More than a year, even before Hurricane Melissa, my administration has been speaking to the public about the need for the Jamaican bureaucracy to improve its efficiency and for the Jamaican productive sector to improve its productivity, for the Jamaican worker to improve its productivity. uh to the point where I read the comments they say they're saying no prime minister stop talking about it and fix it it is your job agreed but in our democracy which is a liberal democracy we have to talk a lot about things when we went to parliament with nar one of the biggest criticisms was that where was t…

We note the current conversation regarding the recovery of the education system. Again, uh we have used this as an opportunity to consolidate some schools, to rebuild others, uh not just to repair, but to rebuild. And that is going fairly well. Uh I believe we have over 300 schools on our roster for repairs. Uh and we have advanced quite significantly, given all the challenges with procurement, contracting, weather, and all other challenges. And so, 1 year after the hurricane, we can say that we have had a successful reopening of the school year. Um granted, this morning, I was reading the new…

On October 28th last year, Hurricane Melissa came across this island and regrettably took lives. Homes that stood in families for generations and businesses that took a lifetime to build in St. Elizabeth, in Westmoreland, in St. James, Trelawny, across Western Jamaica. That experience should not be considered history. It continues to impact the daily lives of the people. Yet, Jamaicans, particularly in the west, have met this year with resilience that deserves to be recognized. And I want those Jamaicans to know that the frustration they feel is heard and that they remain the center of this go…