Golding says no AI in PNP manifesto; pledges to ‘jook’ Jamaicans with credible plans
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Leader of the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP), Mark Golding has fired back at members of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) who have dismissed the PNP’s manifesto as being created by artificial intelligence.
Speaking at the PNP’s Kingston and St Andrew parish meeting on Saturday night, Golding said the party’s ‘Jamaica Love’ manifesto has been published while the JLP is yet to do the same.
“They (JLP) called a meeting (press conference), even though they don’t publish any manifesto, to try and disrespect our manifesto; all talking about is artificial intelligence write that manifesto,” Golding said.
“Well I can tell you how that manifesto was written. We had a series of retreats of the shadow cabinet and all of our spokespersons had to present what they would like to see as the policies of the party in government,” he continued.
According to the PNP president, those policies that made sense and were achievable have been included in the manifesto launched on Tuesday.
“The speeches that I have made, and Julian Robinson have made in the budget debates, those ideas have been… put in our manifesto, and I personally edited the manifesto a week ago to make sure that everything in it was something that I felt comfortable with,” Golding explained.
“So there is no artificial intelligence in that manifesto. It’s real intelligence in the manifesto and it’s a pathway to give a better life to Jamaica,” Golding posited.
Borrowing a word from the Neville ‘Struggle’ Martin’s ‘My Leader Born Yah’, the Opposition leader said he will “jook” Jamaicans in 2025 with the first in family scholarship “so any child who is the first in their family to qualify for school or university under the People’s National Party government will get a full scholarship so that they can help their brothers and sisters step out a poverty, and we can end intergenerational poverty in this country.”
He also touted the plan by his political party to build 50,000 affordable houses in the party’s first term in office should it win the next election.
“We gonna build them on public lands not suitable for agriculture, and we not gonna include the value of the land in the price of the house because we want the people of Jamaica to be able to access it,” Golding stated.
He also said the National Housing Trust (NHT) will be reformed and restored to its original purpose under which it was formed by Michael Manley.