Mr. Speaker, Jamaica has been blessed with spectacular beauty, hospitable people, and a vibrant culture. These together have combined to help us create a successful tourism industry. Today the industry plays a crucial role in our economic and social development providing employment to some 33,000 persons in the accommodation sector and thousands more indirectly. Jamaica has long been recognised as...

My Fellow Jamaicans, as we celebrate Labour Day under the theme “Take a Stand - Beautify our land”, I ask that we all take a stand for the good stewardship of this beautiful land which God has given to us. Today, I invite all Jamaicans to join hands to beautify our land.  We must recall the watershed years of the...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to bring to the attention of the House, proposed changes to the tax regime that were recently approved by Cabinet that will allow for either the retention of existing benefits or the reduction in applicable taxes for certain sectors of the economy.   I. The first broad set of changes relate to:   AN AMENDMENT TO...

Mr. Speaker … the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce is the ‘business-focused’ Ministry of the Government of Jamaica, and a driver in the delivery of the Growth Agenda. Our mission is to catalyze growth and to facilitate the creation of jobs in the Jamaican economy in order to improve the lives and economic well-being of the People of Jamaica....

Mr. Speaker, I rise to make my contribution to the Sectoral Debate.  I do not take this opportunity for granted.  I remain committed to the people of SE St. Ann who have reposed their confidence in me.  My sincere gratitude to my constituency executive, cluster managers, workers, my personal office staff, and my family of constituents who consistently go over...

The Minister of Justice, Senator the Hon. Mark Golding on behalf of the Ministry and by extension the Government of Jamaica, expresses immense sadness and condemnation at the killing of Mohan Bunwarrie, on Saturday May 10, 2014. Mr. Bunwarrie was a firm believer in community development, and was actively involved in several projects in Spanish Town, including the Ministry of...

Twenty years ago, at the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development, the world community recognized that families, in their various forms, should be strengthened and enjoy comprehensive protection and support. As we prepare a roadmap for development beyond 2015, it is particularly fitting that the theme of the twentieth anniversary of the International Year of the Family is “Families...

A recent IDB discussion document describes Latin America and the Caribbean as "...one of the most violent regions of the planet. Its average homicide rate in 2012 was 23.7 per 100,000 inhabitants, almost four times the global rate, and more than twice the standard used by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to define an epidemic (10 homicides per 100,000). Jamaica...