New Year’s Greeting Happy New Year! As we close out 2020 and embark on 2021, the New Year brings with it a renewed sense of possibility and a time for reflection. The past year has been a particularly challenging one for Jamaica and the whole World, as we have lived through the crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic and have endured...

My Fellow Jamaicans at home and in the Diaspora. Thank you for allowing us into your homes to greet you again this Christmas. We have come through a turbulent year that started with great hope and promises.  We anticipated that 2020 would be a Year of Transformation in our homes, personal lives, communities, and our nation. Unfortunately, that was not...

As a child, I so look forward to Christmas and I am certain that many Jamaican children are looking forward to Christmas, to grand market, to the toys, and the gifts that they will get. To see their relatives, their grandparents, to the family gatherings, but this Christmas season we will not be able to celebrate as we usually do...

My fellow Jamaicans, I wish you a Merry Christmas, from my family to all Jamaicans, at home and abroad, and a happy and safe holiday season. I do so for the first time as Leader of the Opposition, an office to which I have ascended with a sense of humility and honour. Christmas, rooted in the birth of Christ, is...

Madam Speaker, based on the information received from the Ministry of Health and Wellness, I wish to report that Jamaica has now recorded 11,875 cases of COVID-19. Of this number, 3,234 are active cases. This means that these are persons who contracted the virus and who are still able to transmit it to others. Information provided by the Ministry also...

“Creating A New Jamaica - Access To The Last Mile” Madam Speaker, it is a privilege for me to address this Honourable House so close to the 100 day mark since my appointment as Minister to the portfolio of Science, Energy and Technology. It is fitting that I use the occasion of the last sitting of the House for this...

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact the tourism industry, both globally and nationally, but as with any crisis, we are looking for the opportunities instead of focusing on the setbacks. The tourism industry is still hurting. Yet, we are seeing positive signs of buoyancy as we rebuild our tourism economy, despite the coronavirus. Preliminary figures from the Jamaica Tourist Board...

Madame Speaker, my statement this afternoon will address three topics: continuing the phased re-opening of schools, the way forward for the pending 2021 exams (PEP, CSEC and CAPE) and the results of the OYOD programme. Madame Speaker, our response to teaching and learning since the confirmation of Jamaica’s first case of Covid-19 on March 10, 2020 has been the closure...

Madam Speaker, I rise to bring this Honourable House an update on vaccination as an essential component of the National COVID-19 Response. With more than 66 million people globally having become infected by the virus and more than 1.5 million having lost their lives, vaccination as a response to containing the disease cannot be overlooked. Here in Jamaica, Madam Speaker,...