News from the OPM

Opening Statement By The Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica At the Meeting of Haitian Stakeholders At Liberty Hall, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade On June 11, 2023 _____________________________________________________________ Thank you Madam Chairperson, Senator the Honorable Kemina Johnson Smith Commonwealth case you thought she was Minister of Foreign Affairs for another country, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Jamaica, y friend, The Honorable Philip Davis, Prime Minister of the Common Wealth of The Bahamas and Chair of the CARICOM Conference of Heads of Government, my friend His Excellency Ariel Henry, Prime Minister of The Republic of Haiti Her Excellency, Dr. Carla Barnett, Secretary General of the Caribbean Community. Ministers of Foreign Affairs of The Bahamas and Haiti Members of the CARICOM Eminent Group Mr. Bruce Golding, former Prime Minister of Jamaica, The Right Honourable Perry Christie, former Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, the Honourable Kenny Anthony, former Prime Minister of St. Lucia. Representatives of Partner Countries the United States, Canada, and International Organizations such as the OAS and the UN, Senior Officials of Government and the CARICOM Secretariat, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, and especially our Haitian brothers and sisters, Members of…

Remarks By The Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica At the CARIBBEAN NATIONS SECURITY CONFERENCE (CANSEC) 2023 ROSE HALL HOTEL ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 2023 ________________________________________________________________   Thank you, moderator. Good morning everyone. Welcome to sunny Jamaica. I sincerely apologize for the rains, though locally we are, I must confess, very happy because it could possibly mean a break in our ongoing drought, but allow me to acknowledge our Deputy Prime Minister, Dr The Honourable Horace Chang, Ms Amy Tachco, Deputy Chief of Mission of the United States Embassy in Jamaica, Rear Admiral Antonette Wemyss Gorman and General Laura Richardson, host of CANSEC 2023. Our Commissioner of Police, Major General Antony Anderson, Chiefs of Defence Staff and Commissioners of Police from across the region, Commissioner Stewart Beckford, Commissioner of the Jamaica Fire Brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Jones, Head of CARICOM IMPACS, representatives of Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Government of Jamaica, representatives of the CARICOM Secretariat and other regional and international organizations. Senior Defence and Security Officials, specially invited guests, ladies and gentlemen. Allow me to specially acknowledge a good friend of Jamaica, Daniel Erickson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for the Western Hemisphere.…

Remarks  By   The Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP  Prime Minister of Jamaica  At the   National Disaster Risk Management Council Meeting  On  June 1, 2023  ___________________________________________________________  Good morning, everyone, allow me to part with salutations. We meet here each year to review our plans to ensure that we are ready should a natural disaster hit us, particularly a natural disaster of a national scale. It is an important meeting each year because it sets the tone for the government and that tone is preparedness. If we fail to plan, then you know the other side of that equation and failure is not an option. So, I do not need to go any further with my speech minister; I could take my seat. An important element of organization is to bring the people who occupy the functions to what is called a mind share. The government of Jamaica, like any other government, is complex with many different functions held and executed by many different people with diverse outlooks, and different motivations, but for the organization to work on a common challenge such as a natural disaster, all its leaders in particular must be of a shared mind. And so the…

Remarks By The Most Honorable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica At the IDB Hosted Event Jamaica: The Road To Digital Government At the AC Hotel By Mariott On May 31, 2023 Thank you, Master of Ceremonies, Leader of the Opposition Mr. Mark Golding, Senator Dr The Honourable Dana Morris Dixon- it gives me such great pleasure to just roll that off- our new Minister without Portfolio with responsibility for Skills and Digital Transformation. I thought about having you deliver the speech this morning, but I saw my good friend and believe me, he is, the Leader of the Opposition made a statement about technology and I thought it would be such a good opportunity, Mark to respond to you. I note your position in the room. Other Members of the Cabinet, I see Senator Hill here with us. Chief Justice, it is good to see you sir. I know that you are an advocate for the integration of technology into the business of government and justice as well. Members of the Diplomatic Corps, Permanent Secretaries, Mr. Tariq Alli, General Manager of the Caribbean Country Department/ Country Representative for Jamaica and members of IDB Jamaica, stakeholders of…

