Speeches by the Prime Minister

Greetings by Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica at the Faith Cathedral Deliverance Centre 50th Jubilee Anniversary on March 22, 2026 -------------------------------------------------------------------  Today I will not be preaching about dry bones. I will stick to the script that I've been provided, which is to bring greetings at this very August celebration of your 50th year. Fifty years in the life of anything is a long time and it rightfully should be honoured and respected. Your founder, Bishop the Honourable Dr Herro V. Blair, and Bishop Dr Alma Blair should be specially acknowledged and recognized. I had an engagement on Thursday last and it kind of went a bit too long, and so I was ordered to rest my voice, but I had to be here today. I just had to come. It is indeed a profound honour to join you for this historic occasion, the 50th Jubilee anniversary of the Deliverance Evangelic Association, a milestone that stands not only as a testament to longevity, but as evidence of faith sustained, services rendered, and lives transformed for over five decades. Fifty years is no small achievement. It represents generations of commitment of men and…

Keynote Address by Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica at the Official Launch of the WIHCON Chester Creek Development on March 3, 2026 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Allow me to establish, again, the formal protocols. Dr Alfred Dawes, Member of Parliament for Southeastern St Catherine, the area in which this project is undertaken. If I were to make a commentary on Dr Dawes, I always knew he wanted to be in politics and in fact, he could have very well joined me in politics, more anon. Mr Renair Benjamin, my schoolmate. Was I before you, or were you before me? I was your head boy. St Catherine High School is the largest single-shift school in the English-speaking Caribbean. From that school, there are many, many Jamaicans all over locally and abroad holding all kinds of positions, and they're doing very well, and so that is my route to commending you, Renair, for doing very well in your role as a councillor. My friend Joseph Matalon, Chairman of the ICD Group, And my other friend, Peter Melhado, Chairman of WIHCON and other executive members of WIHCON who are here, Executives and representatives of the private sector I…

Remarks by Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica at the Opening Ceremony of the 50th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM On February 24, 2026 ________________________________________________________   Her Excellency Dame Marcella Liburd, Governor General, and the Honourable Dr Terrance Drew, Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis Colleague Heads of Government, Dr Carla Barnett, Secretary General of CARICOM Excellencies Ladies and gentlemen, it is a good evening in St Kitts and Nevis. Let me first extend sincere appreciation for our gracious host, the Government and people of St Kitts, under the able leadership of your Prime Minister, Dr Terrance Drew. I am grateful for the warm hospitality and the excellent arrangements put in place to facilitate this meeting. I also warmly acknowledge my colleague heads who have been re-elected and newly elected since our last regular meeting in July, the Honourable Philip Pierre, Prime Minister of St Lucia and the Honourable Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, the Honourable Godwin Friday, Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines. Heartiest congratulations to you and best wishes for a successful tenure. Friends, it is a privilege to address this…

Keynote Address by Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica at the Office of the National Security Advisor 4th Annual Security Seminar  on February 19, 2026 _______________________________________________________________   Jamaica takes national security very seriously. When most Jamaicans hear the term national security, they immediately think crime and violence, and rightfully so. Crime and violence have been our number one threat to life and values. This administration has taken a more deliberate, strategic, and, I dare say, more sophisticated approach to national security. We established the Office of the National Security Advisor, instituted the National Security Council as a committee of Cabinet, instituted various laws relative to security generally, we ensured that all law enforcement and security forces are members of the council, but most importantly, the council covers every subject. Yes, because by definition, national security is everything that makes the nation insecure, every threat. The NSC is data-driven and intelligent in the sense that the organisation is a learning entity, and this is why we have now, for the 4th time, hosted this seminar, and we want to learn from experts, but we also want to share with experts what we have learned.…

