KINGSTON, Jamaica — The People’s National Party (PNP) is describing a promise by the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) to raise the country’s minimum wage to $32,000 should they be elected to serve a third consecutive term as Government as “clutching at straws”.

“This is a late in the day, clutching at straws [attempt] to salvage a dying campaign. The people of Jamaica are wiser than that, and we are confident in your wisdom,” said St Catherine East Central PNP candidate Raymond Pryce, speaking at a press conference on Monday at the PNP headquarters.

He pointed out that none of the Government’s speakers, including Prime Minister Andrew Holness, Minister of Labour Pearnel Charles Jr, and Minister of Information, Dana Morris Dixon, had made any mention of the minimum wage increase in a series of debates last week.

Holness indicated over the weekend that the minimum wage would be doubled in increments should the JLP retain office.

READ: Holness promises to move minimum wage to $18,500 in 2026

Pryce described the numbers quoted as imitation, likening them to the range of increases the PNP expects residents to get back after the party’s plan to raise the income tax threshold to $3.5 million.

“Imitation is the best form of a compliment, so the fact that they are bandying the same figure basically that we have assured the public can be afforded is their way to accept that the data presented by the party president in the leadership debate was correct,” Pryce claimed.

“We believe that the minimum wage is something that should never be politicised, given the delicacies surrounding an adjustment of it. It requires a careful balancing act to ensure that you are taking into account the implications on both sides of the coin,” said Campaign Spokesperson Cleveland Tomlinson.

Tomlinson maintained that the PNP, as per its manifesto, was working on a liveable wage for Jamaicans.

Added Tomlinson, “We will establish a liveable wage commission that will facilitate the process of consultation and consensus building to arrive at a liveable wage for Jamaicans. We will not do it in a way that circumvents, that avoids, consultation.”

Tomlinson maintained that the PNP would be guided by data, the inflation outlook and stakeholder confirmation.

“We will not be guided by an attempt to win an election— because of political desperation, because the prime minister knows his time is coming to an end,” he said.

The PNP also reiterated the economic soundness of its fiscal policies presented in its manifesto.

— Dana Malcolm