IN their New Year messages released yesterday Jamaica’s leaders sought to analyse the country’s issues and offered their views on overcoming the challenges.

Governor General Sir Patrick Allen suggested that each Jamaican should make resolutions for 2015 to develop an attitude of gratitude; and to reach out to others with truthfulness, respect and human kindness.

“As we look back on the year passed, we can perhaps remember situations which could have turned out better, if we had shown or experienced those virtues,” the governor general said.

“Let us begin writing the first chapter of our life in 2015, using a different language of hope, faith, forgiveness and love, and be the change we want to see in Jamaica,” he argued.

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller assured the country that her government will continue to focus on the development of the physical and economic infrastructure during 2015.

Simpson Miller said that the priorities would include road repairs, including construction of the North South Highway, as well as efforts to privatise and expand the Kingston Container Terminal and the Norman Manley International Airport.

“The start-up and conversion of more efficient, less expensive energy production plants to boost growth potential and jobs will be high on the national agenda,” she stated.

She added that the Government will also continue to support private capital investments, in order to expand hotel and other construction activities.

“At the same time, the Government recognises that social infrastructure must also be improved. This includes greater attention to the expansion of reliable water supply systems in more communities of rural Jamaica,” she said.

She revealed that in 2015, she was looking forward to a “wellspring of good values, and “positive and wholesome attitudes by all Jamaicans”.

“No nation can be successful without this vital social ingredient: This glue that keeps the community and the society together,” she stated.

Leader of the Opposition Andrew Holness focused on six social and economic issues for the new year – health, education, energy, economy, good governance and foreign policy.

“This year Government must focus on better management of our public health system. We cannot allow the mismanagement of the Chikungunya epidemic to characterise the standard of our public health response to future epidemic threats. Ebola is still a global concern and we must continue to be vigilant,” Holness said.

He also called for the establishment of a National Health Insurance Scheme, “where all Jamaicans can make an affordable contribution to a pool of funds dedicated to health services”.

In terms of educational policy, he said that in 2015 the Government should reinstate the tuition-free policy, and increase the allocation per student to schools.

He said that this year, the Government must be serious about attracting investment in the electricity generation sector. In the interim, he said that Jamaican consumers must benefit from the significant drop in oil prices.

He also suggested that the government review the pricing mechanism of Petrojam this year.

“It is disingenuous for the Government to call on the retailers of oil products to offer lower prices to the public, when the Government itself ultimately controls the price at which the market is supplied,” he explained.

On the economy, he urged the Government to focus on small businesses and local entrepreneurs and their needs to increase production and investment; and on foreign policy he reiterated his call for re-examination of regional trading markets.

On the issue of good governance, Holness said that every Jamaican has a duty to hold their government to account for the proper running of the country’s affairs and urged them to participate in the democratic process.

“In a democracy, power flows from the people and if the people decide not to participate, then governments can act in ways that are not in the people’s interest without fear of consequence. I encourage all Jamaicans to let your voice be heard, whether you are articulate or inarticulate. You have the power to change how the country is run,” he said.