News from the OPM

States of Public Emergency (SOE) have been declared across the entire parishes of Hanover and St. James as well as St. Catherine and Clarendon. This crucial decision, announced by Prime Minister Andrew Holness, underscores the government's commitment to the safety and security of Jamaicans. The Governor-General, His Excellency Sir Patrick Allen, authorized these SOEs upon the advice of the Commissioner of Police and the Chief of Defence Staff. The SOEs will initially last for 14 days, commencing at 12:01 on November 23, 2023. Major General Antony Anderson, Commissioner of Police, outlined the alarming situation in these divisions: “The Clarendon Police Division recorded the fifth-highest number of murders (99) among all police divisions, marking a 14% increase compared to the same period in 2022. Clarendon and St. Catherine, being adjoining parishes, intensify our concerns, accounting for 24% of the nation's murders since the beginning of the year.” “In the St. James police division, the highest number of murders across all divisions was recorded, totaling one hundred and sixty-nine (169) from January 1 to November 15, 2023. This division also experienced the highest number of shooting incidents, totaling one hundred and one (101) during the same period. The adjacency of St. James…

“We want our Jamaican people to be climate-smart and to incorporate issues of the environment and climate in the decision about how you live and where you choose to live.” Prime Minister Holness --------------------------------------------------------------- Prime Minister Andrew Holness is imploring Jamaicans to pay attention to the environment and be careful where they choose to settle as the impact of climate change becomes more and more pronounced. Speaking on Tuesday (November 21, 2023) at the National Land Agency (NLA) Titling Ceremony in Bog Walk, St. Catherine, Prime Minister Holness underscored that in the past governments have supported illegal settlements on land that contributed to houses being built improperly in areas not designated for living. He said in times of natural disasters, this leads to houses being affected by flooding and adverse weather effects. The Prime Minister said: “What has hurt us for many years is that governments have winked at this kind of behaviour [illegal settlement]. In fact, [previous] governments have supported it [illegal settlement]. I will not be that government. I am telling you what the scientists have said, which is that know that the weather and the climate will become even more unpredictable and intense, and will cause greater…

“Land titling is absolutely important for the development of the country. The ambition of this government is to have every Jamaican legally ascribed a title of ownership.” Prime Minister Holness -------------------------------------------------------------------- Prime Minister Andrew Holness says formalizing land ownership for all Jamaicans is a high priority. In this regard, the government will allocate an additional one billion dollars to the Systematic Land Registration Programme, to increase the distribution of land titles to citizens who occupy unregistered lands. The Prime Minister said: “Out of the central government budget, we will allocate another one billion dollars towards land titling to make sure this process continues. Land titling is absolutely important for the development of the country. The ambition of this government is to have every Jamaican who owns or occupies a piece of land now, to go through the formal process to determine whether they can be legally ascribed a title of ownership; that is what we are committing to do.” Prime Minister Holness made the announcement on Tuesday (November 21, 2023) at the National Land Agency’s (NLA) fourth Titling Ceremony in Bog Walk, St. Catherine. It is estimated that there are approximately 300,000 unregistered lands in Jamaica. As such, the NLA…

“No one takes up that magnitude of resources and makes that investment unless they were certain about the returns, unless they knew that the human resources to properly manage this investment existed, unless they felt that the political environment was stable. It is the government that creates that stability. The government is doing its job and has done it well enough to ensure that the investment takes place.” Prime Minister Andrew Holness  ------------------------------------------------------------------ Prime Minister Andrew Holness has declared a new era of economic resilience for Jamaica. Highlighting the government’s successes in attracting significant investments, managing labour challenges, and instituting crucial economic reforms, Prime Minister Holness said fiscal discipline has fortified the country’s achievements. These successes have been buttressed by a strategic vision to propel Jamaica into a future marked by sustainable growth and prosperity. Speaking on Thursday  (November 9, 2023) at the official opening of the Barnett Business Centre, Prime Minister Holness emphasized that the US$15 million investment in the facility would have been influenced by the government’s establishment and maintenance of a stable economy for investors. “No one takes up that magnitude of resources and makes that investment unless they were certain about the returns, unless they knew that…

