More Speeches

Concerns about the upcoming Diaspora Convention have been fully ventilated in the media as it ought to be in a democratic country enjoying all its freedoms. Hopefully, this will generate more interest and participation, as reports from different Diaspora regions are now indicating. To set the record straight, I wish to make the following comments. The process of planning the...

[Click here to view entire speech (PDF)] Mr. Speaker, two weeks ago I invited this House and the nation to draw inspiration from the tremendous progress made during the single calendar year of 2010. I spoke of our success at side-stepping economic collapse when the global crisis hit us, halting our decade-and-a-half-long fiscal slide, and our success at stabilizing the...

[Click here to view entire speech (PDF)] This debate has been conducted in the manner to which we have long been accustomed. One side seeks to showcase what has been achieved, the other side seeks to demonstrate how little, if any, has been achieved. I question whether the interests of the people are best served by this approach. I question...

[Click here to view entire speech (PDF)] Mr. Speaker, after three and a half years at the helm of the Transport and Works Ministry, I am happy to be now reaping the levels of success that were envisioned from the start, which took creativity, grit and determination to accomplish. With strategic application backed by in-depth analysis of the inherited positions,...

I laud all teachers today. You have the undying regard of the Ministry of Education. We applaud your service to the education sector, the nation and God. Teacher’s Day provides an opportunity for the Ministry and Jamaica to recognize and honour the immense contribution of teachers to human development and progress.  It is with a deep sense of appreciation that...

Today, as we mark Teacher's Day, we are presented with an opportunity to give due recognition to members of this noble profession, whose outstanding contribution to nation building cannot be discounted. It is an opportunity for many of us to reflect on our own lives and how much our past teachers had aided our journey to the place of success...

KINGSTON — Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, tabled Jamaica's first ever Tax Expenditure Statement in Parliament, when he opened the 2011/12 Budget Debate on Thursday April 28 at Gordon House. Tax expenditureis, essentially, any provision that results in a reduction of tax for a specific type of taxpayer or activity.      Mr. Shaw said the statement...

Mr. Speaker, exactly a year ago, Jamaica faced a very different reality. Certainly for me, and the Economic Management Team at the MOF, it was a time of intense activity and immense pressure because of what was at stake. Jamaica was grappling with the fall-out from the most severe economic crisis the world had seen in 80 years. Not only...

On March 23, 2011, Ms. Shanique Myrie lodged a formal complaint with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, in which she reported abusive and degrading treatment meted out to her at the hands of Border Services Officers at the Grantley Adams International Airport, on 14 March, 2011. My statement to Parliament on 29 March, 2011, conveyed the outrage...

This year World Health Day fittingly places focus on drug resistance and the importance of taking action to preserve the centuries old gains made in medicine. The theme "Antimicrobial resistance: no action today, no cure tomorrow" speaks to an urgency that should be within all of us to move to ensure that we take the right steps to secure the...

"On the move against Tuberculosis - innovate and accelerate for action" Tuberculosis (TB) is a devastating disease that kills nearly 2 million people annually, many of whom are from developing countries. The highly contagious airborne disease affects mostly young adults in their most productive years. This in itself creates a health crisis that must be tackled effectively by 2015 by...

Prime Minister, Hon Bruce Golding, returned to the witness chair at the enquiry into the Christopher Coke extradition on Wednesday March 23, to answer more questions from his attorney, Hugh Small. Among the issues Mr. Golding dealt with was his statement made in 2010 that, "constitutional rights do not begin in Liguanea".   Mr. Golding explained that the comment was...