KINGSTON, Jamaica – Leader of the main opposition People’s National Party (PNP), Mark Golding says a future PNP administration will pursue a land and housing program dubbed ‘PORTIA’ in honor of Portia Simpson-Miller, Jamaica’s first woman prime minister.
(Photo credit – Jamaica Observer)Golding was speaking on Sunday at the public session of the party’s 86th annual conference at the National Arena in the Corporate Area, under the theme “Time Come!”
Golding told thousands of supporters, clad in orange, the colour of the party that ‘PORTIA’ is an acronym for Programme for Orderly Renewal and Transformation of Infrastructure in all Areas.
“This programme will drive policies that ‘Sista P’ stood for – improving infrastructure in old housing schemes, tearing down zinc fences in communities and replacing them with concrete walls, completing the infrastructure and land titling for existing land tenure regularising schemes, and rolling our new ones to bring hope and decent living conditions in areas of social neglect,” Golding said.
“Our beloved Sista P will smile as the next PNP government improves sidewalks for persons with disabilities, provides housing assistance to needy citizens, and beautifies communities where our people live.”
Simpson-Miller – the first female president of the PNP, retired from politics in 2017.
Golding also pledged that during the next PNP government, lands will be available to the National Housing Trust (NHT) for qualified contributors.
He added that a comprehensive review of all laws relating to housing will be implemented to find ways to make housing more affordable for all Jamaicans.
Also addressing supporters was the party’s spokesman on finance and the public service, Julian Robinson, who described as alarming, the state of foundational literacy and numeracy among Jamaica’s young people.
He said this would beas one of the major targets of his party when it returns to Government.
Robinson argued that if the system is not fixed at the early childhood level, building science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) schools as proposed by the present Government will be a waste of time.
“Educational reform must go deeper. We cannot start with advanced learning when far too many of our children and young adults are not even reading or doing basic arithmetic at the required levels. There must be a comprehensive national effort to ensure that every child leaves primary school with a strong grasp of literacy and numeracy,” added Robinson.He told comrades that investing in primary education, in early childhood development, is what will make the greatest impact on Jamaica’s future,” he said.
“We must retrain our teachers, revamp our curricula, and ensure that classrooms are equipped with the resources needed to deliver world-class education. Only then will we be able to transition effectively to the higher levels of learning and training that are essential for the value-added sectors we wish to dominate,” said Robinson.
And former Opposition Leader Dr Peter Phillips has dismissed as “nothing more than a side show” talk of by-elections.
He has also slammed as “disrespect for the Jamaican people” the decision by Prime Minister Andrew Holness to be selective in where by-elections are held.
“It’s disrespect for the right to representation for the people of South Treand Morant Bay who have been without representation for extended periods,” Phillips noted.
Of note is that days after a vacancy arose in St Ann North East with the resignation of the sitting Member of Parliament, the Jamaica Labour Party’s Marsha Smith with immediate effect, Holness announced a by-election to replace her. Matthew Samuda resigned from the Senate and was nominated on September 11 for the September 30 by-election. He will be challenged by two independents; the PNP is boycotting the election.
Phillips made the call for legislation reform that he said would cause a by-election to be held in a specified time whenever there is a vacancy. Such power, he said, should be given to the Electoral Commission of Jamaica “so people stop playing and monkeying around with the constitutional right of the Jamaican people”.
Holness has stated that other by-elections will be held.
The Morant Bay Division of the Municipal Corporation in the eastern parish of St Thomas has been vacant since May this year following the sudden death of the PNP Councillor, Rohan Bryan.
The death earlier this month of the JLP Councillor for the Aenon Town Divison of the Clarendon Municipal Corporation has created another vacancy at the local government level.
Additionally, there is an upcoming vacancy in St Andrew North Western as the sitting Member of Parliament, Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke, has been recruited by the International Monetary Fund as a Deputy Managing Director. He will take up the position at the end of October.
Meanwhile, Dancehall superstar Vybz Kartel made a surprise appearance at conference,
Kartel, who was freed from prison on July 31 after 13 years behind bars, appeared at the podium alongside his attorney Isat Buchanan, who is the former chairman of the PNP’s Human Rights Commission.
Kartel did not speak at the conference, but raised clenched fists, a symbol of the PNP, as he stood near the podium with Buchanan, who addressed the thousands of PNP supporters.
