Speeches by the Prime Minister

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…

Address By The Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, MP Press Conference to Announce National Day of Prayer, Fasting and Repentance November 29, 2017 Thank you very much Madam Masters of Ceremonies, Dr Patricia Holness; Let me acknowledge the Reverend Dr Jefferey Shuttleworth; Reverend Courtney Gordon; Bishop Rohan Edwards; Minister Olivia Grange; MP Mark Golding; Distinguished ladies and gentlemen gathered here, good afternoon.   You've said it correctly Patricia what I have on my heart. It was late one night when I got a telephone call saying, “I have an important message for you, a prophecy and it must be delivered to you personally. I can't tell you over the phone.” So I said “I’m out of town but as soon as I get back into Kingston I’ll make the necessary arrangements to meet with you.”   I won't say who or maybe I should but let me go a little before that because the Government of Jamaica is increasing its access for the people of Jamaica to develop a portal through which citizens could petition the government using a digital platform. Having opportunities for petitions always existed; you could do a paper petition and you could send it in but…

Address by The Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, MP at the United Nations World Tourism Conference Montego Bay Convention Centre                  November 28, 2017     General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization; Ms Gloria Guevara Manzo, President of the World Travel and Tourism Council; Mr Alexandre Guerra De Rosa, Vice President for countries into American Development Bank; Heads of Delegations; Members of the Diplomatic Corps and international organizations; His Worship the Mayor, Councillor Homer Davis, Mayor of Montego Bay; Delegates; Heads of Organizations, Agencies and Departments; Distinguished ladies and gentlemen.   I'm delighted to be here with you; a very pleasant good morning.   I know that yesterday Minister Bartlett would have welcomed you to the conference and to Jamaica but let me add my own warm welcome to all of you. Welcome to Jamaica.   This event is truly a remarkable success. As I was discussing with Mr Rifai, the numbers of delegates who have decided to attend have surpassed our expectations. It is clearly by virtue of the excellent arrangements that have been made but I will accept your observation too Mr Rafi that it is also as a…

Keynote Address by The Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, MP at NHT Handing Over Ceremony Nashville Mews, St Mary November 24, 2017   It is good to be back in St Mary, and especially to be handing over these units to the proud beneficiaries at Nashville Mews.   As Dr Clarke pointed out this event was planned for much earlier, but some events intervened or we will call it a super veiling event. But nevertheless and Dr Clarke explained all the considerations and ramification and equivocations. We decided that anything you’re going to do, you’re going to get criticized and we were already being criticized for making an allocation which was made long before the super veiling event in fixing the incoming road. And you know what? Its 32 beneficiaries, 40 housing units and we wouldn’t want your housing units to be tied up in any kind of controversy.   You have worked very hard. You’re going to be paying for it with your hard earned salary and you deserve to have a controversy free home so we decided that we have to protect the institution of the NHT which by the way has been one of our best performing…