Speeches by the Prime Minister

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…

Address By Dr the Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica At the Special Press Briefing: Hurricane Melissa Recovery On November 6, 2025 ______________________________________________________________   Good morning, Jamaica. We are officially out of the preparation phase. We have done well in the preparation phase, but even the best laid plans would be laid to waste in a Category 5 hurricane. It's as if you have gotten a knockout blow and you're trying to reconstitute, get yourself up off the mat to say what do I do next, and that was kind of like the impact of Hurricane Melissa. In the initial phases of the relief phase, it was almost as if it were a scramble. What is the relief phase? The relief phase is that period of time when the authorities of the Government, the civil society, private sector, and others seek to mobilize relief for those who are most impacted. What is that kind of relief we're talking about? Food, water, medicine, clothing, emergency shelter and services, medical services, search and rescue, or in most cases now, search and recovery of bodies, other services as well, psychological and emotional, the mental health services, and in our…

Statement By Dr. The Most Honourable Andrew Holness Prime Minister  of Jamaica At Session One: Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Growth Leaving No One Behind: Building Our Economies; The Role of Trade; Financing for Development and the Debt Burden On Saturday, 22nd November 2025, 10:15 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. ___________________________________________________   Jamaica supports the global agenda to make economic growth not only strong and sustainable, but also inclusive and resilient. Our story is one of social partnership and sacrifice. We transformed our economy after decades of instability. Through disciplined macro‑fiscal reforms, anchored in responsible debt management, institutional strengthening, and targeted pro‑growth initiatives, we reduced our debt‑to‑GDP ratio, lowered poverty and unemployment, contained inflation, stabilized foreign exchange, and built robust international reserves. Now, our focus is on translating the dividends of sacrifice into investments in our people. Getting the policy mix right is both an economic and moral imperative. Yet, one external shock can undo years of progress. Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 storm, has devastated seven parishes, its impact will negatively affect our debt trajectory and the road ahead will be challenging. This is our reality today. But it is also the recurring story of vulnerability told by Small Island Developing…

Address By Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica At the Special Press Briefing: Hurricane Melissa Recovery On November 6, 2025 ______________________________________________________________ Good morning, Jamaica. We are officially out of the preparation phase. We have done well in the preparation phase, but even the best laid plans would be laid to waste in a Category 5 hurricane. It's as if you have gotten a knockout blow and you're trying to reconstitute, get yourself up off the mat to say what do I do next, and that was kind of like the impact of Hurricane Melissa. In the initial phases of the relief phase, it was almost as if it were a scramble. What is the relief phase? The relief phase is that period of time when the authorities of the Government, the civil society, private sector, and others seek to mobilize relief for those who are most impacted. What is that kind of relief we're talking about? Food, water, medicine, clothing, emergency shelter and services, medical services, search and rescue, or in most cases now, search and recovery of bodies, other services as well, psychological and emotional, the mental health services, and in our…