'No new ideas in PNP's Agenda'
Published:Tuesday | August 23, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter
The governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is continuing to pour cold water on the newly published Progressive Agenda of the opposition People's National Party (PNP).
One day after JLP deputy leader Dr Christopher Tufton described the document as lacking in substance, Andrew Holness, chair of the party's communications commission, followed up by saying it "has very little, if any, new content".
"The PNP led this country for 18 years during a period of global economic prosperity, and during that time it failed to translate that prosperity into the betterment of Jamaica and our people," Holness said in a statement yesterday.
"Despite the great fanfare that preceded the launch of its Agenda document, the PNP has again failed to provide any new ideas or solutions towards this end."
He added: "We know that our term has not been perfect, but at a time when international constraints are tight, and the ability to take decisions in the long-term interest of the country is more important than ever before, the JLP feels certain that it continues to be the better choice for Jamaica."
However, Anthony Hylton, chair of the PNP Policy Commission and deputy chairman of the party, said the criticisms being made by the JLP are unfounded.
"The JLP fails to recognise that they are the Government. They came to the people with a promise to build a better Jamaica and have failed miserably," Hylton told The Gleaner yesterday.
"In the meantime, the PNP has rethought its policies and its approach."
Anticipating debate
Hylton said that "even now, at this late stage in their failing administration, the JLP can pull from the Progressive Agenda, which will improve the prospects of the Jamaican people".
The JLP says it looks forward to debating issues contained in the Progressive Agenda with the PNP.
The PNP, in launching its Progressive Agenda last Wednesday, said it was not a manifesto. The PNP also said it was committed to "an approach to governance that will be data-driven, evidence-based, with measurable outcomes".
The party says governance would be constructed on five pillars: human resource development; a safe, secure and just society; a participatory, accountable and responsible society; progressive internationalism; and economic growth for sustainable national development.
"There is much in the Progressive Agenda, at this 11th hour, that they can learn from," Hylton said.
Holness yesterday said the JLP had been consistent in stating its belief that to create a better Jamaica "we must all pull together to support and implement strategies to develop our human resources, to create social equity and justice, to return to fiscal prudence in managing our economy, to increase transparency in government, and to create an environment in which all Jamaicans can be fulfilled".