Andrew Holness

But we cannot continue this unsafe practice of persons living on the gully banks. That must come to an end.

Now, whenever I speak like this, immediately everybody starts to worry, why is the Government going to come throw me off? That’s not what the Government wants to do.

Every time it rains in any serious way, a part of the culvert or the invert is compromised.

This building, ‘East Palms’, is resulting in an improvement in the quality of life.

There are people who are of the view that it can never be better, that we can’t deal with the gunmen; the gunmen have taken over the place.

If I’m the last man to talk against criminals, I am going to stand up and be the last man to talk against criminals.

Of course, always. We back the JCF.

We’re not going to do the full launch out as we would want, which in a way is sad because it is going to impact the delivery of projects as quickly as we would like.

What that means is that we were contemplating a very fast and full roll-out of NaRRA to get as much of the projects out there as we can.

We need to create the rails on which all the payment systems in the financial sector can operate and integrate to allow for the immediate transfer of cash between persons.

Let’s be clear. The economy is doing better than was projected. … The growth is negative, but it gets less negative each quarter, right? It tells you our economy is fighting back.

All of these are matters that your Government that you elect, you can rest assured that we are up at night dealing with those problems.

I don’t want to be overpromising, but yesterday, the Cabinet met. Minister Williams gave us a report on the economy, how it is doing. We see headwinds.

To get to that point where there doesn’t need to be any more police killings, our murder rate needs to get to zero.

I don’t see people demonstrating for the murders of innocent people in Jamaica as how there are demonstrations for persons who the police have implicated or for those who commit the crimes.

Let’s get the murderers out of our society. Let’s get them out now, including those who are wrapped up in our communities, who infiltrate our organisations, who pretend like they are innocent and you don’t know what they are doing outside…

I wish to assure the families and the community that the State is not above the law, and that the institutions that are in place, many of them independent of the Government, will execute their duties.

So, we want to be clear, however, that speed without accountability is equally unacceptable.

It’s a fear or a lack of belief that we can build big things and build them quickly.

I am not satisfied. I am, you know, I made it very clear, I am not satisfied with the pace at which we have been able to deliver.

But no one wants to go to Parliament to face the PAAC (Public Administration and Appropriations Committee) that will say, ‘You did not follow procedure’ or get a report from the auditor general that writes you up.

Granted, this morning I was reading the newspapers where they highlighted children learning outside the classroom under trees. When I was going to school, that was my favourite time because the classrooms were so hot.

Jamaica looks forward to continued and renewed engagement…in the hope that our community will advance in a spirit of unity, transparency and solidarity – principles which are the cornerstone of our regional integration project.

Confidence in our community is crucial – among our citizens, member states and international partners – particularly at this juncture where we are seeking to diversify our partnership and development support.