JAMAICA Labour Party (JLP) General secretary Dr Horace Chang says the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) has done nothing but “mash up the country and make noise” during its 22 years in power

The PNP governed the country from 1989 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2016.

Chang was speaking at Sunday night’s presentation of caretaker Robert Miller to the St Catherine South Eastern constituency at Southborough Primary School in Portmore.

“When the PNP run the country — poverty increases, crime increases, the road them mash up, the schools fall apart, and the country ran into great difficulty. It is Andrew Holness who is trying to put back [and] take us from poverty to prosperity. The people of Jamaica saw in him a leader who focuses on getting a better life for people,” Chang told cheering Labourites.

Arguing that the Government was working in all areas to improve the lives of citizens, Dr Chang said the unemployment rate is decreasing while work is being carried out islandwide to make the country’s infrastructure better

Chang, admitting that there is a lot more work to do, said things are starting to go in the right direction under the Andrew Holness- led Government that was elected in February 2016 .

In the meantime, the JLP general secretary urged supporters to refrain from believing that the PNP is a massive organisation.

According to him, the PNP only managed to win previous elections because the JLP was not doing “the right thing”.

Chang, who is also the minister of national security, made it clear that his only interest in this capacity is to win the next general election, saying that the only way his party can lose the next election is by giving it away.

“In any democracy the Government is a plus, but we know PNP machinery depends on Government handout. They are going to fight hard in this election,” he said.

To applause, Chang said if the JLP remains the Government in the next general election the PNP will fall apart like “ice and snow under sunset”.

“The People’s National Party is a party that is deceptive and destructive to the country. don’t let anybody come tell you foolishness ’bout do it like the PNP, like the PNP has some big organisation out there — they are weak and getting weaker.

“You know when you corner an animal and him in the last corner him fight like him is a lion; that’s what the PNP is doing [leading up to the next election] but we have the capacity. We have the leadership, the personnel, and the people out there who can withstand the pressure,” said the JLP general secretary.

He told Labourites to fight on, as the JLP is committed to move the country from poverty to prosperity.

The St Catherine South Eastern constituency is currently represented by the People’s National Party’s Colin Fagan.

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