‘Time to get out of pothole and on to highway’
Chang laments too much focus on minor issues as JLP touts successes ahead of conference
Published:Wednesday | November 22, 2023 | 12:15 AMKimone Francis/Senior Staff Reporter
Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) General Secretary Dr Horace Chang says Prime Minister Andrew Holness will use Sunday’s annual conference to launch his administration’s road map for wealth creation for the country and will ignore any distractions.
Chang, who was fielding questions from journalists at the launch of the party’s 80th annual conference at its Belmont Road headquarters in St Andrew, said that for too long, Jamaica has been “stuck” in that area.
The senior JLP official, who is also deputy prime minister, said that the Government is looking ahead with strong policies that it has set out to move the country forward, many of which are at the early stages of implementation.
“We have to demonstrate to people where we are going and how we’ll get there,” said Chang.
He said that the Government inherited a capital expenditure of $16 billion and has since increased it to $78 billion, a sum he said that the country may not have the capacity to spend effectively.
“This came out of significant sacrifice. We have a strong policy to carry the country forward. That is what we have to stick to. A lot of the issues being raised, which were there before, and that people are asking the prime minister to pay attention to and to explain, I don’t think we should,” he said, adding that this has been the major issue since Independence.
Chang said that while there have been some social and legislative changes to push this agenda, the country has still not been able to go beyond earning over US$5,000 per capita per year.
He said that the goal is US$10,000 to US$20,000.
“And that’s where the prime minister has to direct the country. If we keep defending the minor issues, we’re going to get stuck. We have to get out of the pothole and move forward on the highway. That is what the prime minister is responsible to do,” said Chang.
Body cameras
Highlighting the issue of body cameras that should be worn by the police, which has been a heavily discussed issue, Chang said that this is an example of what he considers to be a “light” argument unworthy of lengthy discussions.
“We’re going to be directing the party’s workers, the party supporters and the entire country. We’re going to show the road forward to make it a stronger, resilient country with a stronger economy and a wealthier prosperous society,” he said.
Added to that, the party’s public relations chairman, Robert Morgan, said Holness will address the party’s conference on a platform of success on Sunday.
Morgan said that this platform will be one of economic, national security and infrastructure success.
Morgan pointed to a record-low unemployment rate, a 12 per cent reduction in murders, what he said was the most significant spend on infrastructure, an increase in the Jamaica Urban Transit Company’s fleet, and an increase in the fleet of garbage trucks as achievements of the Holness administration.
“The context I want to leave with is if [these] existed, the Government would not have to purchase them. We would not have had to repair 163 police stations if we had inherited them in good condition. We would not have had to buy a record number of police cars, ballistics vests, and more if we had inherited them.
“We would not have had to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on facilities such as a forensic lab for the police, such as a lab to do autopsies, such as infirmaries, if we had inherited them,” Morgan said.
He said that the conversation that will take place over the next several months must assess what the Holness Government inherited in 2016 and what it has achieved since that time.