If she is walking down Flagaman main road and you shout out ‘Dr Miranda’ or ‘Dr Wellington’, chances are that she would not readily connect with the sounds.

But just say Miranda or ‘Randa’ and her antennae spring up right away, prepared to take on another of the many challenges of people in her St Elizabeth South Western home village and the broader constituency.

Dr Wellington, the People’s National Party candidate in the September 3 general election, is on the final stretch of preparation for her mega challenge with incumbent Member of Parliament Floyd Green in Jamaica’s food-producing capital. Green is also minister of agriculture and fisheries.

An experienced teacher, she has transformed many lives at Black River High School in the St Elizabeth parish capital, and now wants to extend the growth of that human stock, to politics. 

Mere weeks ago, the former head girl at Hampton School, a 15-minute ride by car, north of Flagaman, earned her doctorate in leadership and child pedagogy from Mainseed University, Atlanta, Georgia in the United States, following a Bachelor’s achievement in Politics and History from the University of the West Indies, and a Master’s in Education and Training from the same institution, through HEART Trust NTA and the Vocational Training Development Institute.

“You have to know the political culture of your constituency. For Jamaica, it is a big achievement, but for the people around me what is more important is the way I treat them,” Dr Wellington told Our Today. “They are proud of me that their daughter has a doctorate. But to them, the more important thing is that Miranda remains the same. That is the political culture. 

“They don’t want someone who thinks he or she is better than them. I will utilise this new educational feat to the best of my ability, but that doesn’t detach from the way that I engage with my constituents. When I am on the platform they love to call me Dr Miranda, but for them, it means that they are just proud of me…for most of them it is just Miranda, or Randa,” the diminutive political aspirant said.

Her education background, sewn by the seeds and suckers of scallion, thyme, cabbage, lettuce and tomato in her front and back yard, many times before rushing off to Hampton, has natural importance. But it is what she considers the most important challenge which faces her constituents, which she is willing to focus on as a priority, once she is elected. That happens to be a consistent supply of irrigated and domestic water for the availability of all.

Management of the commodity is not strange to her, for while a teenager, she served as junior representative on the board of the National Water Commission, at a time when the administration of the day saw it fit to include a youth voice among the directors, led by chairman Richard Byles, with E.G. Hunter as the commission’s president.

“We don’t see that kind of thrust, that kind of effort being made at the NWC anymore,” Dr Wellington stated. “It was the time of Rapid Response – that emergency reaction by the commission when things had got bad. Now, what has happened to the Rapid Response Programme? And NWC at the time used to collaborate with the NIC (National Irrigation Commission) to support rural water programmes.

“There was a deep effort too, towards storing water by way of tanks, and now there is need for a medium-term plan to assist our farmers. Water would be my priority once elected. If the South gets water, we flourish again, and Jamaica would be far better off. But it’s not only irrigated water we are talking about. There is an urgent need to boost supply for domestic needs,” said Dr Wellington, who is also a former regional chairman of the NIC, St Elizabeth region.

Improved water supply in St Elizabeth has been talked about for decades, with the highly-touted Essex Valley Water System still limping on the road to projected completion in 2026, which is expected to provide water to over 700 farmers.

The start-up of another water supply system to extract the commodity from the head of the Black River near Lacovia in the parish, is also at note-taking stage.

As for her overall preparedness for the seat, longest held by her mentor Donald Buchanan, who first appointed her as secretary of the constituency at age 15, Dr Wellington predicted that good things will emerge from her historic run for political office. 

“I have been in the field for two years consistently and the energy is there – we have been building momentum and excitement. I have never seen this kind of PNP engagement before among the youth, the elderly, non-voters, and first-time voters. My job is even easier, considering that I am a home-grown candidate, as the feel like my journey is also their journey.

As the mother of a son prepares for the defining moment in her life, what stands out now about Dr Wellington?

“Two years ago, I would not have learned that I have grown. For start, I have become far more patient, more tolerant and I have great faith and confidence about the work that my team and I have done in South West and to a great degree, I feel even more confident of the kind of support that we have given to our communities. 

“Honestly, it is not only about the politics, but this journey is more about fulfilment, not in me personally, but in the connections that are depending on me.

“It’s about the mission to give back hope to South West. In my constituency, the level of engagement in politics far supersedes many other constituencies and sometimes it just takes the right kind of candidate. I am not saying I am all that, but if you have the right candidate, the combination will fall into place.

“Every meeting that I go to I allow the people to enjoy themselves, dance, etc. We have to make the people feel good about what they are doing again. I am enjoying myself on this journey, too.

“Each constituency has to focus on their priorities, because we can’t get everything done one time. We have to get the people earning again. Farming, fishing and tourism form the economic base of the constituency,” Dr Wellington said.