Speeches by the Prime Minister

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…

Statement to Parliament By Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica on the Aftermath of Hurricane Melissa On November 4, 2025 __________________________________   Thank you, Members of this Honourable House. On Tuesday, October 28th, Jamaica endured one of the most punishing natural disasters in our modern history. Hurricane Melissa made landfall near New Hope in Westmoreland as a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 185 mph and a minimum central pressure of 892 millibars. Madam Speaker, experts described Melissa as being "at the very edge of what is physically possible" in the Atlantic Ocean- a storm powered by record sea temperatures and near-perfect atmospheric conditions. Its force was so immense that seismographs hundreds of miles away registered its passage. Melissa is the very first Category 5 hurricane to make a direct hit on Jamaica in the recorded history of such hurricanes, surpassing the previous benchmark set by Hurricane Gilbert, and recently by Hurricane Beryl. Melissa crossed the island with catastrophic winds and torrential rain, inflicting widespread damage—most severely across St. Elizabeth, Westmoreland, Hanover, Manchester, St. James, Trelawny, and St. Ann. We mourn lives lost, and we stand with the thousands of Jamaicans who…

Address By Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica At the Special Press Briefing: Tropical Storm Melissa On October 25, 2025 ________________________________________________________ Good morning, Jamaicans, here and overseas, who may be watching this press briefing. Firstly, a few comments on the system itself. The system is quite an unusual one, sitting in the Caribbean Sea for such a long time, making up its mind where it will go. It is obvious that it now has a trajectory where we can, with great certainty, say that Jamaica will be impacted. Let me be clear that the entire Jamaica will be impacted by this storm. The outer bands seemed to be very wide, and it is already affecting the Dominican Republic and Haiti with significant rainfall. We should expect the same. The first impact that we should be preparing for would be heavy rains. Once it becomes a major hurricane, which is projected to be within a day, then we will have heavy winds. The third impact will be the length of time that it will stay. If it continues to be as slow-moving as it has been, then we could expect anywhere from two to…

National Address By Dr the Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica At the Special Update: Hurricane Melissa is now Category 5 On October 26, 2025 ______________________________________________________   My fellow Jamaicans, Hurricane Melissa is now a Category 5 hurricane, approximately a hundred miles south of Kingston, heading westward at five miles per hour. It is projected to turn northward. We are already experiencing rain and overcast conditions. Based on current assessment, all of Jamaica will likely be affected by hurricane conditions, meaning heavy rains and winds above a hundred miles per hour. It is also likely that hurricane conditions could linger over Jamaica due to the slow-moving nature of this system. Given the extended days of rain leading up to landfall and the expected inundation from the actual passage, we can expect general flash flooding across the island. However, low-lying areas, coastal areas, river courses, gullies, and other waterways will overflow either from excess rain or storm surges. Extended rainfall and heavy rain flows will also trigger landslides in hilly areas. Buildings and activities in or along those waterways or hillsides will be at high risk of damage, complete displacement, and loss of life. Hurricane winds will…