More Speeches

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...

I greet you with a sense of hope and anticipation mixed with stout determination on this World Tourism Day 2007. Although I have been intimately involved with the trade for about two decades, this is my first as Captain of Team Jamaica. I feel particularly blessed to be able to lead a team of consummate professionals working with enterprising stakeholders...

As Minister with Responsibility for Women's Affairs, I am particularly pleased that the theme chosen by the United Nations for World Tourism Day this year "Tourism opens doors for women" - recognizes the important contribution of women in the tourism sector. Women have played an integral role in the tourism industry throughout its long and distinguished history and have undoubtedly...

Prime Minister, Bruce Golding has called for amendments to the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives, so as to allow Members of Parliament (MPs) who are not Ministers, to make statements during sittings. The Prime Minister, who was speaking during yesterday's (Sept. 27) opening of the new session of Parliament and swearing-in of the Senate and House of Representatives...

The Cabinet that I have chosen has been very carefully structured and in my judgment it is what is necessary, it is what is appropriate for the challenges that face us at this time. There have been some comments about the size of the Cabinet. We have in fact increased the number of Ministries from 14 to 15, and to...

Today the voters of Jamaica went to the polls to choose the 60 representatives from whom the next government will be formed. However perplexing some may find the results, the fact is, the people have spoken and we of the Jamaica Labour Party, accept and respect the decision of the people of Jamaica. The result of the election as indicated...

I have advised His Excellency the Governor General, in accordance with the decision of the Cabinet and under the provisions of Section 20(1) (C) of the Representation of the People Act that the date for the holding of the poll in the General Elections which had been previously set for August 27th should be vacated and the date September 3,...

A number of comments have been made in the media, including Page One editorials in the press today (Tuesday, August 20) with respect to the Proclamation of the State of Emergency in the wake of the passage of Hurricane Dean on Sunday. These are either incorrect or based on a misunderstanding of what the Proclamation is intended to achieve and...

We are all aware that Hurricane Dean has severely affected Jamaica, where the safety of the public is likely to be endangered and the various communities within Jamaica may be deprived of supplies and services that are essential to life. We are also aware that unfortunately, during and after past natural disasters, there have been widespread attempts at looting and...

Jamaica has secured Tier 2 ranking in the 7th Annual Trafficking in Persons Report produced by the United States' State Department. The latest assessment is an improvement on the Tier 2 Watch List ranking, and is a testament to the significant effort being made by the country to meet the international standards that are required to effectively combat human trafficking....