My fellow Jamaicans, 63 years ago, our island home, Jamaica, dared to be bold.

On August 6, 1962, Jamaica raised its flag for the first time and declared to the world that we would chart our own course and write our own history.

Our journey began long before that (1962). For centuries, Jamaica had been shackled by slavery and under colonial domination – stripping our people of their freedom, language, and culture. Yet our people held on to their dignity, their resistance, and their dream of liberation.

From the Maroons who waged guerrilla war against British forces, to the uprisings led by courageous figures like Takyi, Sam Sharpe and Paul Bogle, the spirit of freedom and independence burned in our hearts long before it was recognised by law.

Jamaica’s independence, therefore, was not given – it was earned. It was carved out of struggle, sacrifice, and the unrelenting belief that Jamaicans would one day govern ourselves and define our own destiny. It is this legacy of courage and resilience that we honour with national pride each year on August 6th.

Jamaicans are an extraordinary people whose resilience, creativity and self-belief have left an indelible mark on the world. Ours is the unbreakable spirit of a people determined to build a future on a foundation of freedom, justice and unity.

These foundational values of our nation must be nurtured and supported by progressive policies that uplift our people and strengthen our economy, so that we achieve our destiny of greatness.

We cannot accept a stagnant economy in which national productivity has fallen by over 20 per cent since 2007, where the annual rate of economic growth trudges along at one per cent, where foreign direct investment is today less than one-third of where it was in 2016, where the unemployment statistics hide the reality of low-wage jobs while our people struggle to survive the high cost of living, and where the poverty statistics hide the suffering of 55 per cent of our people who are enduring moderate to severe food insecurity.

We cannot accept an education system that delivers such poor outcomes for our students, with over 30 per cent leaving primary school without basic literacy and numeracy skills, and less than 20 per cent leaving secondary school with five subjects, including maths and English.

We cannot accept a health system that is delivering worse rates of infant and maternal deaths in Jamaica than were achieved 30 years ago, and where the daily lived experience of our people in public hospitals is sub-standard and demeaning.

We cannot accept a shoddy, dilapidated road network which has suffered from years without proper maintenance, and an inadequate system of water storage and distribution leaving so many of our communities without piped water in their homes.

We cannot accept an inefficient system of delivery of public services, with a bureaucracy which makes doing business in Jamaica so slow, frustrating and costly, and provides impetus for corrupt practices.

We cannot accept the undermining of critical institutions of transparent and accountable governance, such as the Integrity Commission, the Financial Investigations Division, and the Office of the Political Ombudsman, nor can we accept the alarming creep towards more autocratic tendencies that undermine the foundational principles on which our democracy has been built.

We cannot accept a Jamaica which has the highest level of brain drain in the Western Hemisphere, as our people seek to move overseas to build their future because what is happening here at home cannot meet their daily needs and cannot carry them forward to fulfil their dreams.

The promise and hope of our independence are in danger of being lost if we fail to move the country forward out of the quagmire of these challenges that make daily life so hard for so many of our people.

We have the capacity to turn this around, and to overcome our adversities and build a strong economy that delivers opportunities for advancement for all our people.

However, to solve these deep and pressing problems will require honest and diligent leadership that is caring and inclusive, and which steadfastly upholds integrity in public life.

Jamaica needs leaders who tell the people the truth, rather than empty promises which never see the light of day.

Jamaica needs policies and programmes that tackle these fundamental weaknesses holding our people back, that will unleash the great potential that we have to achieve a quality of life for all our people, that will create a more balanced and caring society in which all Jamaicans feel valued and have an ownership stake.

So, as we celebrate the 63rd anniversary of our independence, we are approaching a crossroads in history, an opportunity to embrace a positive and progressive future for the Jamaican people. The time of choice is nigh, and it is a choice that will shape the course of our nation for years to come.

In the spirit of our independence, I pray that our people will honour the struggle of our forefathers that brought us this right of choice, so that when ‘time come’ we exercise our right of democratic choice to ensure a better life for our people and a better Jamaica for all.

On this Independence Day, let us move forward with unity, courage, and conviction, building a Jamaica that honours our past, rises to meet the present, and boldly claims our future.

Happy Independence Day, Jamaica. May God bless you, and may God bless our beautiful nation.