Mark Golding on Thursday put the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government on notice that the Opposition intends to hold the Administration accountable for all the promises it made to the country during campaigning for the September 3 General Election.

Golding, the Opposition leader and People’s National Party (PNP) president, served the notice during the opening of the new Parliament at Gordon House where all 63 members were sworn.

Golding, during an 11-minute statement, noted that Jamaica was at a crossroad of sorts, having managed, through successive administrations, to reduce the public debt “from the perilous heights of 147 per cent of GDP (gross domestic product), which was where it was in 2012, to this year where it is projected to achieve the 60 per cent target which is embodied in our fiscal rules and is part of our fiscal responsibility framework in our law”.

“Both sides can claim some degree of satisfaction in the achievement of that monumental milestone,” Golding stated.

He insisted that the heavy lifting began during the PNP Administration of Portia Simpson Miller in 2012-13 with a new International Monetary Fund agreement, and which saw the debt being reduced to 115 per cent of GDP by 2016.

“It has continued thereafter to now where …the expectation is that we will achieve 60 per cent of GDP this year,” he said.

“Having said that, what we have not seen is commensurate improvements in the standard of living and quality of life of our people,” Golding argued.

According to him, “All the sacrifices that have been borne by the people of Jamaica in running the high primary surpluses that have been necessary to achieve the debt reduction… must now translate into tangible benefits that the people of Jamaica can feel that they have derived from the sacrifices made.”

“We intend to hold this Government to account for all the promises that they made to the people of Jamaica in the course of the last election …and in achieving higher levels of performance than they’ve been able to achieve thus far,” he warned.

“We intend to also put forward our own proposals as to how we would do that so that Jamaica could be a place in which the aspirations of our people can be met right here, on this rock, and not by way of having to migrate or seek solace elsewhere,” Golding added.

He also noted that Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness, in his inauguration (swearing-in) address at King’s House on Tuesday, emphasised the importance of the country coming together.

“I think nobody in Jamaica would express a contrary view; unity is strength and we must all strive for it. However, it cannot be achieved by platitudes or just empty words, one hand can’t clap,” said Golding.

He suggested that the Parliament was off to a bad start, stating, “If you want to build consensus around important topics, that there be some actual tangible effort to achieve consensus, the events that have taken place here today, I don’t think augur well in that regard”.

His reference was to the reappointment of the Member of Parliament for St Andrew East Rural Juliet Holness as Speaker of the House of Representatives. The PNP had, on Wednesday, said it would not accept her appointment or that of former Speaker Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert.

The MP for St James Central, Heroy Clarke, was reappointed deputy speaker.

On the matter of constitutional reform, which Holness has stated he wants to continue to pursue in collaboration with the Opposition, Golding said: “We do also want to see Jamaica move from the vestiges of colonialism, which are still very much present in our existing constitutional arrangements, and achieve full decolonisation which is long overdue.

“For that to happen, there needs to be consensus around certain critical things that we regard as fundamental to this exercise and we don’t feel that any effort has really been made to achieve such consensus thus far, and I look forward to seeing whether or not that will in fact take place going forward.”

As it relates to Opposition members chairing the various committees of the Parliament, Golding urged Holness to reverse his 2020 decision which resulted in some committees no longer being chaired by Opposition members.

Golding reminded that the convention was established by former Prime Minister Bruce Golding in 2007, continued by Prime Minister Simpson Miller between 2012 and 2016, and by Holness in his first term that ran from 2016 to 2020.

“I think that it is necessary for there to be more accountability for what the Executive is or isn’t doing, and the committee system of the Parliament is a vital element in ensuring that continuity,” he argued.

“Having the Government appoint the chairmen of the committees, set the agenda and the dates of meetings… is not, in our view, consistent with the aspiration of accountability which we hear being stated on both sides,” Golding added.