Councillor for the Payne Land Division of the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation, Audrey Smith Facey has rebuffed claims that the constituency of St Andrew South Western, led by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, is one of Jamaica’s most neglected.

Speaking to the Jamaica Observer following the nomination of incumbent Simpson Miller last Tuesday, Facey said that the members of the constituency had witnessed major developments over the 40-year period that Simpson Miller has been member of parliament (MP).

“Since she (Simpson Miller) has come we have had Delacree Park housing scheme phase I and II. We have Caribbean Palm Housing scheme, Oak Glades I and II, we have Palm Grove, we have Majesty Gardens, so if that is not progress, then I don’t know what it is,” Facey said

She also noted that Simpson Miller had introduced both health and community centres in her tenure as MP.

“She has been dealing with the roads as well; we have built schools — basic schools and primary schools — as well in the constituency,” she said.

The councillor lauded the work of Simpson Miller and said she is especially proud of her efforts “…because the member of parliament got a constituency that was so neglected by Wilton Hill and DC Tavares”.

Smith Facey has been tipped as one of those likely to succeed Simpson Miller when she leaves office as member of parliament, widely believed to be at the end of her next term. The councillor said that if selected by the people, she is willing to work.

“It is not something that I’m thinking of, but if and when that time comes, whatever the people say, then I’ll go with them, for it was they who decided that I should be councillor. So I go with what the people say,” Facey told the Sunday Observer.

Asked whether she had an issue with how the People’s National Party’s campaign was being executed, she said: “No, I don’t see an area that I’m not comfortable with. The only thing I want my party to continue to do is to implore on the citizens and the residents about the ZikV clean-up, for us to continue with that, because it’s for our own health and all of us have to be a part of that.”

She also encouraged Jamaicans to be respectful of each other’s political opinions and “remember that at the end of the day, whether you wear green, you wear orange or whatever colour you wear, we are Jamaicans.”

Simpson Miller’s opponent, Victor Hyde of the Jamaica Labour Party, told the Sunday Observer he’s confident he’ll be given an opportunity to make a change in his constituency.

Hyde, who was born in the constituency, said: “We know what it is like here in the constituency and I think if you have that opportunity to make a change you do it.

But the tales told by Hyde bear a stark contrast to claims of progress and development that Smith Facey shared. He told the Sunday Observer that among the issues obstructing progress in the constituency was the lack of opportunities for youth, inadequate street lights, and poor sewage management.

South West St Andrew has been a safe seat for the People’s National Party which has won it by overwhelming margins in every election since 1989.

Simpson Miller first won the seat in 1976, defeating the JLP’s Joseph McPherson 13,584 to 4,376 votes. The only time that she has not represented the people of South West St Andrew was between 1983 and 1989. That arose when the PNP boycotted the snap general election of 1983.

The boundaries of the constituency stretch from the Three Miles area, with White Wing, Majesty Gardens, Payne Land and Union Gardens, to Greenwich Farm and Whitfield Town in the Maxfield Park Road area.

Hyde, who was swamped by Simpson Miller in the December 29, 2011 General Election, turned up at the Greenwich All Age School on Nomination Day with a handful of supporters, maintaining that he is not a “lamb to the slaughter”, remains viable and would prove to be a more effective MP than Simpson Miller.