Prime Minister Andrew Holness says his administration is committed to meeting the needs of Jamaicans while advancing the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) vision to “put back care into healthcare.”

He acknowledged that securing a third term is never an easy task and underscored the commitment of both the government and Labour Party supporters to continue pushing for national development.

“It must never be felt that the third term is an entitlement, and there must be no arrogance about us as Labourites, people who believe that by the sweat of our brow we shall eat bread. People who believe in help up and not handouts. People who want to see prosperity. And people who don’t look at others and envy them for what they have. But say I am happy for you, and I am going to work to get mine too,” he said.

Holness noted that party members, like other Jamaicans, are also impacted by the hardships, but stressed that it is the government’s duty to respond and provide solutions.

“Because even amongst us, there are those who are frustrated, dissatisfied, disillusioned and will still put on a good face. Because when you come to a JLP meeting, or when you come on a JLP motorcade, it’s like you’re going to a carnival. It’s great fun. It turned up.

But at the end of it, you do go home. And you have to reflect. And many of you here look at your community roads. And you look on, and you say, I can’t stand up in my bathroom in my shower how long? Yes, these are realities that your government and your party must address. And as the people in charge of the government, we are responsible,” he continued.

Speaking at the Clarendon North Western Constituency Conference, Holness also assured party supporters that the government understands their challenges and has demonstrated the capability to address them.

“I say to you, my supporters, who are experiencing the same challenges that every other Jamaican is experiencing and complaining about. We understand. We feel it too. We respect your views. We hear your complaints. But more than that, we have demonstrated that we know how to fix it.”

He said that during community tours, residents often raise concerns about poor roads and limited access to water—issues that, he noted, have persisted since the 1990s.

“…The question must be asked: why have these roads not been repaired? Why have we not had the water in the communities that have not had water since they were established? Is it that the governments before just didn’t care? Many promises were made that you would get water here, and this road was going to be fixed, but it wasn’t done. Was it that they were taking us for fools? There may be some truth in that.

“But I want all of you here tonight to understand that asphalt doesn’t fall from the sky, and even though water falls from the sky, you still have to build a catchment and put it in a pipe and pump… When we took over this country to run it properly, our economy was on the brink. Our country owed 130 per cent of what we produce in any one year… Today, if we take everything we produce and we say we’re going to pay off the debt, we can pay off the debt and still have 32 per cent left,” Holness added.

He said that from that remaining fiscal space, the government has invested in health infrastructure, including hospitals, clinics, and pharmaceutical access.

“After almost 30 years, not one new hospital was built in Jamaica. When the Canadians gave us the hospital in Montego Bay, the Cornwall Regional Hospital, as a gift in the 1960s, that hospital has never been refurbished or maintained. It is this government… that decided to go and take on that over-50-year-old building that has never been maintained to improve it… Jamaica’s health system is not perfect, and if you compare it to perfection, it has a lot to do, but if you compare it to what it was before to what it is today, you would also see that this administration has done quite a bit to improve healthcare.”