What Holness said

 Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared early yesterday in his contribution to the 2017-2018 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives that he was there to tell the “truth”, as he said the society must move from a “poverty consciousness to a prosperity consciousness”. Here is some of what he said:

1 . ON HEALTH

“I have directed the minister of education and the minister of health to examine ways in which sugar could be reduced or removed from formulations sponsored and served by the Government in public-education system and to develop and launch a public-education campaign about the effects of overconsumption of sugar.”

2 . ON CRIME

“The plan to tackle crime cannot be successful if it is narrowly focused on the police getting the criminals off the streets. A crime plan is only one element of a greater strategy to address all the elements to bringing sustainable peace and security to Jamaica.”

3 . ON CORRUPTION

“When these two pieces of legislation (Major Organised Crime and AntiCorruption Agency and the Integrity Commission bills) are finally passed in the House, Jamaica would have signalled to the world our seriousness to tackle corruption.”

4 . ON YOUTH

“Today, we officially launch the Housing, Opportunity, Production and Employment (HOPE) programme. It is estimated that there is a pool of approximately 120,000 to 130,000 young persons between 15 and 24 years of age who are not in school, not in a programme of training, and are unemployed. Under the employment stream of HOPE, we have already identified approximately 15,000 real opportunities for work. Our target for this year is to reach 25,000 work opportunities aligned with national priorities.”

5 . ON LOGISTICS

“The Government of Jamaica is now declaring the development of the logistics sector as a national project. We will appoint an Enterprise Team led by Michael Lee-Chin, who is also chairman of the Economic Growth Council. Under this administration, the goal of making Jamaica a centre for logistics will be realised.”

6 . ON URBAN RENEWAL

"The Government of Jamaica will undertake a programme for the redevelopment of targeted areas of Kingston and St Andrew to be called the Urban Regeneration Programme. The programme will utilise higher-density housing and mixed-use designs. The areas identified for the pilot projects are Kingston Gardens, Eastwood Park Gardens, and Vineyard Town.”

7 . ON FINANCIAL DISCIPLINE 

“There are no benefactors for Jamaica or big brother country. There is no printing press for money. There are no secret sovereign funds hidden away somewhere. As an independent country, we must be disciplined in managing our own fiscal affairs. We can no longer finance our development by borrowing.”