Speeches by the Prime Minister

The Honourable Andrew Holness ON, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica Statement on Extending the State of Emergency At Parliament January 30, 2018   Mr Speaker the increasing violence in the parish of St James saw the number of murders in 2017 peaking at 335. Seeing the consequences of this on the citizens of the parish and the fear in which many persons were living, His Excellency the Governor General on my advice having been advised myself by security forces proclaimed a state of public emergency effective the 18th of January 2018. Mr Speaker, the provision in law is that the Governor General may declare a State of Emergency for a period not exceeding 14 days. An extension of the period must be approved by both houses of parliament by resolution supported by a 2/3 majority of all the members of each house meaning, Mr Speaker, that it is not 2/3 of those who are present but 2/3 of the seats in the house. The extension can allow for the continuation of the public state of emergency for a period not exceeding three months. The rampant criminality in particular violent crimes as well as the lottery scamming, trafficking and other illicit…

  Keynote Address By The Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica At the Investment & Capital Markets Conference 2018 January 23, 2018   It is always a pleasure to be here at this conference. I want to congratulate the Jamaica Stock Exchange for hosting what I know will be a stimulating conference. I'm particularly excited about this year’s theme "Driving Growth, Regional Investments for the Climate of Change". I also want to congratulate the Jamaica Stock Exchange for its stellar performance last year. The JSE main and junior markets provided average returns of 43.9 percent, that is amazing and the main market appreciated by 50 percent in 2017. That is amazing. It shows that there is confidence in the economy as was shown particularly business confidence in the last survey that was done. It shows that there is an appetite for risks and that there is capital for businesses to invest. For a very long time, we've not had growth; and I've attended several of these conferences and the theme always has somewhere in there about growth. I've not seen one of these conferences where growth was not a part of the theme; and so, of course,…

Address By The Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica At the State of Emergency Press Conference: Montego Bay January 18, 2018 We are all aware and agree crime and violence in particular murders have been escalating in the parish of St James. I have been advised by the security forces in writing that the level of criminal activity experienced continued and threatened is of such a nature and so extensive in scale as to endanger public safety. In consideration of this, I wrote to the governor general recommending the declaration of a state of public emergency for the parish of St James.   The governor general has signed a proclamation dated and effective 18th January 2018. The proclamation has been gazetted a state of emergency is now in effect for the parish of St James.   Under a state of emergency, the security forces will have extra ordinary powers and some rights are suspended. This does not mean that the use of these extra ordinary powers can be arbitrary or are beyond review.   The declaration of a state of public emergency does not mean the suspension of the rule of law. The security forces are…

Address By The Honourable Andrew Holness ON, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica At The Official Launch of Political Parties Registration January 15, 2018   Thank you Master of ceremonies, The Honourable Justice Karl Harrison Dr Peter Phillips, Leader of the Opposition Colleague cabinet members, The Honourable Dorothy Pine-McLarty, chairman of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica and other commissioners Ms Llofraun Thompson, Registrar of Political Parties Mr Orrette Fisher, Director of Elections and other members of the electoral office of Jamaica Heads of agencies and departments Members of the private sector Distinguished guests Members of the media Ladies and gentlemen good morning.   You will forgive my raspy voice but you know the change in weather has had an effect on many of us. I know that we can all say with one voice that a milestone has been achieved in the history of Jamaica this morning. We will now have a framework for the registration of political parties while also facilitating a system whereby an accurate and up-to-date record can be kept on each political party. Political parties must lead from the front and set our houses in order. We must ensure that the mask of anonymity is removed leading…

