My work speaks for itself — Clarke

HIS backers are certain that he will win handsomely, and Dr Nigel Andrew Lincoln Clarke is riding a wave that will take him across the line in colour and style at the end of the September 3 General Election.

That excursion towards another phase of the 48-year-old minister of finance and the public service’s push into elective politics is certain to end with the popping of champagne corks, energised by loud music, and massaged by the expectant victor’s passion for moving Jamaica forward, in his very words.

He warmed up for victory over the People’s National Party’s Rohan Banks, a virtual unknown, with a curtain-raising Nomination Day rollout in his St Andrew North Western constituency last Tuesday that left even some of those opposed to his political colour, nodding their heads, based on comments in the street.

Firmly planted in the seat since veteran Derrick Smith’s retirement from active politics to become a consultant to Prime Minister Andrew Holness in March 2018, Dr Clarke, who has faced gab suggesting that he has not been spending enough time in the constituency, which some put down to his assuming the office of minister of finance, said the work that he has done in the last two years is enough to settle all arguments.

“I think the work speaks for itself. If you speak to some of the people who have lived here for a long time, you will realise that. There are many different kinds of communities in North West St Andrew and I have certainly spent lots of time with the vulnerable people, in particular. That’s where my focus is.

“I have done a lot of work in the constituency and I expect the work to speak for itself. As a residential community, the road density is extremely high, because there are mostly houses here. Over the past few years we have rehabilitated multiple roads across the constituency, and I believe the residents, citizens, the voters have seen the work and will want that work to continue. I am confident that they will turn out on election day and vote for my return as Member of Parliament,” a confident Dr Clarke told the Jamaica Observer.

Among the structural improvement projects that Dr Clarke speaks proudly of, is the upgrading of the Pembroke Hall public park, where a jogging trail has been put in; landscaping work has occurred, and the venue is expected to suit the appetite of elderly members of the community who now have a place where they can exercise in a safe, secure way.

“We have fenced the park as well, and we give people a sense of security as they go for their evening walk. When I first ran for office I did state that improving the lives of persons in the residential communities across the constituency was something I would focus on. There is a lot more work to do and our work will continue, God willing, in the next term,” Dr Clarke stated, after handing in his nomination papers at the Pembroke Hall Community Centre.

The last time that Dr Clarke faced the voters, his first, was during the by-election of 2018. Then, he prevailed over educator Keisha Hayle, who was thought to be a formidable candidate. Now, many feel that his opponent will put in an even worse performance. But Dr Clarke is leaving nothing to chance.

“We don’t take anything for granted, over the last two years we have done the work. I have delivered in developing community parks in various parts of the constituency, promoting education through scholarships and otherwise, preparing or making preparations for the building of more community centres, upgrading facilities, well known is the work we did to return the Sandy Gully to a state it hadn’t been in for a long time —cleaned and got rid of all the forest that was growing in it,” the Rhodes Scholar and graduate of The University of the West Indies, and University of Oxford said.

Cognisant of the fact that the novel coronavirus has already gnawed away at economic gains made, Dr Clarke is already looking ahead to the long road to recovery and stability of the economy that, like most countries around the world, has not seen gross domestic product growth since the pandemic escalated in March of this year.

“Coronavirus has already had a negative impact on some of the gains and that’s why our campaign is focused on stronger recovery. We believe that the work we have undertaken over the past four years is work that is littered with lots of achievements across many areas, many sectors and we believe that when the people take a good look at that work and what we plan to do in the next term, they will see that the Jamaica Labour Party is the better party to lead a strong recovery in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

And was it budgetary pressure why the prime minister was forced to call a general election at this time of the COVID-19 crisis? “No… not at all,” said Dr Clarke. “The prime minister, as is his right, is seeking a fresh mandate and that’s quite in order. It could have happened this month, it could have happened last month, it could have happened next month, but he made a decision to call it now … other Caribbean countries have called elections — St Kitts a couple months ago, Trinidad just had one, so there is nothing out of order in having an election now.”

As for the Jamaica dollar and its rapid slide in recent weeks against the United States dollar, Dr Clarke said that the drop in tourism earnings, as well as other factors, had resulted in the negative movement.

“We are in the midst of a pandemic in which one of the largest sources of foreign exchange — tourism has been badly affected. It’s not a secret how much we normally take in from tourism on an annual basis and those inflows have been affected.

“A stronger recovery is going to require recovering all sectors of the economy that have been damaged by the pandemic, including tourism. Given how we have managed the health aspect, the social and economic aspect of the pandemic, response unprecedented, 440,000 persons in receipt of a grant, we are the team to manage stronger recovery of the Jamaican economy,” Dr Clarke said.

Jamaica earned over US$2 billion in revenue from tourism during the last fiscal year.