Speeches by the Prime Minister

Celebrating the people who make Jamaica the great, iconic, and internationally known power house, is the essence of our National Heroes Day Celebrations. Indeed, our national heroes, our academics, athletes, artistes and musicians, political forefathers, security forces, civil servants and front-line workers contribute to making Jamaica a better place. In the words of our first National Hero Marcus Mosiah Garvey: “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots.” Our heroes of the past have built a legacy for us today that we must acknowledge and be grateful for. We must never allow their contributions to be forgotten.  We must teach our young people the history of our nation; so that they can take pride in the resilience of our ancestors and be inspired to emulate their greatness. As we celebrate Heroes Day 2020, we must also recognize our modern-day heroes and salute the country's front-line workers for the critical role they play as we unite to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.  Today, on behalf of a grateful nation, I say thank you. As a nation, we first celebrated National Heroes Day on October 20, 1969, in honour of the heroic Jamaican…

I am pleased to again join my co-convenors, Prime Minister Trudeau and Secretary-General Guterres, in welcoming Heads of State and Government and all participants, to this high-level discussion. COVID-19 has had grave impact, having taken over a million lives and the livelihoods of hundreds of millions. When we met on the 28th of May, the huge dimensions and devastating consequences of the COVID-19 crisis were already evident. It had become clear that this crisis was multi-dimensional; it was not only a health crisis but also an economic crisis. The reality for developing countries is one of overburdened health systems, weak infrastructure and inadequate fiscal resources to respond effectively to the social and economic consequences of the pandemic. Caribbean islands, with heavy dependence on service industries, particularly tourism have been among the most severely impacted. The poor, the vulnerable and our women have been primary victims. Governments have started to implement fiscal and other measures to address the most urgent consequences. Multilateral financing institutions, notably the World Bank, the IMF and regional banks have mobilized support. However, as public finances around the world come under pressure, attracting and leveraging private capital is a critical part of the recovery. Much more will…

The Sitting of the House of Representatives on September 29,2020 Well, since the leader of opposition business has raised this matter of the standing order, I have committed to this House and I've given direction to the members of the government side that our actions must be dignified, they must be integrous and we must be efficient. In the debate that ensued regarding the question allowed to be posed by the opposition member and thee right of every member to ask a question, I urge members to consider when do we reach the limit of the individual right of each member versus the right of the citizens of this country to see their business effectively dealt with. Should the right of the individual member outweigh the right of the parliament to conclude its business in the interest of the people of this country? When Madam Speaker, will the members of this House place the national interest above the individual interest? Madam Speaker, though I did not ask for the protection I welcome it. Having been in this parliament, not as long as most or many who have been here for five terms or more and some members eight and ten, we've…

Thank you, Naomi. Good afternoon to everyone here and everyone listening on radio and television, and of course everyone listening in on social media. The Ministry of Health has announced already, yesterday, that we've had 98 new cases in the last 24 hours. Our cumulative number of cases is now 1,290 and we now have 416 active new cases. As of yesterday, we had 31 persons hospitalized including suspected positive cases of COVID-19. We also have 55 persons isolated in government facilities, 336 isolated at home, and 9 quarantined in a government facility. We also have 28,741 persons quarantined at home. Now, I quite well know and understand that most Jamaicans would see this as cause for panic. I would say, yes, it is a cause for serious concern but not a cause for panic. You will recall in previous press conferences that I've said that we expect that there will be increases in our numbers, particularly as a result of the reopening of our borders and the reopening of the economy towards its full operating capacity. We've also said that now we are in the phase of managing risks and we have done a very good job in managing…

Thank you, Naomi.  Good afternoon everyone here and listening in radio land and television land and of course to our friends in social media. First of all, Naomi before you mentioned that i chaired the COVID Sub Committee of Cabinet but at that meeting we also discussed the weather situation and the flooding that has taken place. Before we go into the COVID matters let me spend a little time on the heavy rains that the island has been experiencing since yesterday arising from tropical storm Laura.  Several parishes have experienced severe flooding and landslide damage. This has impacted a number of communities for example the Bamboo River community in St Thomas, has experienced flooding as a result of the Bamboo River overflowing its banks due to heavy siltation at the mouth of the river. This is of particular concern as the community is currently under quarantine as part of the COVID-19 control measures. ODPEM is monitoring the situation and work is underway to clear blocked roads and thoroughfares island wide. I ask all Jamaicans to exercise care and to monitor the reports from the MET office and ODPEM. Later on in the press conference we have representatives from the…