“Our economy is indisputably growing, and jobs are being created." Prime Minister Andrew Holness  -------------------------------------------------------------------- Prime Minister Andrew Holness has underscored the important role played by the manufacturing sector in Jamaica's economy while highlighting the remarkable surge in investment opportunities, job creation, and economic stability in the country. Speaking on Tuesday (November 7, 2023) at the official opening of Pepsi’s new production line in Kingston, Prime Minister Holness stated: “Our economy is indisputably growing, and jobs are being created." He emphasized the essential role the manufacturing sector plays in boosting Jamaica's economic landscape. “Manufacturing is the largest industry among the goods-producing sector and the 6th largest industry overall, accounting for 9% of total GDP,” noted the Prime Minister. Jamaica’s manufacturing industry has shown remarkable resilience, recovering from the impact of COVID-19 pandemic  with 2022 output levels recorded to be 3.5% above pre-COVID levels in 2019. The sector also contributed significantly to the country's GDP growth, which reached 5.2% in 2022. Additionally, manufacturing exports increased from 30.8% of total exports in 2018 to 70.3% in 2022. The food, beverages, and tobacco sector, in particular, played a crucial role, accounting for 25.3% of total exports in 2022, up from 13.5% in 2018.…

Keynote Address By The Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica At the Official Opening of Pepsi Jamaica New Production Line November 7, 2023 First, let me apologize for Minister Fayal Williams, I gather she was here, but she had to run off to Parliament. Allow me to acknowledge in similar form my neighbour and friend, the Member of Parliament for Western St Andrew, Tony Hilton; good to see you Tony, and I hope you recover quickly. It is a coincidence that Tony is also the Opposition Spokesman on Industry and Commerce, but it is no coincidence that I am the Minister of Economic Growth and Job Creation, which is what we celebrate here today. If it is one thing that has done well, not by subjective analysis, but by the data and the statistics, is that our economy is growing and jobs are being created, indisputably so. Let me acknowledge as well, Alberto Ramirez, General Manager for Pepsi Cola Anecia Levy, your Transformation Manager Luz Tejada, Commercial Manager The Executives and Management and staff of Pepsi Cola Members of the private sector who are here in support of Pepsi Cola and this significant investment. Members…

Keynote Address By The Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica At the Handing Over Ceremony for Shrewsbury Phase II Petersfield, Westmoreland On October 25, 2023 ________________________________________________ I want to thank Pastor Albert Whyte for his prayers. I know that you did not pray for the rain to hold, but you may have had it in your mind and so the rain is holding up. Nevertheless, we are appreciative of the blessings that it brought. We have beengoing through a long period of drought for a few months, so we are very appreciative of the break in the drought, and we are hopeful that this rain that we are having will not cause any damage to infrastructure. So far, it has not been expected that we note that in Kingston, it has caused some traffic snarls which areexpected because when it rains so intensely, so quickly, our drainage system was never built to deal with this excess capacity of water. Allow me to acknowledge my particularly good friend the Custos of your parish, Canon the Honorable Hartley Perrin. And on my entry, I made sure to ask him to pray for me and I know he…

Update on Water By The Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica At The Sitting of the House of Representatives On October 31, 2023 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Mr Speaker, these documents are normally circulated in a physical copy so the members can be assured that they will have a physical copy of it. Mr Speaker, I rise to provide an update to this honourable House on some matters related to the issue of water. It is to provide an update to this honourable house on some matters related to the issue of water. In the last 12 months, Jamaica has suffered the effects of significant reductions in its average rainfall. This is a result of both our change in climate and the El Nino phenomenon. Members of this House should recall my statement on the drought which I made in February of this year and the outline response of the government. However, I think it's important, Mr Speaker, to remind members of how severe our drought really was prior to the rains we thankfully received in this month, October 2023. In October 2022 to March 2023, Jamaica received cumulatively the lowest rainfall ever for this period since records…

“This project is a direct investment in those households which are at the lower end of the economic ladder and are living with water insecurity. It is an investment in Rural Communities.” ------------------------------------------------------ - Prime Minister Holness 10 young people from several constituencies to trained by Heart NSTA Trust 230 tanks per constituency to be distributed under Pilot Programme The Government continues to build resilience in water supply with the commencement of the Rural Water Household Resilience Programme. This is part of the Government’s commitment to distribute 50,000 water tanks across Jamaica to ensure that there is Water resilience at the household level. This project will see the distribution and installation of three thousand, 400- gallon water tanks with supporting infrastructure for rainwater harvesting in the constituencies which were hardest hit by the drought in the first 6 months of this year. Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday (October 31, 2023), Prime Minister Andrew Holness underscored, “This project is a direct investment in those households which are at the lower end of the economic ladder and are living with water insecurity. It is an investment in Rural Communities.” The teams at Rural Water, and the social review committee will commence the…