PEOPLE’S National Party (PNP) leader Mark Golding pledged a message of ‘people first’ at the PNP’s 88th anniversary conference public session at Independence Park in Westmoreland, Sunday.

Telling officers of the party, members of Parliament and senators, regional chairs, mayors and councillors, delegates and hundreds of Comrades what his vision is for Jamaica, Golding also thanked people of Westmoreland and all of western Jamaica for welcoming the party and standing strong through one of the hardest periods the region has ever faced.

Golding said the party didn’t gather in the traditional way at the National Arena in Kingston but came to the west, “because this is where the pain has been greatest, where the recovery has been slowest, and where the need for determined leadership is most urgent” following Hurricane Melissa last October.

He said the decision to come to the west was also strengthened by the fact that the Government’s response to the Hurricane Melissa disaster has been an “abject failure of the people”.

“There has been no coherent recovery plan, and the people have largely been abandoned,” Golding said.

“The many thousands who lost their roofs and suffered other damage have faced delayed and inadequate assistance to repair their homes, and those whose houses and businesses were destroyed have been left to fend for themselves.”

He continued, highlighting that there has been no programme to cushion rising food prices for hurricane victims, and well into the new school year the vast majority of damaged schools remain unrepaired.

“There has been no programme to support small business operators and help them get back on their feet,” he lamented, adding, “We did not come here merely to describe your suffering. We came to say what must now be done.”

Citing the need for a recovery road map for western Jamaica, Golding said Jamaica needs a public reconstruction dashboard showing every damaged school, health facility, road and public building, the money allocated, the contractor responsible, and the deadline for completion.

“The people must be able to see where the money is going and whether the work is being done,” he said.

“Second, we need a properly funded recovery facility for farmers, fisherfolk and small businesses. Assistance must reach people quickly and on reasonable terms so they can replace equipment, restore production, rehire workers, and earn again.”

He said reconstruction must make the west stronger than it was before — more resilient roofs and public buildings, better drainage, stronger electricity and water systems, and construction standards fit for a country exposed to more powerful storms.

“What has happened in the west reflects a wider national problem. Too many Jamaicans are left to struggle alone against the raging tide of high prices, unreliable public services, insecure housing, inadequate health care, and an economy in which work does not deliver a better life for the people,” Golding said.

“Jamaica does not lack talent. We do not lack hard-working people. We do not lack ideas. What we lack is governance and policies that put the people first.”

Golding said his vision for Jamaica is anchored in the core principles of the PNP. “Our policies must always seek to benefit the majority of the people; that is what putting people first means. We pursue social justice because we know that the way things are is not how they are meant to be, and better must come because positive change is not beyond us.”

At the conference Golding listed party promises, including ownership for more Jamaicans, making the country not a Jamaica of “permanent tenants and insecure occupants” but one of owners. He also promised a better life for working people — making life easier for those who work for a living by, among other things, introducing a liveable wage that takes the working poor out of poverty and is adjusted annually for inflation.

A third promise of a strong economy that builds and grows wealth and reduces inequality, was followed by public services that works for ordinary people, an honest government, and equal justice under the law.

“Last year the people made the PNP a much stronger Opposition, but they did not yet give us the Government,” he told delegates. “We must reflect and learn from both parts of that verdict.”

He added: ”We must be humble and ask why some Jamaicans who wanted change were not yet ready to place the full responsibility of government in our hands. We have listened. We are learning. And we are changing.”