Speeches by the Prime Minister

Keynote Address By The Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica At the Jamaica Government Pensioners Association AGM On July 17, 2024 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ladies and Gentlemen, it is indeed a pleasure for me to address you this morning.  And as I sat and listened to the report and to the questions that were generated from the report, I must say that I was very impressed by the level of management and organization of this grouping, but it also struck me that Jamaica has an incredible repository of talent in our retirees. It is untapped, but if we could find a way to utilize it, it could be quite useful for the society.  And I was giving some thoughts to how this could be done, and I may share a few of them as they mature in rumination. Before I start my presentation, however, I must acknowledge the impact of the recent hurricane, hurricane Beryl, and I trust that all our pensioners were spared any significant damage. And indeed, that none of our pensioners lost their lives as a result of this hurricane. Beryl has left a significant impact on many of our communities, particularly St Thomas,…

Main Address By The Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica At the Contract Signing of St Catherine Divisional Headquarters On July 23, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thank you very much, Superintendent Lindsay, for your mastery of the ceremony. Allow me to acknowledge the Honourable Minister of National Security And the Honourable Minister of Gender, Entertainment, Culture and Sports who is the Member of Parliament for the area that will largely benefit from this police station. The Honourable Juliet Cuthbert Flynn, who is the Minister of State in the Ministry of National Security. Ambassador Alison Stone Roofe, our Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security. Dr Kevin Blake, our Commissioner of Police Mr Peter Melhado, Chairman of the West Indies Home Contractors Limited and other members of the WIHCON team. Other specially invited guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, this is indeed a good morning for Jamaica. Today marks a significant step in our ongoing journey toward a safer, more secure Jamaica and as we gather to sign this contract we also bear in mind that there are several other projects of this nature, of this magnitude which we have already signed contracts for, we are out of ground…

Keynote Address By The Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica At the 10th Biennial Jamaica Diaspora Conference On June 18, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ First, allow me to adjust the mic to the appropriate height. You will agree with me that the mastery of the ceremony has been excellent so far. Dervon is one of our premier hosts  and he does an excellent job. Not many people know that the Leader of the Opposition and myself share a birth month which is coming next month but maybe that's all we share. Marky? No, that's how we do it.  And that's how we should do it. A sheer force of nature in foreign affairs, that's just how I have to describe my Minister of Foreign Affairs Senator the Honourable Kamina Johnson Smith. And the Honourable Alando Terrelonge. Just as an aside, Jamaica has two languages, our Patois and English, but as the world expands and we realize our place in the world,  we really should  have other languages, which more of our population would be articulate in.  It's very important, the more that I travel, the more I engage in international affairs, you see it is an indispensable…

Remarks By The Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica At the Launch of Building Jamaica Better Fund; Hurricane Beryl Relief Coordination Committee On July 8, 2024 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today should not be a day of too many formalities, but since I have the Honourable Michael Lee Chin here, I will acknowledge him with his full formal title, but generally we just say Mike. And of course, the Members of the Cabinet who are here with us, our permanent secretaries and members of the private sector. I'm seeing the president of the PSOJ, Metry Seaga here and other members of civil society who have joined us. Mike tried to give you an assessment as to what the cost of the hurricane could be. I'm not in a position to do that just yet. We have varying estimates, but I'm certain that if agriculture were to give you what their full estimate is versus what the utility companies would give versus what health would give, it would be far more than the damage brought on us by Gilbert.  It's a different kind of damage that hurricane Beryl caused. Certainly, there is more to damage now than then and…

