Prime Minister calls on Jamaicans in the diaspora to support partnership initiative

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has called on Jamaicans in the Diaspora to support her partnership initiative, to move the country forward. Addressing hundreds of Jamaicans at a town hall meeting at the Medgar Evers College auditorium in Brooklyn, New York , on August 11, the Prime Minister said she was seeking partnerships with all sectors of the society, to create linkages toward advancing the development goals of the nation.
One such partnership, Mrs. Simpson Miller said, would be having the Jamaican Diaspora represented at the level of the Senate.
She said further that consideration would also be given for overseas Jamaicans to serve on Statutory Boards, and that more advertisements would be placed in the overseas media to attract the relevant expertise, where necessary.
The Prime Minister stressed that she intended to work very closely with the Diaspora community, and to ensure that the partnerships achieve their objectives.
The Prime Minister urged those in the audience and elsewhere in the Diaspora to reject persons who spread gloom and doom, and pointed out that her mission was to be Prime Minister for all Jamaica.
“I urge you to put aside party political differences and one-upmanship for the benefit and development of an independent Jamaica. It’s time to stop it, it’s time to reunite, because together we can make it,” Mrs. Simpson Miller said.
In a wide ranging address, the Prime Minister touched on a number of key sector areas which, she said, were critical to her vision of a new and dynamic Jamaica.
She explained that her administration was giving priority attention to such areas as community development, early childhood education, and low income housing. The Prime Minister said that although crime was trending down, “one murder in Jamaica is one too many”, and that she would be working closely with the Ministry of National Security and the Commissioner of Police to arrest the situation.
Mrs. Simpson Miller was presented with a proclamation from the New York State Assembly by Assemblyman, Nick Perry, recognizing her outstanding political achievements. She was also presented with a portrait of the cover of Everybody’s Magazine, which featured her in its April 2006 issue. The presentation was made by Editor, Particia Boothe.
Bishop Sylveta Hamilton-Gonzales, who said prayers, presented the Prime Minister with a bouquet of flowers, in recognition of her nomination as a Woman of Great Esteem for 2006. She will be presented with the ‘Emerald’ award later this year.
The Prime Minister was accompanied on the platform by Colin Campbell, Minister of Information & Development; Phillip Paulwell, Minister of Industry, Technology, Energy & Commerce, and Professor Gordon Shirley, Jamaica’s Ambassador to the United States.
Consul-General in New York, Dr. Basil K. Bryan, moderated the meeting.
Mrs. Simpson Miller, who is in New York as guest of the Jamaica Independence Anniversary Committee (JIAC), will deliver the keynote address at the Grand Independence Ball, to be held at the New York Hilton Hotel & Towers, Manhattan, later today.