Prime Minister Calls for Shift to Productivity and Self-Reliance

Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, is calling on Jamaicans to shed the victim mentality and dependency and move to productivity and self-reliance.

Addressing Sunday’s (March 29) St. Ann Chamber of Commerce Awards Banquet 2026, held at the Cardiff Hotel & Spa in Runaway Bay, St. Ann, Dr. Holness said the single most important shift Jamaica needs to make right now is not in its budget or its infrastructure, but in its mindset.

“Let us start from the position that the world owes us nothing and we are going to go there and fight for our own no matter what you throw at us, because that is what it means by being ‘little but we tallawah’,” Dr. Holness emphasised.

He said this mindset shift must be supported by disciplined use of resources, accompanied by productivity at both the national and individual levels.

“Our fiscal management and stability and our resilience will only carry us to maybe one per cent to two per cent growth, but if we’re going to break that one per cent to two per cent threshold of growth that we have had, which has formed the ceiling of our growth for most of the last decade, we must increase our productivity,” Dr. Holness continued.

“So, I am again speaking to the people: what have you produced recently? What did you contribute to the GDP of the country?” he asked.

Too many people, he said, are waiting for someone to come and deliver what they feel they are owed, rather than going out and creating it themselves, arguing that a country cannot claim independence, while still looking outward for its rescue.

In the meantime, the Prime Minister pointed to the tourism sector as an example of where mindset and execution must align. He said that while Jamaica is widely marketed for its sun, sea and sand, equal attention must be given to “safety, security and seamlessness”.

Dr. Holness said that solving safety and security alone lifts the entire offering of the country but seamlessness is what ties it all together.

“Seamlessness has to do with how you do your job, the ease with which you can do your job, how you can move around without congestion, and how things are arranged to minimise wastage of time,” he underscored.