Prime Minister Andrew Holness says government will implement a J$500 million housing programme to benefit the poorer section of the population as the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) held its 75th annual convention on Sunday.
The convention was held amid suggestions by senior officials that the party should be re-elected to office for a second consecutive term.
Holness told supporters that the housing project will be a part of the Housing, Opportunity, Production and Employment (HOPE) Programme, where young people will be trained and afforded the responsibility for building the houses for the poor.
“The Jamaica Labour Party remains committed to ending poverty . . . social welfare [is] very important,” Holness said, adding that regardless of occupation, people will be able to make their contributions under the programme.
He said while more information will be disclosed in the budget debate next year, his administration, has, since being elected to office in 2016, done much to stablise the economy.
He said that the economic indicators are pointing in the right direction and that there are a number of projects in the pipeline to create more jobs.
“Inflation – lowest; exchange rate – stablised; national reserve- highest in decades. Highest number of people employed in the history of Jamaica. Almost 80,000 jobs created so far,” Holness said.
But Prime Minister Holness said that he was disappointed that the wage negotiations between the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and the government remain unresolved despite numerous meetings between the parties.
He said the drawn-out discussion was not benefiting anyone.
“You all know that crime is down. We have worked very hard. And at this juncture, I want to thank the police. I want to focus on the police. Much maligned; a lot of bad things have been said about them. But they are good men and women in uniform.
“I have been watching the negotiations with the police and I am very concerned. I want these men and women to know that I am sympathetic, that we have your interest at heart. We are doing the best we can. And I am asking the minister of finance to increase his efforts to bring this matter to a close,” Holness told the JLP supporters.
But he said that it is unlikely that his administration would bow to demands for higher wages, insisting that the government had to be sensible about fiscal discipline.
Meanwhile, senior party officials were singing the praises of the JLP at the convention held at the National Arena with the Minister of Industry, Investment , Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Audley Shaw, saying the JLP should be given a second five-year term in office.
Same old tricks, used by every socialist party in the Caribbean. Building houses and giving away land to the poor and ignorant in the hope they will reelect these nasty left wing monsters again.
Had they created more jobs people could buy and build houses. But they purposely keep the poor in the state of being poor because the poor and ignorant keep them in power.