Dear Editor,
In one of the lowest turn-outs at the polls in the Caribbean, Jamaica Prime Minister, Portia Simpson-Miller was edged out of power by young Andrew Holness in the country’s 17th general election.
Holness’ JLP secured 33 seats while the PNP got 30 in an exciting race, with the JLP winning a dozen seats by marginal votes. Simpson-Miller is the second woman in the Caribbean to be removed from office. She followed Trinidad and Tobago’s Kamla Persad-Bissessar who was defeated at the polls a few months ago.
The new leader will have an uphill task keeping to his campaign promises of creating 250,000 jobs and removing income tax in a country where the economy is poor with unemployment as high as 38% among the young.
It seems as if the electorate was fed up with the austerity measures, including the wage freeze imposed by the JLP leader because of the tough restrictions mandated by the International Monetary Fund. Holness was born on July 22, 1972, and served as Prime Minister briefly
between October 2011 and 2012 after he replaced Bruce Golding who resigned following a scandal over a drug lord. He was the youngest person to serve as prime minister in the history of Jamaica.
The JLP under Edward Seaga was in the forefront of the establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice, and one wonders now that the Labour Party is back in power if steps will be taken for that country to join the appellate jurisdiction of the regional court.
Yours faithfully,
Oscar Ramjeet
