Green: ‘We will not allow them to raid Jamaica’s barn again’

Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Floyd Green says the opposition People's National Party (PNP) is seeking to regain state power to hijack the achievements of the Andrew Holness administration, having contributed nothing during its time at the helm.

“What I realise, the people on the other side, not that them look on and them see seh Jamaica look good; them see seh we have money yah now. Them see seh the economy healthy, them want to come back,” said Green on Sunday during a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Area Council 1 meeting in St Andrew North Eastern.

“Nobody want to plant the corn, but everybody want to raid the barn. We will not allow them to raid Jamaica's barn again,” he added.

Green, the member of parliament for St Elizabeth South Western, said to date, the Opposition party has not put forward its policy agenda as the government-in-waiting, choosing to focus, as he puts it, solely on Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

Holness has been under the microscope over matters concerning his uncertified statutory declarations which the PNP has used as part of its campaigning strategy.

But Green charged that Holness, who has brought the matter to the Jamaican court, has the firm backing of the governing party.

“We look pon Andrew. We see a visionary. We see a hardworking young Jamaican. We see a prime minister that cares for the people. We see a labour party that has transformed Jamaica. So, when them say look pon Andrew, we a tell them we a stick with Andrew Michael Holness to lead us to the third term,” said Green.

He said in eight years, the JLP has built up the country's infrastructure, opening toll roads in the process. In education, he said over eight schools have been taken off the shift system, mentioning at the same time the government's subsidy of all Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) subjects for PATH (Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education) students.

Further, he said the JLP has been the better managers of the health sector, arguing that the PNP failed in its handling of the Chikungunya virus infection, while Holness navigated the COVID-19 pandemic well. Additionally, he said the government is overseeing the construction of three new hospitals and health centres.

“So Labourites, this government is working for you,” he said, mentioning the rehabilitation of 71 farm roads and the restructuring of the agriculture sector amid the passage of hurricanes in recent times.

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