Prime Minister Andrew Holness says the time has come for his administration to pivot and place greater focus on achieving widespread peace in Jamaican society and improved productivity.

Holness says the room to dedicate additional energies towards those key elements of the functioning of a good society has presented itself given that his administration, he said, has rectified a long-standing issue where crises, including natural disasters, have distracted focus from sustainable capital investments in public good.

“My administration, your government, has finally solved this problem of disrupted long-term capital investments in public goods which has left our infrastructure in its current state. It is now time to pivot focus to the next challenge for us as a free people and independent country, which is to address productivity and peace in our country. Productivity is necessary to increase growth and reduce the cost of living,” Holness said.

The prime minister commented on the need for greater focus on peace and productivity during his address on Independence Day in Jamaica.

Holness noted that, in the past, several crises occurring at the same time coupled with less than adequate management of Jamaica’s fiscal affairs have distracted from and prevented past administrations from advancing the agenda of getting the economy to expand in a sustainable way and addressing cost of living issues.

The prime minister says consideration should be given to the multiple, frequent and overlapping crises the island has faced in the past eight years, including a range of frequent and severe weather events, which overlapped with health crises, such as the dengue outbreaks and the COVID-19 pandemic, which spanned a global inflationary crisis.

He noted that Jamaica was able to respond swiftly to some of the challenges with various social expenditure such as the CARE programme where 350,000 Jamaicans received grants to cushion the economic fallout of the pandemic, along with the provision of subsidy for electricity to cushion the inflationary impact of energy supply disruptions globally, and now the Government is moving to swiftly deploy Hurricane Beryl rebuilding grants.

“However, while doing all this we have been able to continue with our capital investment programme, we continue to invest in garbage trucks, over 100 purchased so far and more to come, to improve garbage collection in your communities,” Holness said, adding “We recently bought 100 new buses to be deployed in time for back to school to ease transportation woes. The SPARK programme is underway to begin the process of fixing your community roads. Additionally, new hospitals and health facilities are being constructed as I speak.”

While emphasising the Government’s current ability to respond to crisis while not disrupting programmes which will advance the growth agenda, Holness also noted that almost every month a new water system is ready for commissioning, new parks, town centres and housing schemes are being built and the security forces are being upgraded with new buildings, technologies, ships and vehicles to make Jamaica a safer place.

The prime minister said that an adjustment of the mentality of people will have to be secured in order to successfully achieve the pivot for additional focus on achieving peace and productivity.

“The most important action towards greater productivity and peace is a mindset change, to create a social and moral value around productivity and peace in our culture. Just as we are proud to be known as the fastest and most creative people, we must build a culture around being the most peaceful society and productive economy in the world. These issues are fundamental to our nationhood and sustainability,” Holness said.