Speeches by the Prime Minister

Remarks by Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP, Prime Minister of Jamaica at the Accompong Town Maroon Anniversary Celebration on January 6, 2026 -------------------------------------------------------------------------   My presentation to you today will be brief because the weather and the circumstances. Let me commend the council for holding the event even after the disaster; that you were able to do it is commendable, and I personally congratulate you. I want to commend all the attendees of the event, particularly those who stood huddled in the rain to view the performances and hear the presentations. It warmed my heart, and it showed your commitment. Now, there are several themes that have been echoed from this stage, one of them is sovereignty. Sovereignty is the right of a people to own and decide on their land and their resources, to make their laws and to enforce them. All of you here are part of the Jamaican sovereignty. You are part of Jamaica, and you are entitled to the protection resources of the state of Jamaica, so I stand here as your Prime Minister. I am obligated to you. I report to you. You are the ones who elect and decide on…

Remarks by Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP, Prime Minister of Jamaica at the Handing Over of packages to Accompong Town Primary School on January 6, 2026 -----------------------------------------------------------------------   Thank you, ministers. The last time I was here, I witnessed a scene of utter devastation of houses, of schools, of community property, not to mention the Cockpit Country which surrounds this area. Thankfully on my return a few weeks after, the Cockpit Country is showing signs of great resilience, it is green again, it's growing and flourishing, and the community spirit is high because restoration work has begun. I have myself witnessed roofs restored, houses restored, and it is clear that the community is very actively a part of the restoration effort. As it relates to schools, I am particularly pleased because this school has been restored. We have supported it with a generator, with Starlink, and now it is getting more connectivity to assist with remote learning. But more importantly, we have given more furniture to the school and other equipment to enhance the learning experience. There is another school, a basic school in the area, which we are now in the process of repairing and…

We give God thanks for sparing us to see 2026, and we pause to remember the lives lost to Hurricane Melissa, which is the third most powerful hurricane ever recorded globally, and the most destructive storm ever to strike Jamaica. As we reflect on this moment, we do so with gratitude, with grief, and with a renewed sense of purpose. In the 65 years since 1960, the Atlantic has produced 799 recorded storms. Remarkably, one quarter of them, 201, occurred in just the last decade. Of the 34 Category 5 hurricanes recorded since 1960, 14 have occurred since 2015. And every year since then, Jamaica has been impacted by a weather- or climate‑related event: unseasonal rains, flooding, tropical storms, major hurricanes, and, on the other extreme, severe drought and record‑breaking heat. The climate is changing. Our oceans are warming. Weather events are becoming more frequent, more intense, and more destructive. A “once‑in‑50‑years” event now seems to happen every five. No one expected Jamaica to be hit by Hurricane Beryl in 2024 and then by Hurricane Melissa in 2025. But this is the new global reality. And climate is only one dimension of the uncertainty we face. The global order is…

Merriment is a part of the Christmas season. It is a happy time as we celebrate the birth of Christ. Now, ironically, Jesus was born in a time of great hardship, and he came into the world in humble shelter, a stable. As I speak, I know there are many Jamaicans without shelter and experiencing hardship as a result of Hurricane Melissa. Yet the Christmas story reminds us that even in these moments, life, hope, and renewal can still emerge. This is not to diminish the challenges of our people, but to remind us that hardship does not cancel the possibility of hope. Just as the stable did not diminish the significance of Christ’s birth, our current circumstances do not diminish the strength, dignity, or future of our communities. And in the spirit of hope and renewal that defines this season, the Government of Jamaica is advancing a comprehensive programme of support aimed at rebuilding homes, restoring livelihoods, and strengthening affected communities. Already the JDF and engineering corps from other supporting countries are already in some communities repairing roofs of the most vulnerable persons. By mid-January, after a critical threshold of damage assessment is completed, we will begin issuing rebuilding…

