MONTEGO BAY, St James — Information Minister Robert Nesta Morgan has blasted Opposition Leader Mark Golding for his call on Government to lessen debt payments and redirect some of the funds to ease the economic hardship being faced by Jamaicans.

Golding made the call during the People’s National Party’s Knockpatrick Divisional Conference at May Day High School in Manchester recently.

“This is a time when we need to just cool down the pace of this debt reduction and spend some money to cushion the crisis on the people,” Golding was quoted as saying.

“We said to them in the budget debate, ‘Take two per cent of GDP of expenditure in addition to what you came with in the budget and use that to cushion the crisis.’ That’s $40 billion.”

But Morgan compared Golding’s comment to the “run wid it” attributed to former Finance Minister Omar Davis.

“When I hear a man a say we need to stop pay the debt so we can give away some money, I remember when a man say that already. And I don’t know if you remember [when he said], ‘It is better for us to do it now and win the election so that when we come back we can fix it; so we have to run with it,’ ‘’ said Morgan, who is also the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Member of Parliament for Clarendon North Central.

He accused the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) of practising antiquated politics, in contrast to what he called the modern-day policies of the governing JLP Administration, led by Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

“The PNP is practising the politics of the 90s while Andrew is a digital prime minister, modern prime minister, an evolved prime minister. The analog politics is when you tell people anything and don’t remember say you have Google. So me sit down beside a friend when him [Golding] say ‘don’t pay the debt’ and me brethren say ‘Hold on, someone never say something similar?’ and take out him phone and start Google. And the man say ‘But nuh [1990s] politics this a man a play? We naw do that now; a 2022 we inna,’ “ related Morgan.

Said Morgan: “Labourites, as workers we have to be very careful you know because some of us love sweets. There are some amongst us in Jamaica who love the quick things. Them don’t believe you must build the foundation; you must just put block inna dirt. If you don’t watch the PNP closely you will get so much sweets that you teeth dem rotten out of your mouth, because that is the politics that they practise. It is not a politics of development, it is a politics of distribution — and they don’t care where the money comes from. They don’t care if the people who pay tax are benefiting from the work of the Government. We have had to make some tough decisions as a country. Let us not allow the PNP to destroy it.”

Morgan was speaking at a divisional conference where Generation 2000 (G2K) General Secretary Javin Baker was presented as the JLP candidate for the Cambridge Division in the St James Municipal Corporation. The seat has been left vacant by Homer Davis who is now the Member of Parliament for St James Southern after he successfully contested the 2020 General Election.

Morgan was one of the speakers who endorsed Baker’s candidacy.

“All the years I have known you, I know you as a hard worker. And you will be successful because you have the best mentor standing beside you, a man who has mentored so much of us. A man who has held the hands of many of us and led us down this challenging path called representation,” Morgan said in reference to Davis.

Davis, who is also minister of state in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM West), expressed his confidence in Baker to not only win the seat for the JLP but to go on and perform outstandingly.

“Today (Sunday) is a very special day for me. It is such a special day that I could not believe that this day would ever come when I would be standing at a podium, relinquishing my position as chairman of the Cambridge Division to someone. But, I am doing it to someone who I am well pleased with. I am doing that to someone in whom I have confidence,” Davis said.

In response, Baker said: “I promise I will preserve your legacy and take it to the heights that you want it to reach. I promise you and I commit to you that I don’t take this gift that you have given to me lightly. I will not let you down.”