Mr. Speaker, a good leader is a good listener. The people speak and you listen.You listen, you reflect and you respond. Sometimes that reflection requires a change but that is par for the course, adaptability is a law of life.
After the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting and the ensuing media reports about my Ministry, I listened carefully. I heard the innuendos of detractors as they craftily sought to sow seeds of doubt in our ability to deliver the Logistics Hub. I heard the confusion of some people, as they struggled to distinguish fact from fiction.
Mr. Speaker, the nay-sayers can no longer cast doubt on our vision. There is much evidence that the promotion of this vision has served as a call to action for the investor and business communities, as well as the many hopeful students at our secondary and tertiary institutions, including the Caribbean Maritime Institute. My task here today is, therefore, to focus on what we have done and how much more we must do to deliver a logistics-centred economy.
Our vision has been validated over and over again by our international development partners. Our vision has been validated by the cold cash of private investors, as well as by the various international performance indices. However, there are those who attempt to undermine the burgeoning confidence and hope that are becoming increasingly manifest across Jamaica and in the Diaspora, but we are clear.
Having listened for the last few weeks, and upon reflection, I abandoned my original text and decided to answer the audible question being posed by the population at large, namely, what will it take to deliver the Logistics Hub?
For the next 45 minutes, Mr. Speaker, I crave your indulgence and that of my colleagues. It is time to explain to the people of Jamaica exactly what it takes to deliver the logistics-centred economy.
We have faced challenges as a Ministry but we are correcting the structural weaknesses, which I found when I became Minister, and we have been able to achieve signal successes in three short years…READ MORE
Download Contribution to the 2015/2016 Sectoral Debate by the Hon. Anthony Hylton