SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland — Opposition Leader Andrew Holness says a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government will allow the Jamaican people to vote in a referendum to determine if there should be any amendment to the Buggery Act.

“You will also know that when it comes to time to determine whether or not we should make any changes to the Buggery Act, or to any other act that determines how Jamaicans see the family, you know that we are not going to take it up onto ourselves in Parliament to make that decision. We are going to come to you, the people of the country, to make that decision,” Holness told a the JLP Area Council Four meeting held at the Mannings School here on Sunday

Holness, meanwhile, lashed Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller who he quoted as saying that her immediate focus is to address the poverty of the Jamaican people, when she was asked for a schedule on amendments to the Buggery Act.

“… So they asked the prime minister, ‘Prime minister, what is the timetable for the removal of the Buggery Law? And she says: ‘Well, we have to go and we have to consult with the people you know, we have to go and consult with the people, but right now it is not a priority because we have to deal with the poverty of the people.’ And I reflected on what she said,” Holness said, adding that he had to ponder how the Government’s push for the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) was going to end poverty in Jamaica.”

Said Holness: “I have asked the prime minister before and I have told the Parliament before [that] when you can tell me how the CCJ is going to end poverty in this country, I will join you in that crusade.

“In the same way that that matter is not a priority, I don’t see how the CCJ is going to make one person in Jamaica richer than they were before. It might, maybe for a few lawyers, but I don’t know,” said the JLP leader.

“This is an independent country and when that time come you know that a Labour Party Government is going to put that question (of the CCJ) for you to decide where we go with it,” said Holness.