GOVERNMENT sources have scoffed at claims that the sudden resignation of Marsha Smith as the Member of Parliament for St Ann North Eastern and the speedy announcement of a by-election in the constituency is a signal that Matthew Samuda is headed to the Ministry of Finance.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Wednesday used a post-Cabinet media briefing at Jamaica House to announce that Samuda on Monday resigned from the Upper House and the Cabinet — in which he served as minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation — paving the way for him to contest a by-election for a seat in the Lower House.

“Today I am announcing that a by-election will be held in the constituency of North East St Ann. The nomination day will be September 11, 2024, and the election day will be September 30th 2024,” said Holness with a smile.

This prompted immediate speculation that Samuda had been hand-picked by Holness to succeed Dr Nigel Clarke who will be resigning as minister of finance shortly to take up the post of deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund come October 31.

Holness is yet to name Clarke’s replacement despite indicating, more than one week ago, that the Government has identified a successor to Clarke in his ministerial and parliamentary responsibilities “and there will be a smooth transition in both capacities”.

Following the prime minister’s announcement of the St Ann North Eastern by-election there was a flood of claims that Samuda would be the replacement for Clarke despite his background being in management and marketing.

But Jamaica Observer sources close to the Holness Administration pointed to the rest of the prime minister’s presentation at the post-Cabinet media briefing which they said signalled the role Samuda will play in the Government as it eyes a third consecutive term.

“The prime minister made it clear that this Government has done extremely well in most areas, probably the best in the history of independent Jamaica, but he is not satisfied with the rate of economic growth. Matthew has shown that he performs outstandingly wherever he is placed, be it national security or climate change and water, so the PM will be putting him in a role where he can lead that charge to increase the level of growth,” said one Observer source.

“We have crime down, though not at the level we want, we are fixing the health sector, the public transport sector, and we have the economy where we don’t have to go begging to respond to shocks. So now we need to increase the level of growth, and that is where the hard-working Matthew will come in,” added the source hours after Holness signalled that this was a priority for his Administration.

Holness first pointed out that Tuesday marked the fourth anniversary of the Jamaica Labour Party’s victory in the 2020 General Election and argued that it had delivered much of what it promised in the lead-up to the polls despite shocks such as COVID-19, global inflation, and the devastation brought by the recent Hurricane Beryl.

“We have managed to absorb these shocks largely from our own resources. This is something that we, as a people, should be proud of,” said Holness as he declared that the Government has continued to lower inflation, keep the dollar stable, invest in needy infrastructural programmes, even as it adjusted to the shocks.

“This has never happened in the history of independent Jamaica. The critics can crow all they want, they cannot assail these facts,” charged Holness.

He argued that Jamaica has institutionalised strong fiscal management to secure economic certainty and now needs to focus on achieving high growth.

“While we have been achieving some levels of growth, we are not satisfied with the anaemic level of growth. We are not satisfied that the levels of growth we are achieving will be sufficient to deliver the increases in public revenue needed to drive investments in the things that matter to you,” added Holness.

The prime minister noted that a low growth trajectory could be easily wiped out by shocks like Hurricane Beryl.

He told the post-Cabinet media briefing that, in the coming months, as the Government moves to structure itself for a greater focus on growth, efficiency, peace, and productivity, there will be additional changes “to put the Administration in a position to refocus and better deliver the well-deserved benefits to the people of Jamaica”.

“These changes are occurring at all levels of the Government; they are not only limited to the Cabinet, and you would have already seen some of the changes,” said Holness as he segued into the announcement of the St Ann North Eastern by-election.