We know people are talking about us – Holness

PRIME MINISTER Andrew Holness last week admitted that he was well aware and taking note of the public discourse around events affecting the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), of which he is leader, and the Government he leads.

He was delivering the keynote address at the launch of the JLP’s 2020 national scholarship programme at the Spanish Court Hotel, New Kingston. The party also used the event to commemorate the 77th anniversary of the founding of the party.

“There is much being said regarding Jamaican politics and as a political party, we have to contemplate what is being said by the public. We can’t in any true sense be considered a learning institution if we don’t pay attention to what the public is saying.

“As a political organisation, the party must be responsive, and from time to time it would appear, internally, that there is a dissonance between what the public is expecting and what the practitioners, the political practitioners, are prepared to do,” he declared, before admitted that he was speaking in code.

“I am speaking in coded language, but I am sure everybody understands what I mean,” he said, without offering any explanation.

WILL NOT CHANGE

The prime minister then went on to declared that, “The public is not going to change to what the party wants, the party has to change to what the public wants,” before quoting from a Gleaner report on what was said at the Ward Theatre on the occasion of the party’s founding.

“Labour is needed of a party from the people, by the people and of the people. That is the only way you can secure government for the people, by the people and from the people. This party must not do anything to create distrust of the community. It must be recognised by its genuineness of purpose. It must take pride in its honesty, providing no room for deceivers, for charlatans or rogues and for self-seekers.”

Holness then went on to declare that his party is on a mission to change Jamaica for the better to make this genuinely and truly the place of choice to live, to work, to raise families, to do business, and to retire in paradise.

“I believe firmly and strongly that this is the right party at the right time in Jamaica’s history to truly achieve the goals and visions that were set out 77 years ago, to which we still remain true and committed.”