More Speeches

The nation will be as saddened as I am to learn of the passing of the Honourable Herb McKenley, OM, one of Jamaica's greatest sportsmen and role models. He will be best remembered for his role in winning Gold and silver medals in the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games in the 100 and 400 metres events that for the first time...

Jamaica and the world have lost one of the greatest athletes ever to grace the track with the death tonight of Herb Henry McKenley at the age of 85. Herb was a runner of unseal talent whose achievements are legendary in athletics and earned him the respect of track and aficionados the world over. We recall his mind-boggling feat when...

Today, we join with millions of people around the world, to commemorate the World Day of Remembrance for Road Crash Victims. This day, which is commemorated on the third Sunday of November, was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2005, in recognition of the need to appropriately acknowledge these persons and their bereaved families. Today marks the second...

I am delighted to be here with you this evening to join in your weekly meeting. It is one of those rare opportunities for me nowadays to fellowship with other persons who are involved in the business of service and not fear being targeted. And when I say targeted, I don't mean ambushed. As a former President of the Jaycees...

Having only recently assumed office as Minister of Education, I am pleased to address this 34th General Conference of UNESCO. Jamaica will mark the 45th anniversary of its membership of UNESCO shortly. That commemorative event will provide an opportunity not only to reflect on the achievements over the years but also to reiterate our intent to effectively play our role...

I am sure you've heard the saying "I'd rather eat at home, because only then will I be sure where the food is coming from." I hope no one here is 'freaking out' because my opening statement at the launch of a week to celebrate dining out seems terribly inappropriate. Just stay with me - I promise you, this is...

It is my pleasure to formally welcome you, my colleague Prime Ministers and Heads of Delegation to this Special Meeting of the Heads of State and Government of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM). We are here to address critical issues related to the CARIFORUM/EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). The fact that we are meeting at this...

It is my great pleasure to extend to you warmest and most sincere congratulations on your assumption of the Presidency of the United Nations General Assembly. The Jamaican Delegation is confident that much will be accomplished during this 62nd United Nations General Assembly under your able leadership. You can be assured of the support of the Jamaican delegation in this...

Jamaica is an island of many firsts.We know of Bob Marley, Louise Bennett, Mike McCallum, Carol Joan Crawford, Perry Henzel, Cindy Breakspeare, Asafa Powell and the Jamaica Bobsled team (just to name a few), as those prominent Jamaicans who have historically inspired the Jamaican spirit in their different fields of endeavour. As varied as those personalities are, so too is...

I deeply appreciate your invitation to join you today in commemorating the members of staff who have been recipients of National Honours and Awards. As you are no doubt aware, I am currently just getting my feet wet on the job. But although I am new to the Ministry, I am not new to the portfolio. People have referred to...

I don't know if it's the 'island thing', where we constantly feel that we need to explore beyond our shores or whether it's the fact that we all came from elsewhere to populate our island home, but Jamaicans are definitely an itinerant people. When Barrington Irving decided to fly around the world, he was following in a deep Jamaican tradition....

I am pretty sure that by now you must have heard the maxim popularized by the late American advice columnist Ann Landers: 'Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don't recognize them' The problem with maxims of course is that we fail to maximize the value of the wisdom inherent in them, even though we (often quite...