister’s Office.

“This letter was a letter that was hand delivered; there were three copies, one was made to the Prime Minister’s office, one to the Ministry of Transport and Works, and one to the MP (George Payne). The one person that acknowledged that they got the letter was the MP. No one from the Prime Minister’s Office responded and they were hand delivered. They have been very disrespectful to the people of White Hill, we are the forgotten lot,” Andrews said.

“We were promised by the Prime Minister before this Government gained office. She would have been down here on more than one occasion on the anniversary. Since she gained office, she has not visited us and acknowledged that we still on the planet. It is not fair – when I sit down and see all the roads that they are doing, and we were promised the first order of the day was to do this road, and we still down in here,” she added.

With reports circulating among social commentators over the years about all of the residents being offered the opportunity to move from the area, Andrews not only denied there was ever a talk with residents about such a move, but showed signed affidavits to cement her point.

“Another thing I need to put to rest … they say that the people in White Hill were given the opportunity to move and they did not move, which is a lie. No one ever came and knocked from house to house to ask anyone up here if they want to move. Far from that, when the other administration was in office, they [lawyers] came and they took legal fees from people up in here and never returned. These are affidavits, and these are receipts of the legal fees that they took from the people up in here and never came back. So I would like [it] to be put to rest that people were given the opportunity to move and did not move, it is a lie,” she stressed. (SB)