Mr. Speaker, as we all know, the measures under the Disaster Risk Management Act will expire on Friday, July 31, 2020. As we usually do Mr Speaker,  in the renewal of the Orders, I would make a public statement, an update to the country as to the proposed changes and then I would come to Parliament, present it to Parliament so that Parliament can have some review on the proposed changes and I think that this has become routine and a successful plan and I would attribute the successes that we've had to the governance that we have put in place to allow for the oversight of parliament in these measures so Mr Speaker, let me start with our usual graph.  On the first graph displayed, the solid black line which is now appearing shows the cumulative number of cases as announced yesterday as we are at as of yesterday 583 cases and I believe that two cases have been added today from the press release I've seen so we are now at 855 with 10 additional recoveries. The dotted black line which you're seeing below the solid black line just for reference that is showing where we would have…

Ministers are Servants, is a theme I would like to stress today. You are appointed to serve, it is a selfless task and everyday you give of yourself. It can also be a thankless task but that should not deter you from service. Excellency, I have had the opportunity to serve with the four Ministers who have been appointed today, and like the others who will be appointed shortly, I know that every day, they give of themselves, and I am satisfied and I am indeed, honoured and privileged to have served with them. And I make the recommendation to you Excellence for their appointment without hesitation. I know that they too are concerned about the mandate that the Government has received, they too have expressed that they are very cautious because whilst it is an incredible affirmation of their own performance they also see it as tremendous burden placed on them because to whom much is given, much is expected and they have said to me that they do not want to fail the people, and they will work with every fibre in their body, with all their energy to ensure that we are a successful Government, and we…

Your Excellencies the Governor General, the Most Honourable Sir Patrick Allen, Dr. Floyd Morris Representing the Leader of the Opposition, Sir Kenneth Hall Former Governor General, Mr. Bruce Golding former Prime Minister, Honourable Chief Justice, my fellow Jamaicans, good afternoon. There is no certain of victory, so we must work diligently on the people’s behalf, and place our faith in God, that He would reward our efforts according to his Judgement and Grace.  So, I say to God be the glory. For all that we have achieved and all we ever hope to achieve, we give God thanks. In 2016 you, the people, entrusted your hopes and dreams to us and we did not bury them.  With industry, enterprise, and partnership we set about fulfilling your dreams and keeping your hope alive. There is still much more work to be done. I am humbled and honoured, that the people of Jamaica have seen it fit to give me another opportunity to once more be the chief steward of their affairs. Thank you for your vote and support, and I commit once again, to using every fibre of my being and all the energy of my spirit for the advancement, fulfilment,…

On the Occasion of INDEPENDENCE DAY 2020 A NEW JAMAICA IS EMERGING My Fellow Jamaicans, we celebrate the 58th anniversary of our nation’s Independence in the throes of a pandemic.  Together, we have done well in managing the crisis, through the hard work of thousands of frontline workers and the support and cooperation of most Jamaicans. We cannot afford to become complacent now.  We are still at risk.  Therefore, we must continue to strictly observe all the infection prevention and control measures, including the wearing of masks, washing hands, and social distancing. There is no doubt that the pandemic has had a severe impact on our lives and livelihoods; however, we are starting to see some “green shoots”.  Our collective efforts in fiscal, monetary and structural reforms, reducing debt, increasing foreign exchange reserves, restoring macroeconomic stability as well as our fiscal overall performance have put us in a much better position to enable us to recover stronger. As a Government, despite COVID-19; we remain committed to making this, the Decade of Growth for Jamaica to anchor our peace, prosperity and resilience. A new Jamaica is emerging, filled with hope and optimism. We have made significant investments to strategically upgrade our civil…