Speeches by the Prime Minister

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…

Keynote Address by Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP, Prime Minister of Jamaica at the Official Opening Ceremony of the Bustamante Overnight Suite on January 30, 2026 -------------------------------------------------------------------------   The Right Reverend Leon Golding. I know you prayed for me in my absence. I heard the prayers. Thank you very much for your offering of intercession. Honourable Christopher Tufton, our Minister of Health and Wellness. Very important, sometimes we forget that Minister Tufton he's not a medical doctor, but he knows so much about health by now that I believe he should just formalize that and go and do a medical degree, Our Member of Parliament, Julian Robinson for Southeast St Andrew, Mr Linval Freeman, Chairman of the National Housing Trust, And the Deputy Chairman of the National Health Fund, Mr Michael Stern, Mr Mark Martin, Parish Manager for Kingston and St Andrew Health Services, And of course, how could I forget Mr Wentworth Charles, the Chairman of the Southeast Regional Health Authority, Mr Anthony Wood, Chief Executive Officer of the Bustamante Children's Hospital, Mrs Michelle Finnikin Campbell, Acting Director of Nursing Services at the Bustamante Children's Hospital, Reverend Beverly Donald, Chaplain, Bustamante Hospital for children, Members…

Keynote Address by Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP, Prime Minister of Jamaica at the Launch of the Shelter Recovery Programme on January 15, 2026 -------------------------------------------------------------   Allow me to wish for you all a happy, peaceful, healthy, loving and prosperous 2026. All distinguished ladies and gentlemen, Jamaicans listening, Members of the Cabinet who are here, But I want to especially acknowledge Kate Forbes, President of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. I do this because the Red Cross is a huge institution, probably the largest and oldest humanitarian entity in the world supported through various conventions including the Vienna Convention and I was reminded yesterday that the Red Cross is an auxiliary to the government. They're in countries all over the world and they work closely with government. Mainly, they provide good advice to the government as to how to manage disasters. They act as a force multiplier in terms of rapidly increasing the capabilities of governments to provide volunteers, and they ensure also that the relief and humanitarian efforts meet certain standards to preserve the dignity of the beneficiaries so they're very critical and it is not always that Jamaica…

Keynote Address by Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP, Prime Minister of Jamaica at the NSHP Handing Over Ceremony- The Brook, Stony Hill on January 30, 2026 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Representatives from the Ministry of Economic Growth and Infrastructure Development, Representatives from the police, Representatives from the media, And of course, you, the wonderful people of Brooks Level Road in West Rural St Andrew, in the lovely town of Stony Hill and Seaview Road And I have to also acknowledge the beneficiaries of these lovely multifamily homes that have been constructed here. Now, just to give some context. This is being done under a programme called the New Social Housing Programme. And what is social housing? Social housing is the provision of housing solutions by the government to worthy beneficiaries, either partially subsidised or fully subsidized. And what do we mean by subsidy? It means that the beneficiary gets the benefit, which is the house, for a price that is not fully the cost of the house, or they pay nothing for the cost of the house. It doesn't mean that the house is free. Somebody pays for it. Who pays for it? Everybody pays for it. It's your…