To the Editors and Newsrooms of Jamaica,

I wish to publicly thank the Mayor of Morant Bay and Councillor for the Cedar Valley Division, Mr Louis Chin, for responding to my recent call for attention to be given to the deplorable road network in Cedar Valley.

However, I must make it clear: our people need more than sand and gravel*. We need proper asphalted roads and durable surfacing that can withstand the coming rainy season.

The reality on the ground is dire.

As Councillor and Mayor of the St. Thomas Municipal Corporation since the February 2024 Local Government Elections, Mr. Chin has direct responsibility for parochial roads in this Division. Yet today, the condition of our roads is putting lives at risk.

Let me be plain: suppose a pregnant woman from Cedar Valley has to travel to the University Hospital of the West Indies or Princess Margaret Hospital for emergency care. In the current state of our roads, she could be forced to give birth in the vehicle. That is not an exaggeration — that is the fear our families live with.

The situation is already crippling daily life. Just this past Saturday, I personally had to deliver care packages to residents by bike because vehicles could not pass. Farmers cannot move their produce, children struggle to get to school, and too many of our people feel trapped inside the Division because they have no safe roads to traverse.

With the rainy season fast approaching, sand and gravel will simply wash away. Temporary fixes are not enough.* I am urging Mayor/Councillor Chin to act quickly and decisively to deliver proper asphalt to the Cedar Valley Division. The people he was elected to serve cannot wait any longer.

I thank Mr Chin again for listening. Now I ask him to deliver.

I remain committed to being a strong voice for the residents of Cedar Valley until every family can travel safely, in any weather.

Sandra “Sandy Solid” Anderson* is a PNP Councillor Candidate for Cedar Valley Division, Western St. Thomas