Jamaica: Holness rallies supporters with bold promises, slams PNP's record ahead of upcoming elections

Jamaica: Prime Minister Andrew Holness addressed the enthusiastic crowd of green supporters of the Jamaican Labour Party on Saturday at the St. Andrew East Rural constituency meeting. He highlighted how the Jamaican Labour Party (JLP) has made Jamaica better and how they will proceed to do so. 

He began his evening address by commending Juliet Holness, the candidate for East Rural St. Andrew for her hard work and love for the people. Noting that she has made the people of East Rural her family and she initially got into politics not because of him but due to her love for the people. 

The Prime Minister highlighted that the JLP took over the country at a very precarious time in its history as the country was teetering on the edge facing many problems, aside from the economic problems.

Holness highlights PNP's shortcomings since 2011

“Bad gas, you remember that? That was a government failure,” he shot at the previous People’s National Party (PNP) government, saying that the country faced multiple “government problems” during their administration from 2011 to 2015. As a government, they couldn’t ensure something as simple as motorists getting proper fuel and gas for their cars, or addressing mosquito-borne diseases and the chicken guinea fowl issue (2:33), which they knew how to do but didn’t.

“The country’s dead babies scandals, that was a government problem,” the Prime Minister highlighted that the PNP government couldn't provide hospitals with the resources to ensure that the babies would survive and all  hey have tried to do is to recreate those scandals of their government artificially and falsely. 

“The people already know that when the PNP formed the government, we ended up with a bad government.”

The Prime Minister highlighted the PNP government's shortcomings between 2011 and 2015, citing failures in electricity, fuel quality, and the 'jeep' initiative meant to provide employment. 'Just think about it, they couldn't manage the economy in their 5 years,' he noted. Additionally, he pointed out that the PNP government imposed $34 billion in taxes on Jamaican citizens during their tenure to fund their programs.

Prime Minister Holness highlights JLP’S achievements

PM Holness emphasized the JLP's commitment to delivering good governance and effective management for the people, building on the party's promise to serve the nation.

"Look at us, we took over, we had a big problem called COVID, the worst pandemic we have had in 100 years.” He highlighted the government's achievement in managing to stop the pandemic effectively and asked the supporters to stop and think for a moment, if COVID happened under the PNP, what would our country be today?

He pointed out what the JLP government did for the last 10 years, noting that it didn’t raise taxes on its citizens, even when the country was hit by Hurricane Beryl, and they had to use the country’s own resources to recover without borrowing from anyone. 

“Beryl hit us and we used our own resources to recover without having to borrow. 14,000 Jamaicans got assistance to recover from Beryl from our own resources, and we were able to do that within two weeks after the event.” “Can you imagine if Beryl had occurred under the PNP? We thank God that never happened. So, I want to make the point to you: you have a better government that knows how to manage government and run your affairs."

He assured the citizens gathered at the meeting that they can have confidence and faith in the JLP government, but the PNP is a risk – it's an uncertainty; you're taking a chance. Noting that “the JLP have given citizens stability, no question about that: dollar stability, inflation stable, and employment come down; tax, you know, no need to worry about that.”

The Prime Minister went on to highlight that crime and murder took a toll of over 1,000 when the PNP government was in rule and the JLP government is the one working to bring the murders short of 1,000 by the end of the year.  

We are the ones who have made the greatest reduction in murders and crimes in Jamaica, a problem many thought couldn’t be solved, but we’re solving it.” “When we have to choose, we’re not going to close our eyes and say ‘innie minnie minny moe’; no, that’s not how we do it. The PNP wants you to close your eyes and listen to their lies, no.”

As the election period approaches, he urged citizens not to make hasty decisions, but instead to examine the party's proven track record, as documented in their book highlighting over 250 achievements. 

Challenges of Constituency

He moved on to speak on the water challenge that the East Rural constituency faces along with other constituencies that are mostly in the rural areas. Holness guaranteed that in the next 5 years, the government will treat all the water problems in the community as they have the capability and resources to do it and they will get it done. 

Finally in 2011 PNP made a promise that they will take the GST of electricity, but they did not fulfill that promise. We made a commitment that we are going to address the issues that you face with electricity which is probably one of the most significant costs that households face in their consumption basket, the cost of electricity. 

He stated that the JLP government has cut GST and electricity, from 15% to 7%. Which is a significant cut because when you look at your electricity bill you start to see reduction. 

Holness addressed the problem of informal electricity, aware that there are citizens that have electricity through the informal means  and said he was sure if they were given other affordable options then they would go with the formal and legal means. 

“We have to change how our government operates to ensure that the people can get the basic things that they need to survive and that is why we have a program that will help give assistance with household wiring because you can't have formal electricity if your house doesn’t have proper wire.”

Noting that the JLP government has thought of that and started that program to help households through the Jamaican Social Investment from JSF and rural electrification . which will enable Jamaicans to expand their pre-paid electricity program to allow the households that would like to get their electricity by prepaying it. 

“These are just some of the initiatives that your government is putting in place to make life more affordable for you.”

The last change the government will be making is in children’s commuting while going to school. As the JLP government has taken notice, that a large part of the deterioration of our social values and in the behaviour of our children on how they are treated on public transportation. It is what they are exposed to in public transportation. 

So come September as many parents will be sending their children to schools, Holness said that children going to schools in rural areas will all be having their own transport so the parents will not have to worry about the wellbeing of their children. This will be implemented in various constituencies.