JLP Admits Difficulty Fulfilling Some Election Promises on Governance

The Jamaica Labour Party, JLP, has admitted many of its unfulfilled election promises around governance issues proved more divisive to implement than it originally anticipated.

The admission comes amid criticisms that several key governance promises from 2016 remain unfulfilled as the party is seeking a third term in office.

Ricardo Brooks reports.

It’s been almost a decade since Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness promised the country a fixed election date, term limits on the office of prime minister, impeachment for rouge parliamentarians and a grand referendum to address issues such as abortion, buggery and the Caribbean Court of Justice.

Those promises have not been kept.

Now Holness and the JLP are seeking a third term in government, re-igniting the question of the unfulfilled promises.

Chairman of the party’s manifesto committee, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, says some of the promises did not enjoy unified support among Jamaicans.

The failure to keep the promise of a fixed election date has earned the ire of civil society advocates and has been raised by the parliamentary opposition on the campaign trail.

But Johnson Smith says the JLP recognised that Jamaicans had other pressing priorities.

The JLP’s manifesto chair believes Jamaicans will understand the party’s failure to keep the 2016 promises.

Opposition Leader Mark Golding has since tabled a bill calling for impeachment of parliamentarians. The bill has not been brought forward for debate.