Main Address By The Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister & Minister of Economic Growth and Job Creation At MEGJC General Staff Meeting On June 26, 2024 __________________________________________________________________ I promise you I will serve you a feast of information  that you will leave here filled  with nutritious facts and tidbits sumptuous information that you will chew into and the good thing about what I will serve up, is that you won't put on any weight.  It's exercise for the brain and hopefully you will leave here motivated  to do even greater things. So first of all, let me acknowledge our...I didn't realize she was such a motivational speaker, she grabbed the mic on went down onto the floor showing me up so I may very well have to do that and then, of course, our two ministers Minister Mathew Samuda and Minister Morgan,  who are like my left and right hand in the ministry  to get things done.  And then to you, the loyal, committed, hardworking, faithful staff of the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation. If you didn't fit into any of those categories,  then see me later. It is my pleasure to address the…

National Address By The Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica About the Preparation for Hurricane Beryl On July 2, 2024 ______________________________________________________________   My fellow Jamaicans, Huricane Beryl maintains its path to impact Jamaica early tomorrow morning.  In an Emergency Meeting of Caricom Heads this morning, we were briefed on the destructive impact of the hurricane on our Eastern Caribbean sister islands. We expressed our solidarity and willingness to support, even as we make our own preparations. Jamaica must take this hurricane seriously! Early this morning, the Cabinet reviewed our plans to manage the threat of the hurricane, and a caucus of Parliament was also briefed on our state of readiness and provisions for emergency response. In this regard, the government has made a special allocation of $5m per constituency to assist with emergency cases for food and building supplies through the CDF. After careful review of the trajectory of the storm, the likely strength and impact, the potential threats emanating, and having been notified in writing by the Minister responsible for Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management, I am now declaring the whole of Jamaica to be a Disaster Area, in accordance with Section 26 of…

Statement By The Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica At the Press Conference With Emergency Agencies on Preparation for Hurricane Beryl On July 1, 2024 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------     Thank you, Minister. Colleagues, heads of entities that are here, Members of the press, Our Jamaican Diaspora overseas, And of course, the rest of the world who are looking on and wishing and hoping the best for us. And indeed, let me also express our solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the Eastern Caribbean who are presently being affected. Now, I understand that it is a fast-moving system, and that Barbados has already issued an all clear that it has moved past them, but they are still in some harm’s way. The outer bands will still affect them, they will still get rain and when we are finished here, we will get the assessment of damage to those countries and whatever we can do even in our own preparations we will stand ready to assist. The system is an unusual one. I'm not going to pretend to be the weatherman today. Evan did such an excellent job in bringing the nation up to date, but it…

Keynote Address By The Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica At the St Andrew South District Consultative Committee Conference On June 29, 2024 _______________________________________ Before I get into my presentation,  I have a public service announcement to make,  and I want you to pay keen attention to it. Tropical Storm Beryl has formed in the Atlantic about 800 miles east of Barbados and it is heading west quite rapidly.  Barbados and other eastern Caribbean islands have already put out tropical storm warnings and it is expected that by Monday morning tropical storm Beryl will probably have strengthened and would be in the region of Barbados. Various models have projected that tropical storm Beryl will probably impact Jamaica. All the models have suggested that if it is not a direct impact, it will be in the vicinity of Jamaica. We expect that this will bring adverse weather conditions, and we expect that by Wednesday morning we will be experiencing such conditions. The relevant agencies will put out the necessary warnings as the system develops. I am merely giving you an advanced warning and this is for you to make some decisions about how you're going to…

Keynote Address By The Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica At the Official Opening Ceremony New Brunswick Village June 19, 2024 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you. I did not grow up in a place called De La Vega.  In fact, I was born at the Spanish Town Hospital and then I spent my formative years growing up just down the road there on Cumberland Road and then my mother was lucky enough to get a NHT house and we moved to Ensom City. This is where I started life and I remember many, many, many, many, many days walking from in Ensom City to St Catherine High School, going to look for my great grandmother who was alive at the time. I was fortunate to have my great grandmother, my grandmother and my mother so I couldn't go wrong, and my family home is just up the road here on Brunswick Avenue in front of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, so I know this area very well. In fact, there was an old theatre here called the Astor. It's a church. Can you imagine the transformation? My heart is full to finally see this piece of land…