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What a year 2025  was for Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Horace Chang.

As General Secretary of the Jamaica Labour Party, he was able to steer the Andrew Holness led administration to a third consecutive term in office in a close fight with a resurgent PNP led by  Mark Golding.

The year ended with the announcement that crime in Jamaica has been at its lowest for years and this took place under his watch as Minister of National Security.

Murders are down 45 per cent with a 14 per cent reduction in violent crimes. Shootings dropped by 35 per cent last year.

Jamaica’s murder figures are the lowest since 1993 and came in at under 700 for 2025.

“In the new year, let us resolve together to protect and build on this progress. Let us reject violence in all its forms and support the men and women who stand daily on the front line to preserve order and protect our society. We must never return to what once was,” said Dr. Horace Chang.

Speaking on the dramatic fall in murder, Police Commissioner Dr. Kevin Blake said: “ This is not a marginal improvement, it is a substantial reduction and it reflects the cumulative impact of intelligence-led policing, focused operations against gangs, enhanced firearms interdiction and the commitment of our officers on the ground.” 

The year 2025 was not a particularly outstanding one generally but the fall in crime numbers is a major standout and Dr. Horace Chang must be given credit.

All too often politicians in Jamaica like to talk and their verbosity can be entertaining though not substantive. Dr. Horace Chang would make a superb editor- he gets to the matter at hand quickly and sums up situations succinctly. If you listen to his cadence, his words come in a stacatto rhythm, impactful and weighed.

He speaks with brevity yet communicates definitively. 

Dr. Horace Chang entered politics in 1976 and was elected MP for Hanover Western in 1980. He is a heavyweight of Jamaican politics and one of its finest strategists. He is data-driven yet able to read the tea leaves.

People talk of Michael Manley, P.J Patterson, Alexander Bustamante, Edward Seaga as among Jamaica’s finest political operators with never a thought for the introspective Dr. Horace Chang. Taking a look at his body of work and his consistency, he should be right up there- if you are someone who takes into account the scorecard.

He proved a formidable champion by anchoring western Jamaica for the JLP at a time when the consensus was its ramparts would be breached.

Engaging with him on politics is delightful because he is so well informed. Not only has he been in the trenches, but served as a general on the battlefield. He remains an invaluable asset to the JLP and he has had a hand in a lot of its successes over the last decade.

It is fitting that he is not only Minister of National Security and Deputy Prime Minister but General Secretary of the Jamaica Labour Party.  He not only earns that exalted position, he deserves it.

While Prime Minister Andrew Holness is box-office on the stump, Dr Chang is the quiet power, he is the master tactician pulling the strings, ensuring the party machine can win battles and that that the Labourites retain power.  He is the JLP’s Tom Brady. 

If the General  Election was held six months earlier, it could have been a different story with Mark Golding now heading the Government. The JLP was behind in the polls and there was a pervasive sense that people had had enough of them.

Dr. Horace Chang played an instrumental role in changing that narrative. Hammering the message that Jamaica had made progress under the JLP and that its people could not take a chance with the alternative. To do so would be a retrograde step. That strategy paid off.

Some may ask what stands out as a testament to Dr. Chang’s astuteness and perspicacity? He predicted that the JLP would win by 35 seats. They won  34 seats. For those who can recall, then General secretary of the PNP, Dr. Dayton Campbell guffawed at this, dismissing his opposite as having high hopes.

The inscrutable Dr. Chang barely raised a smile.

People talk of Michael Manley, P.J Patterson, Alexander Bustamante, and Edward Seaga as among Jamaica’s finest political operators with never a thought for the introspective Dr. Horace Chang. Taking a look at his body of work and his consistency, he should be right up there- if you are someone who takes into account the scorecard.

When the Prime Minister looks back on 2025, two achievements will readily spring to mind-the general election victory and the reduction in crime, particularly murders. I’m sure that he would agree that Dr. Horace Chang played a significant part in both cases and deserves substantially more than a pat on the back.

 He will ask himself the questions, who stood out and who delivered in his party. 

Murders and serious crime has bedevilled Jamaica for decades with murder figures way past a thousand, one of the highest recorded in the world. That has now been notably reduced.

The JLP has been given another chance to transform Jamaica, improve people’s standard of living and that is because of the confidence reposed in its administration, of which Dr. Horace Chang is the linchpin. 

It is disheartening to hear that the Deputy Prime Minister is ill and we all wish him a speedy recovery. There is still so much more needed to be done.