Building a Better Jamaica

There are businesses that have plans for expansion or new investments. We want these to be brought forward as quickly as possible and I have assigned my Special Advisor, Chris Zacca, to assist those businesses that may be encountering difficulties to do with government bureaucracy or regulation, to work with them to get those projects moving.

In another three weeks I will be going to China where I hope to conclude agreements on a number of projects that will have significant impact on the economy. Later this year, I will be visiting the Gulf States for high-level discussions on a number of major investments that we have been pursuing.

The way forward is exciting. It will not be without its challenges but if we make this fundamental shift in how we conduct our business, we will meet those challenges and we will be victorious. The pain of the present will give way to the promise of a brighter and more secure future. The burdens that I have had to ask you to share will become lighter until they are no longer burdens at all.

A young man from my constituency explained it far better than I can. He said it is like we are pushing a broken-down bus up a steep hill. We have to call on every muscle in our body. There are times when it threatens to roll back on us. There are times when we feel we can’t push any more. But if all the passengers lend a hand, we will push that bus up that hill and when we get to the brow of the hill, we will find that pushing the bus becomes easier and it will gather enough speed that it will be able to start the engine. After that, we will have to run fast to catch up with it.
This is our task. This is our challenge. This is our hope.

As I close this broadcast, our thoughts must also be on the people of Haiti who have been devastated by the most severe earthquake in more than 200 years. I have today ordered the Jamaica Defence Force to assemble a contingent which will leave for Haiti tonight to assist in its recovery efforts. It includes engineers, logistic personnel and some emergency medical personnel. We will be sending with them as much emergency supplies as their vessel is able to carry and I thank the members of the private sector who have responded so generously in assisting us to amass these supplies. On Friday, we will be sending a larger team of doctors, nurses and support personnel to assist the people of Haiti at this time.

God has been so good to us. We are less than 300 miles from Haiti and their disaster could well have been ours. But even as we give thanks for His mercies, we must reach out to the Haitian people who have lost their loved ones, their homes, the little that they had and must now face an even more dismal and worrying future.

Tomorrow, I will fly to Port-au-Prince along with the Chief of Defence Staff, representatives of ODPEM and the Ministry of Health to determine what further assistance we can offer in conjunction with our international partners and to assure President Preval of our support in this time of catastrophic distress. The Leader of the Opposition will be accompanying me on that trip.

I urge all Jamaicans who can afford to do so to contribute to the fund that has been established to assist the recovery efforts of the people of Haiti, a people who have long borne more distress than any people should have to bear.

May God bless Jamaica. May He continue to bless the people of Jamaica and may his rescuing arms surround the people of Haiti in their moment of despair.