One patient at a time wasn't enough

After previously declining offers from both major political parties, medical doctor Alfred Dawes has accepted the call from the People’s National Party (PNP) to contest the next general election. He will vie to represent St Catherine South Eastern, a seat currently held by Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) MP Robert ‘Big Rob’ Miller, who is seeking re-election.

Though new to electoral politics, Dawes is not without guidance. His former mentor Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, Jamaica’s longest-serving and only three-term prime minister.

“He’s been a mentor to me not just politically, but in life. I consider him a second father,” Dawes told The Sunday Gleaner.

Dawes' political journey began in 2015 when, as president of the Jamaica Medical Doctors Association (JMDA), his vocal criticism of the healthcare system brought national attention. At that time, senior JLP figures approached him to run in the 2016 general election, but he declined.

“They (JLP) really politicised it (my criticisms of the healthcare sector) at the time and an offer was made to me at the time, which I flatly refused because my concerns were not along the vein of scoring political points, they were genuine concerns about the state of healthcare,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.

Brushing aside remarks by the JLP that he was criticising the PNP when it held the reins of power, Dawes said it rather highlights his unbiased approach to advocacy.

Initially hesitant about politics, Dawes faced resistance from his family when he began considering entering the arena.

“When I told them politics felt like a calling, they said I should let it go to voicemail,” he joked.

Their concern stemmed from the divisive and combative nature of Jamaican politics. Leaving medicine wasn’t easy either – he was completing his service at Savanna-la-Mar Hospital and helping develop a private hospital in Portmore.

But when he made the decision this time around, the PNP’s standard-bearer for St Catherine South Eastern said: “I figured if I am going to be an MP I might as well be close to work. My second family home is also in this constituency and that’s where we spend Christmas and family events with my aunt.”

The driving force, however, behind Dawes’ push to represent the constituency is his desire to help his fellow Jamaicans.

“I reached a point in time where I believed that I could help one person at a time in my office or in the operating theatre versus trying to be in a situation where I can help to influence national policies that affect our communities and families and, in fact, the entire country on a whole”.

St Catherine South Eastern, he noted, is home to many skilled workers and informal communities, including a vibrant fishing sector. The Waterford division, famed for producing entertainers from the Gaza City area, reflects the area’s cultural vibrancy. While acknowledging the negative publicity surrounding Gaza, Dawes pointed to the UK Privy Council’s recent decision to overturn murder convictions linked to Vybz Kartel and others.

While reviewing the needs of the entire constituency, Dawes is paying particular attention to the most vulnerable communities with a mass of people who he says deserves a little more priority than others.

“So if we are really looking at the youth, we have to pay a little more attention to those from the vulnerable communities. When you look at the risk factors a lot of them are coming from broken homes, single-parent homes. A lot of them have no role models because as soon as the role models make it, they move out of those communities, so they have no one in those communities to look up to,” he reasoned.

He said the plan is to assist these youngsters through job fairs, mentorship and sports programmes, providing skills training and then show them that if they stick to a particular path they, too, can make it and make life better for themselves.

He also plans to empower groups like fisherfolk and vendors by improving infrastructure and access to basic amenities, such as clean water in fishing villages.

“A simple thing like having water at the fishing village is a major concern that has not been addressed. We just have to look at the scarce benefits that we have to offer and appropriate them where they would make the biggest impact and usually that is with the masses of people.”

Parks and green spaces in Portmore are in woeful need of attention, said Dawes, noting that “if you want people to behave in a particular way – less aggression, less stress, more at peace with themselves – you have to provide the outlet for them to de-stress and a big part of that is having parks and recreational activities in those parks”.

Dawes is aiming to carry out a comprehensive rehabilitation of all the existing parks in the constituency.

“We want to put in outdoor exercise machines so that people can get fit," he said, noting that resources would also be pumped into after-school programmes to provide the necessary support to children.

The PNP caretaker is proposing to place the after-school activities in the hands of community stalwarts.

“We have a lot of sporting enthusiasts, coaches and so on, who are giving their time free to run different clinics – for football, netball, basketball and other programmes. We want to empower those persons and all the kids will be able to come out and bring their parents to watch and they will try to bring back the community spirit. That’s the signature project that I want to have.”

Dawes said his opponent cannot be running on promises as he should be able to show his accomplishments over the five-year tenure.

“You cannot have an incumbent where there is no record of his performance.

“We are only seeing development and activities in the constituency within the last year when the Government has just been pumping resources to try and regain some mileage with the populace,” he noted.

He accused Miller of taking an “apartheid approach to governance in the constituency, where he controls his funds in his CDF (Constituency Development Fund) and he has made it clear that he is only responsible for three major roadways whereas everybody else has been suffering in the parochial roads”.

Potholes have been a longstanding headache for residents in many of the housing schemes, a problem Dawes describes as a “mess”, arguing that the councillors’ allocations cannot keep up with the demands.

Dawes said there was a time when MPs and councillors pooled resources to address the infrastructure and other needs in communities such as drain cleaning, beautification projects and maintenance of the roads. However, he said this approach no longer exists as the MP is interested in focusing primarily on his own projects.

In the 2020 general election, Miller romped to victory with a clear 1,124 margin over then-rival Colin Fagan.

In the February 2024 local government election, the PNP scored victories in four of the five divisions.

edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com