MEMBER of Parliament for St Mary Western, the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Robert Montague, has proposed a $15-billion programme to support the poor and vulnerable across Jamaica.

In his contribution to the 2024/25 State of the Constituency Debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Montague said under his proposal the money would be shared evenly across constituencies for the upliftment of the poor and vulnerable while creating opportunities for people and finally bring light and water to every “nook and cranny” of Jamaica.

“We have always asked the poor to sacrifice, to ‘band dem belly, to hold strain, to cut back’, let us now invest in the poor. Let’s give them a chance, an opportunity, to share the prosperity. They have waited long enough,” said Montague, a former member of the Andrew Holness-led Cabinet.

“We all have shared the hardships, made the sacrifices, now let us all share the prosperity,” added Montague even as he applauded former Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke for the recently introduced Reverse Tax Credit Programme which will see taxpayers earning less than $3 million annually getting a one-off refund of $20,000.

“After a big readjustment in salaries for public sector workers, offering permanent positions to thousands of contract workers, no new net taxes for over eight years, we have managed the economy so well that we can give back taxes to our people. This is shared prosperity.

“But I want the Government to go further, I am today proposing the SHARE (sports, housing and health, agriculture, rural development, and employment) programme to bring more people and communities together in sharing the fruits of their sacrifices over the years. A programme to give the poor and the vulnerable a start, to give them hope and allow them to carve a way forward by their own sweat and effort,” added Montague.

He proposed that under the sports component of SHARE, each constituency would receive $2 million to be spent on community playing fields with one high school playing field mandatory.

He said this would be funded by the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund and the Sports Development Foundation.

Under the health component, Montague proposed the allocation of $3 million to each constituency to help people with prescription drugs, glasses, medical items and equipment. He argued this would be funded by the National Health Fund.

For the housing section, the St Mary Western MP wants a grant of $5 million per constituency, to be funded by uncollected National Housing Trust (NHT) returns and the Housing Fund.

In addition, Montague has proposed that $4 million be granted per constituency for agricultural start-up enterprises or expansion of existing ones.

Montague’s proposal includes $2 billion to be shared equally for rural water and rural light.

“At least one solar-powered water system must be done per rural constituency and a programme to provide electricity to our rural communities…This should include the use of solar or wind technologies for hard-to-reach communities,” said Montague.

The employment aspect of his SHARE programme would see each MP recommending 200 people to participate in a one-year programme of employment and training and paying them $20,000 per week.

“All 170 Government agencies, ministries and departments must indicate how many trainees they can take and how much funds they can contribute to this approximately $15-billion-dollar investment programme,” said Montague as he argued that the effect of the SHARE programme on inflation would be negligible.

He added that the $15 billion could be financed through the Bauxite Levy fund, which he said is owed more than US$30 million and reserve funds held in fixed deposits by Government entities.

“It is poor people’s money being held in trust, don’t use it all, just some and invest it into the people,” declared Montague, who did not say how this would operate in line with the Constituency Development Fund which provides millions of dollars to MPs each year to improve their effectiveness in dealing with constituency projects.