Mr Speaker, the tone and content of this annual contribution on education has to be special. The subject is far too important for partisan bickering or point-scoring across the aisle or between special interests within the sector. Our heads and our hearts have to be in different and higher places when we are discussing student achievement. So I open by...

Mr Speaker, as I rise to make another presentation in this Honourable House I want to first express my gratitude to our beloved Prime Minister, the Most Honourable Portia Simpson Miller, who continues to be a safe pair of hands steering the ship as we navigate the stormy seas, I want to reassure her that I will continue to do...

Mr. Speaker, I quote from Julius Caesar “there is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our...

The Minister of Youth and Culture, the Hon. Lisa Hanna, MP has urged global leaders to ensure that the culture is given a central focus in the development agenda. In her contribution to the Thematic Debate on Culture and Sustainable Development in the Post-2015 Development Agenda at the United Nations in New York on Monday, May 5, Minister Hanna called...

As we celebrate Child Month 2014, we pause to reflect on our nation’s children and how we, collectively, as parents, care givers, policy makers and indeed everyone responsible for providing care to our children, have met and fulfilled our responsibilities. I am heartened that there has been significant progress on several fronts. We have reduced infant mortality, which means fewer...

Members of the Senate,   Issues relating to Small Island Developing States, known by the acronym SIDS, were the main subject of discussions during meetings held last week in Kingston under my chairmanship.   The 25th Ministerial Session of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (the CDCC) which met on 25th April 2014 elected Jamaica, by acclamation, to the chairmanship...

Mr. Speaker, in rising to close this debate, I would like to acknowledge the contributions of all the participants. The Most Honourable Prime Minister yesterday set out with clarity the record of this administration in mobilising the national community around the Economic Reform Programme (ERP), which is on track and has already returned the Jamaican economy to growth. Simultaneously, she...

Acknowledgements Mr. Speaker, on rising I must give thanks to God for sparing us as a nation, and as a Parliament, that we can all gather here once again to discuss the people’s business and recommit ourselves as instruments of His will. Mr. Speaker, you will understand if I thank the delegates, Parliamentary colleagues, Party members, workers, and well-wishers for...