Keynote Address by Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP, Prime Minister of Jamaica at The Pinnacle; Tower One Topping Out Ceremony Bogue Reading Peninsula, Montego Bay On December 10, 2025 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------   Let me acknowledge the Ministers of the Cabinet who are here. Mr Ziping Chen, Chairman of LCH Developments Ltd Yangsen Li speaks English with a Jamaican accent The team from LCH and Pinnacle Members of the public and private sector who are here Members of the media, It is indeed a good morning. Today's ceremony is a declaration that even after the strongest storm to make landfall in living history, Jamaica's momentum cannot be derailed, and that's why I am here this morning to highlight a significant milestone in this project, but to also demonstrate to the world that Jamaica is open for business. It was such a pleasing sight to see cruise ships back in the pier; to see the hustle and bustle- that's just a euphemism for traffic in Montego Bay, and to see the city coming back to life and indeed to see the workers from the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) cleaning up the elegant corridor as I came in. There…

Keynote Address by Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP, Prime Minister of Jamaica at the  Groundbreaking Ceremony for Sygnus Lakes Pen Industrial & Logistic Park, Cow Park Caymanas Estate, St Catherine On December 9, 2025 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   Members of the Cabinet Mr Berisford Grey, President and the CEO of the Sygnus Group Mr Horace Messado, Chairman of the Board of Directors Brigadier David Cummings, Vice President Shullette Cox, President of JAMPRO Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, Members of the media, good morning and it is indeed a good morning. As I sat and listened to the presentations, I was reflecting on the damage caused by Hurricane Melissa. It might be of worth to note that since 1960 there have been twenty-two Category 5 hurricanes. Thirteen of those hurricanes occurred within the last decade.  60% of all Category 5 hurricanes since 1960 occurred within the last 10 years, meaning during my administrations 12 Category 5 hurricanes have made landfall since 1960. Most of these hurricanes would've made landfall within the Caribbean or the Gulf of Mexico. Some people know it as the Gulf of America. It's a good place to kind of ground the audience and to capture your…

Main Address by Dr. the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP, Prime Minister of Jamaica at the  Official Opening of Little London Police Station On November 28, 2025 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nice and decent people, it's good to see all of you, and we give God thanks that we are alive despite the challenges, despite the damage, despite the fact that some of us have no roofs or no homes. We have lost loved ones and friends. We have seen our lives changed, our livelihoods destroyed, and for many there is great uncertainty, but I'm hopeful. Indeed, I'm confident that we will rebuild and we will rebuild better than before, and I also want to just thank all of you for coming out to this event. You could have chosen to be elsewhere, but you have chosen to participate in this ceremony. It is an important exercise in the restoration of normalcy. Yes, we could decide to stay home and be depressed about our conditions, but we could also decide to say even if I don't have any water or some of my Sunday best was destroyed, or I probably can't find a proper pair of shoes, I'm going to try…

Q&A on Hurricane Melissa Recovery at the  Sitting of the House of Representatives On November 25, 2025 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   Opposition Leader Mark Golding: Thank you, Prime Minister. Is it that the payments that we receive for Melissa relief and for the emergency drain cleaning just before and the housing allocation, is that kind of in lieu of the road patching resources that we would normally expect at this time to fix up roads? Many of us do that in January after the Christmas rush because it's quite difficult to administer so many programmes at the same time in December but I'm wondering about that because there has been a lot of rain so the roads are in need of patching in the constituencies so what is going to happen there? In terms of the National Cleanup Programme, the role the MPs will be what exactly in that? Because you've said that you're going to employ a hundred to 200 per constituency in the areas where the cleanup is being done which are the most badly affected areas and the SDC is going to handle the engagement and training, you said, of those workers so do the Members of Parliament have…

Statement on Hurricane Melissa by Dr. the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP, Prime Minister of Jamaica at the  Sitting of the House of Representatives On November 25, 2025 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   Mr Speaker, last week, the World Bank released the results of its rapid damage assessment for Hurricane Melissa. The assessment places Jamaica's physical damage at US$8.8 billion. This figure is preliminary as further technical evaluations continue through the PIOJ. This estimate includes damage to private and public property, insured and uninsured, as well as critical infrastructure. However, it does not yet reflect the cost of relief; that's all that we have been spending on humanitarian supplies and the cost of recovery activities that which we have spent on getting the electricity grid, the water grid, and telecommunications up, and it does not yet reflect economic losses that will follow the disruption in key sectors. For example, while it accounts for the physical damage of a hotel, it does not account for the loss of revenues from the temporary closure of the impact. Mr Speaker, one of the most severe and under-reported impacts is the massive volume of debris generated by Hurricane Melissa. According to satellite-based analysis conducted by…