IT has been just over 15 months since Rhoda Moy Crawford created a major upset by defeating seasoned Member of Parliament Peter Bunting to end a 31-year winning streak in Manchester Central by the now Opposition People’s National Party.

Crawford, a confident young woman whose only way of spelling the ‘politics’ when the PNP started the streak in 1989 was by way of a fairy tale, grabbed the spotlight with the Bunting conquest in much the same way a heavyweight boxer hits the floor courtesy of a right hook from a brave lightweight in an unsanctioned street brawl.

She has been busy in the news, on mainstream media and social media, highlighting her achievements over the representative period in Gordon House, some of those highlights even eliciting biting critiques from others of a different political colour.

The big question of whether or not she has been enjoying her time as an elected legislator came up in a discussion-turned-interview with the Jamaica Observer last Tuesday at the end of a function hosted by the Indian high commissioner in Jamaica, held to mark her recent participation in an event sponsored by that country on the Asian coutinent.

“I feel the same way now as when I won [in September 2020],” she responded. “I am still on the ground working. You see, I grew up in poverty – I used to have to sell in Santa Cruz Market with my mother, and I was in a one-bedroom dwelling with 17 relatives at one point in Grey Ground [Manchester].

“When my mother didn’t have enough money to send me to school or feed me or clothe me, and had to work, the people in the community were the ones who had to look after me until she got back from work. When also my mother was moving from community to community, searching for the cheapest housing opportunities, I would have lived in all four divisions in the constituency so for me, I feel obligated to the people. The people in Manchester Central, not just my immediate family, have all played a role in helping me to become who I am, so I feel I need to give back,” she shared.

Crawford said that even before she entered politics, while teaching at Excelsior school, or when she served as a director at HEART Trust, she used to go back to the communities at Christmas time and help as best as she could from her salary.

“That’s why I had to get involved in politics. At the time that I applied to represent the Jamaica Labour Party I was 31 and the PNP had the constituency for 31 years, and I remember when I was living in Heartease with my aunt, the neighbours would give us water from their tank. Going back to the community after 31 years, it was still the same situation — a lot of the communities still did not have running water.

“Some of the roads that had never seen asphalt, they were the same way. I am not one to sit in a corner and complain. If you want to effect change, you must get up and be in the position where you can effect that change. That is what has been keeping me. I don’t think that by becoming Member of Parliament I have won a prize. I have not had any celebration. It’s a great accomplishment, based on who I would have defeated, because some persons said I was committing ‘political suicide’ to be going up against a ‘giant of a man’ [Bunting], but I see it as work. You are graded every single day. You could do well one day and all of that is erased in another day with one mistake,” Crawford added.

She admitted to getting on well with Bunting, whom she said she has not had any issues or runs-in with. “We had amicable exchanges during the campaign. If our paths crossed during the campaign we would always exchange pleasantries. I can sincerely say I have not encountered any hostility from him,” disclosed the former student of Heartease Basic School, Villa Road Primary, Knox College, Shortwood Teachers’ College, and The University of the West Indies.

A PhD candidate — studies from which she took a year’s leave of absence to prepare for the 2020 General Election — she has refocused on that part of her academic development while continuing the role of MP.

She still maintains that by living at times in areas like Grey Ground, Tulsa Road, Knockpatrick, Brumalia Road, West Road, Williamsfield, Royal Flat, and others in Manchester, the people in those areas who were accustomed to her as a growing girl still recognise her, which she felt served as the fillip for her win over Bunting.