Golding says PNP Gov’t would prioritise human capital
Published:Tuesday | December 5, 2023 | 12:07 AMGareth Davis Sr/Gleaner Writer
Opposition Leader Mark Golding says that a People’s National Party (PNP) government led by him would focus on developing the human capacity of Jamaicans and ensuring that resources are available to uplift citizens.
He was addressing party supporters at a meeting at the Buff Bay Primary School in Portland on Sunday, where he presented Doreen Campbell as the standard-bearer for Portland Western and Colin Bell as the PNP’s man in Portland Eastern.
According to Golding, his administration would invest in human capital so Jamaicans can achieve their hopes and dreams with the right foundation and right support by a caring government with its integrity intact.
“The last time the People’s National Party was in Government, we had to fix the public finances of the country. We had to solve the debt crisis that had plagued Jamaica for decades,” said Golding.
“The next time we are in government, our mission will be different. Yes, we will pursue proper fiscal management because we understand it and we believe in it, but our focus will be on uplifting the human capacity of our people,” he said.
“We must deliver a government the people can have trust and confidence in, because they know that we are there to serve them,” he added, telling supporters that the current Holness administration has”not done right by the Jamaican people”.
Golding presented Forbes in the likely hope that the PNP will, as he describes it, “break the Vaz” – playing on the surname of the incumbent, Daryl Vaz the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) member of parliament serving his fourth term in Portland Western.
At the eastern end of the parish, Vaz’s wife, Ann-Marie, holds the seat for the ruling JLP.
She is expected to seek her third nod from constituents in the next general election, having first been elected in a by-election in 2019 and the parliamentary polls in 2020.
Meanwhile, Bell’s installation in Portland Eastern has reportedly not gone down well with the two sitting PNP councillors in the Portland Municipal Corporation. Dexter Rowland of the Port Antonio division and Wayne McKenzie of the Prospect division had earlier indicated their support for Owen Speid, a former president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association, whose application has since been snubbed.