Speech by the Prime Minister


Remarks

By

The Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP

Prime Minister of Jamaica

At the

Governor General’s Independence Reception 

On

July 25, 2024

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Sir Patrick Allen and Lady Allen,

Members of the Cabinet,

President of the Senate,

Chief Justice, President of the Court of Appeal,

Members of Parliament,

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, good Evening.

 

First, let me thank His Excellency for allowing us the use of the lawns of King’s House to have this very lovely reception to mark the beginning of the celebration of Jamaica’s independence and emancipation celebrations.

Excellency, I almost thought that you would break out in a dance. I’m very happy to be here this evening to mark the start of the celebrations for our emancipation and independence as I am sure all who are gathered are.  But as we begin the celebrations, we also bear in mind that it is against the backdrop of a hurricane that has affected many Jamaicans across the country in significant ways and they may not be able to enjoy the celebrations as the rest of us may be able to do.  So, as we celebrate our independence, we also bear in mind a thought for those who have been negatively impacted.

But this is a good place to start the reflection because the 22nd of July, this year, was a special day. No, it’s not my birthday. Yes, it is my birthday, but that’s not why the day was special.  The day was special because the European Climate Change Agency documented that the 22nd of July was the hottest day ever in human history, in human recorded history, of measuring and recording temperature.

What is the significance of this to our independence?

The struggle of our independence has always been for us as a people to be able to meet the challenges of the time and to overcome these challenges and to provide for the welfare and wellbeing of our people.

Today, we face a new challenge that further compounds our struggles.  As we reflect on our independence, we should bear in mind that as a people, we are going to be challenged by frequent overlapping and multiple crises and one critical factor in these frequent multiple and overlapping crises is climate change.

For some, climate change may be considered as only a weather event, but the truth is climate change is also an economic and fiscal event.  It is also an event that will challenge our culture and who we are as a people. In terms of our economy and finance, it will challenge our resilience, our ability to withstand and recover from multiple, overlapping, and frequent crises and that will test our culture.  As a people, free and independent, how will we choose to live in an era where our choices affect the climate?  As a free and independent people, how will we choose to consume? How will we choose to dispose of our waste?  And how will we choose where to live?  These are matters that cannot be and should not be separated from our culture and from our economy.

I use this opportunity to make this point here to this audience  because it is important  that the conversation  about Jamaica’s future and what we’re going to do and who we are as a people  take into account the  that we are now living  in a different era and that the way in which we have conducted our business, conducted ourselves and developed our culture  has to be different. It has to take into account the need for resilience.

I close my presentation to you tonight to say that this is not new.  We have used our culture to influence our survival, “we little, but we Tallawah”, a theme from our culture, which has pervaded everything that we have done whether it is in academics or athletics.

Now, as we move into a new phase of human existence, we must take the value of our culture and use that to craft the new behaviours that will help us to become resilient; that is to be able to withstand frequent, multiple, overlapping crises and recover from them and recover better without being beholden to anyone meaning without being in debt.  That is our new challenge in this new era of human existence.

Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t have a glass in my hand, but I am raising a toast to the resilience of an independent people, a strong people, little but we Tallawah.

God bless Jamaica.