Speeches by the Prime Minister

Remarks By The Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica At the Handover of Indigent Homes, Chambers Pen, Hanover On January 19, 2024 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I don't recall that I have visited Chambers Pen before,  because I generally have very good  recollection of the places I visited in Jamaica and as I look on the map of Jamaica,  and I start to tick off the various communities and places, I believe I've covered close to 60 percent of Jamaica in terms of actually visiting places, districts, and so forth so this is one more place that I have never been to that I have been to. And as your prime minister, it is not only for me to sit at my desk and administer your affairs from Kingston, it is important that I come amongst you, in your community, come to your house even so that I can understand better the challenges that you face locally.  And as I drove on the roads to get here, I know why some persons are upset. I understand. I was in the market today, and a lady who is a returning resident and several other persons who reside here engaged…

Keynote Address By The Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica At the Spanish Town Hospital Groundbreaking Ceremony On January 16, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Good morning, everyone. We're still in the part of the month which we could consider new.  I suspect that after tomorrow we will dispense with any new year wishes but I would take the opportunity to wish for everyone here health, I’m not afraid of wealth, peace, productivity, and prosperity. How does that sound for 2024? Indeed, the theme and focus of my government, which serves you, the main lines of effort will be to focus on increasing our productivity and increasing peace in our country.  If we focus on those two things, productivity and peace, then prosperity becomes an even greater reality.  In fact, if we focus on this line of effort, we will create what we call a virtuous cycle. More productivity creates more peace. Productivity and peace create more prosperity. More prosperity creates more productivity and more peace.  Two things again create more prosperity, and more prosperity creates more peace and more productivity. Let us all bend our minds to this focus; productivity and peace will create prosperity, a self-reinforcing…

Remarks By The Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica At Manchester High School On January 12, 2024 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you, Principal Gabriel.  Let me say how happy I am to be here with you today, to be able to share with you today.  Now, I know that there is a little bit of rain coming, so I will be quick. I want to tell you that there are two important things that I want to tell you today.  The first thing is that you are the first generation of Jamaicans that in the last 50 years will be living in an economy that is growing.  That means that the probability of you graduating from high school and getting a job in Jamaica is greater than 90 percent. All of you here have a greater than 90 percent chance of leaving school with all your certification and getting a job.  That's a different Jamaica that you will inherit than the Jamaica that existed for over 50 years ago. It means that you have to prepare for that Jamaica, but it is also a Jamaica where, when you inherit it, you will have to deal with violence.…

God has given us the opportunity to see the sun rise on a New Year. Let us rejoice with gratitude and embrace the 2024 canvas of possibilities; to paint new and better pictures for our future with vibrant colors of our Jamaican creativity, dreams, and aspirations, or complete the masterpieces we have started with optimism and determination. Building Peace We will continue to build out our plan to sustainably secure Jamaica.  The new Firearms Act, Bail Act, and amendments to the Offences Against the Person Act to create realistic deterrent penalties, along with the usage of the Anti-gang Law, and improved intelligence and policing operations, are having a strong impact on reducing crime overall. Murders are down by about 7.5 % - that is approximately 120 lives saved. And serious crimes overall are down 10%, in fact, the total number of reported serious crimes, (murder, shooting, rape, robbery, break-in), is the lowest in 20 years. Since Jamaica passed the 1,000-murder mark in 1997, it has remained above that for 23 years, at three times the regional average.  Separate from the crime problem, Jamaica has a violence problem. While the two are linked, differentiated strategies must be developed to treat with them.…

Remarks By The Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica At the Townhall in Washington DC on December 4, 2023 ------------------------------------------------------------------------  As I survey the in-house audience, and I look at those who have joined us virtually online, first, let me wish you all a happy season.  Well, let me just say Merry Christmas when it comes. Merry Christmas when it comes. These days you try to be as politically correct as possible but look, we've grown up with saying Merry Christmas when it comes. I am particularly looking forward to Christmas this year. I'm hoping to get a few days break. It may not materialize, but well, I am looking forward to Christmas, but I don't take your presence for granted. It is a pretty cold weather here and you have come out in your numbers to be with me directly, personally, and I appreciate that. And it is always fascinating that wherever I go, wherever I travel, there is a community of Jamaicans who feel that it is their duty, their patriotic duty to come out and represent to identify themselves. You know, you'd be in a sea of foreigners, and you must show…

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 rainfall, the El Nino phenomenon rather. 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…

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…