'More in four' - Samuda touts achievements of JLP administration
Published:Thursday | November 8, 2018 | 12:00 AM
Ahead of its annual conference next Sunday, the Jamaica Labour Party seems to have found a new slogan: 'More in four'.
Government Senator Matthew Samuda, in a fiery presentation at the Kingston High School in Central Kingston on Sunday, claimed that the Andrew Holness administration has topped the previous Portia Simpson Miller administration in all areas of government since taking office.
"The truth is, the Government is doing very well. There is no area under the Government's management that we are not doing better than the Portia Simpson Miller administration. The fact is, when we first said 'five in four', it mad dem. But the truth is, we could say 'more in four'," Samuda charged to the sounds of bells, addressing the Labourites.
In his prolonged broadside against the People's National Party (PNP), he chided the Opposition for pressuring the Government on crime and violence, highlighting their record in government.
"They did nothing for national security. They did nothing to fix border security in this country. They did nothing to protect us against the influx of guns," he said.
"It is interesting [that] there is a court case going on now, which tells you about police abuses. So, they didn't have a crime plan or a crime strategy. They were abusing poor people to keep the crime rate down, Labourites."
'BE PROUD OF THE PARTY'
Samuda said that the Government's flagship anti-crime initiative, the Zones of Special Operation, was the main instrument bringing down the crime rate, resulting in a 21 per cent decrease in murders so far this year, compared to last year.
Moving to the issue of the economy, Samuda said that the Holness administration was still cleaning up messes that he said the PNP had caused.
He said the economy was on track and that the Labourites should be proud of the party.
But he noted that Labourites needed to trumpet their achievements more.
"We have a duty to tell the rest of the country. We cannot sit back and expect that people will know everything that we doing. They not used to seeing so much work happening; they never seen so much roadwork, they never seen so much schools. They used to call we 'Gully Government', but they going to have to call we 'Build-Road Government', 'Build-House Government'. They going to have to call we 'Build-School Government'," Samuda told party supporters.