“Deeply disturbing, and barbaric”, is how Prime Minister Holness has described the killing of 8-year-old Danielle Rowe, while expressing condolences to her family and friends. "My heart goes out to Danielle's family and friends during this period of immense grief. The entire Jamaica must consider this a charge on our collective conscience. Anyone who has any information or knowledge of this incident should immediately inform the police. We cannot be silent or protect those responsible for this gruesome act. The society cannot surrender to wanton violence, and we must be unequivocal when violence is directed against our children. Already since the start of the year, 8 children have been murdered, 3 of whom are under 12 years old. Our indignation and intolerance of fatal violence must be expressed in the highest penalties as a deterrent and the stiffest punishment if the criminal was not deterred. My Government will not resile from using all the legal tools available to us in sending a clear message that violence of any form is unacceptable and in bringing perpetrators of violent crime to justice" - the Prime Minister said. The Prime Minister was briefed immediately on his return yesterday by the Commissioner of Police…

“Our successes against the threat that we continue to face require an unrelenting focus and commitment on all our parts.” -- Prime Minister Holness ________ Prime Minister Andrew Holness says security is one of the greatest challenges affecting the lives of people and the development prospects of individual states across the Caribbean. Speaking on Wednesday (June 7, 2023) at the Caribbean National Security Conference (CANSEC) 2023, the Prime Minister also said a key ingredient in strengthening regional security is enhanced cooperation among the states in the region: “Our successes against the threat that we continue to face require an unrelenting focus and commitment on all our parts. It also requires consistent evaluation and analysis to ensure the effectiveness of our efforts, as well as the willingness to correct force when we assess that the measures, we implement are not bearing fruit. It also requires a regular forum for a meeting of the professional minds so that we can best determine what additional measures may be required to strengthen our efforts from a regional perspective.” In this regard, the unwavering commitment of the security forces remains the most important element in the fight against crime and violence in the region. Concerning the…

  Listing of the reshuffled Cabinet

 REMARKS BY THE MOST HON. ANDREW HOLNESS, O.N., PC., MP PRIME MINISTER OF JAMAICA   “Transnational Organised Crime: Challenges with Small Arms and Light Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean” on  APRIL 17, 2023   REGIONAL SYMPOSIUM TO ADDRESS CRIME & VIOLENCE AS A PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUE, TRINIDAD & TOBAGO     Honourable Philip Davis, Prime Minister of The Bahamas The Honourable Keith Rowley, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Other CARICOM Heads and representatives of Community Institutions Ladies and gentlemen Let me express sincere appreciation and gratitude to the Government of Trinidad & Tobago, the CARICOM Secretariat, and the other regional institutions including CARPHA and IMPACS, for coordinating this meeting. Colleagues, we live in a high violence region. If we use murder rates as an index for violence, the Latin American and Caribbean region would be approximately 15 murders per 100,000 of population while the world average is approximately 6 per 100,000. For the Caribbean, this runs counter to our global image as a zone of peace. In the last 3 decades, the Caricom region has seen an increase in crimes, and in particular, the use of fatal violence. Violence generally in social interactions, and violence in crime…

The leaders of Jamaica's two main political parties, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the People’s National Party (PNP), Prime Minister Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP and Mark Golding, MP, respectively, participated in the Vale Royal Talks on February 19, 2023. This meeting, facilitated by the Jamaica Umbrella Group of Churches, centered on the important issues of National Security and Constitutional Reform. The discussions lasted for three hours. In his opening statement, Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party, Prime Minister Andrew Holness expressed optimism that the talks will foster greater consensus on challenging national issues. He noted that the previous discussions were successful in achieving some understanding of critical national matters. Pledging to ensure the continuation of these talks the Prime Minister said, “We may not always be able to address these critical issues and ventilate them properly in Parliament, but we can ventilate them here at the political level. These talks have now become a part of Jamaica’s democratic institutional tradition and they have been very useful for the political parties to find space which is created for discussions under the Chatham House rules. It contributes positively to the building of a modern positive political culture and gives us a…