Address by The Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, MP Prime Minister at the 13th Annual Heal the Family, Heal the Nation Service January 3, 2017   As I sat and I observed my brother sing that song, I reflected on my own life and God had blessed me and he has shown me favour and I am indeed grateful and I’m certain that if all of you were to reflect on your own lives, you would say the same thing  that God has blessed your own life; you would say the same thing that God has blessed you and has shown you favour.   No matter how difficult the times are and they are difficult and your personal struggles that only you alone will know and the challenges that you face with your family and  generally with your surviving  that God has preserved us to see 2018 and there is no burden that is too heavy for our God to carry.   We don't wait until we're at our limit, until we're about to break, that we call upon God and so it is becoming a custom, a ritual of a routine almost for me to come and fellowship with you.…

We give God thanks for sparing us to see the dawn of a New Year; - to live another chapter in the book of our lives; - to turn a new page; - to be excitingly expectant of the prospects and the opportunities a New Year brings, and; - to reflect on the void left from the passing of our loved ones and great Jamaicans whose contribution enriched our lives. Armed with the lessons from 2017, we embrace 2018 with optimism and vigour. We continue our resolve to make Jamaica safe and secure. Zones of Special Operations have shown Jamaicans that our security forces can police communities and control crime in localities without abusing citizens’ rights. We have now created a framework for the whole of government response to citizen security. 2018 must be the year when we scale up the Zones of Special Operations to reclaim communities that have been captured by criminals. The Jamaica Constabulary Force is our lead crime fighting institution. Last year it celebrated its 150th anniversary. Given the current crime situation it is without question that the JCF needs critical institutional reform to be able to effectively lead the fight against crime. This year the…

2017 Christmas Message The Most Hon. Andrew Holness, ON, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica   Merry Christmas! Christmas is a time for family, and for us, in Jamaica, it’s also a time for friends, food and festivities. It is indeed the most wonderful time of the year. For many Jamaicans, Christmas is not merely a holiday; it is a holy and sacred celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, the saviour and redeemer of the world. The spiritual meaning of the season sometimes gets lost in the festivities. We must always remember that God gave us the gift of his only Son to guide us and illuminate the path to peace and eternal life. The circumstances of His birth are a lesson in itself of the meaning of the season. Christmas is not about wealth, it is not about possessions, it is not about status. We don’t have to be rich to celebrate the true meaning of the season. If the Saviour of the World, the Messiah, can be born in a barn, then: - in the midst of hardship and despair, there can be hope, - our humanity doesn’t depend on our material possessions or status in life, -…

Keynote Address By The Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, MP Prime Minister At the Red Stripe’s Launch of Production Line 8 and Liquified Natural gas (LNG) Plant December 19, 2017   This is another proud moment for one of Jamaica's most iconic brands.   I want you to consider for a moment what we've always said about brand Jamaica -that brand Jamaica is one of the top ten brands in the world and for good reason. We produced Bob Marley; that brand is very powerful. We have produced Usain Bolt another very powerful brand. We have produced reggae music, we have influenced pop culture to such a great degree and now of course we’ve always had almost for a hundred years, a very powerful brand called Red Stripe.   Now do not underestimate the power of this brand. When there was a near crisis in the US some time ago, President Obama chose a beer summit, and what was the beer that he chose? Red Stripe, very powerful brand, so I’m very happy to see that the investors in Red Stripe recognize the value of the brand and they are not just sitting on the brand, they are making greater…

Keynote Address By The Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, MP Prime Minister At the 4th CAP Graduation Exercise and Award Ceremony December 8, 2017   I'm very excited to be with you this morning. The minister said that this is my baby. In a way I do feel a certain paternity for this programme because when I was the minister of education that was like ten years ago 2007, one of the first challenges that confronted the government was the high level of unattachment of young people. We were turning out young people from the education system who could not matriculate to higher levels of education, but more problematic we were turning out young people who could not articulate in the world of work so we did an analysis and we realized that approximately 50% of students leaving the secondary school system at age sixteen had no form of certification, were probably not up to the level of literacy and numeracy that was required for them to successfully navigate life but more than that they did not have neither the technical nor vocational skills or the life skills to make something of themselves. It was a travesty that we were…