Keynote Address by Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP, Prime Minister of Jamaica at the Official Launch of UTech Lloyd Carney Foundation IMEK Laboratory on February 10, 2026 ___________________________________________________________ Professor, no need to do further introductions, and I will borrow the general term used by Lloyd. I would normally say all nice and decent people, but I like how Lloyd has dignified the term. He said, all dignified people here, it is not my intention to stand on protocols today. We are opening this lab against the backdrop of Hurricane Melissa. For those of us in Kingston, and the eastern end of the island generally, Hurricane Melissa may seem like a distant memory three months ago, but for others, especially those in the impacted areas, it is still the reality they face. We are recovering, no doubt, and I do visit the impacted areas quite regularly and I can see progress being made, houses are being restored, roofs are being restored, businesses are reopening, the roads are cleared, lots of traffic. There is accessibility, but you still see the tarps on the roofs and there are still persons without roofs at this time and there are people…

Address by Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP, Prime Minister of Jamaica at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Foreign Trade Heads of Mission Meeting on February 11, 2026 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2018 to now it's a very long time. Many things have happened in between, but I have had the opportunity to individually interact with almost all of you around this table in some way or form, some more than others. From the very moment of our independence when the Ministry of External Affairs was established as one of the first four ministries, Jamaica understood something fundamental. Small island states foreign policy is not peripheral. For small island states foreign policy is foundational. We understood that as a small island developing state, we must navigate the global system, not by size, but by strategy. We understood that the global order as much as it is clothed by principle, equity and fairness, ultimately it is about power, but we never sacrifice principle and we are always the country that is willing to stand up for what is right and the truth, but we also believe strongly in partnerships. We're not a country that is going to promote rhetoric and…

Keynote Address by Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP, Prime Minister of Jamaica at the Handing Over Ceremony Essex Valley Agro-Processing Facility and Administrative Building On February 4, 2026 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you, CTD, that's the Chief Technical Director of the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Courtney Cole. You will understand if I abbreviate the protocols and say it is good to be amongst family, all nice and decent people. I will start by acknowledging the significant work and contribution of the United Kingdom Development Agency. It's called UK Aid. It is important to start there because when I was a younger Member of Parliament and then leader of the opposition, former Prime Minister David Cameron visited Jamaica. The only person would be the then Minister of National Security, Peter Bunting; he would've been in Parliament then. And you recall what had happened during that momentous visit of former Prime Minister David Cameron, but what most Jamaicans would have forgotten is that when he visited, he made a significant announcement of a $300 million. I heard you say $350 million, but this was a large announcement of a grant programme which was called United Kingdom Caribbean Investment Fund, and…

Keynote Address by Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP, Prime Minister of Jamaica at the International Economic Forum for Latin America and the Caribbean on January 28, 2026 _____________________________________ President Mulino, thank you so much for your hospitality and warm welcome. Executive President Sergio Díaz-Granados of CAF, thank you so much for your support of Jamaica. Thank you for the invitation. Colleagues, Distinguished leaders, Partners, it is an honour to address this forum at a time when our region is not only navigating global uncertainty but confronting a deeper question of agency. Will we merely navigate the world as it changes, or will we help to shape the direction in which it moves? Just under three months ago, Jamaica faced one of the most severe natural disasters in modern history, the third most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the world. Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 storm, tested our institutions, our infrastructure, and our people. Yet today I stand before you with a simple but powerful message: Jamaica has endured. Jamaica is strongly recovering, and Jamaica is moving forward. This moment is best understood in the context of how fundamentally Jamaica's economic resilience has changed over time, how…

Keynote Address by Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP, Prime Minister of Jamaica at the Subsea Cable Project Letter of Intent Signing Ceremony On February 3, 2026 -------------------------------------------------------------------------   Ministers Vaz Our Minister of Finance, Fayval Williams And Minister Audrey Marks And I must tell you that all three of them convinced me that this was a good thing to do. Not that I was not aware of the benefits, but we are doing this against the backdrop of just coming out of the third most powerful hurricane that the world has ever produced or recorded to have produced that did significant damage to Jamaica and so everything that government does will be seen through that prism. Every dollar expended will be judged as to whether or not it goes towards our recovery and our eventual reconstruction, so we are politically sensitive to these issues, but the hurricane exposed us. It uncovered vulnerabilities, which have always been there, but maybe covered up in the fact that they were never tested and we lost telecommunications to a large part of the island. Of course, nothing to do with Subsea Cable, but as would be the case with a…