Mark Golding launches PNP manifesto; promises inclusive growth

Jamaica’s Opposition Leader Mark Golding has unveiled the People’s National Party’s (PNP) 2025 manifesto, describing it as a blueprint to build a stronger Jamaica. The launch of the document, titled Mission Jamaica Love, A People’s Pledge to Country, took place last night at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

Speaking to a packed audience, Golding said the manifesto rests on 10 pillars aimed at fostering inclusive development. He acknowledged Jamaica’s macroeconomic progress since 2013 but emphasized that many citizens continue to struggle.

“Wages cannot stretch; prices are rising daily; basic public services are substandard; young people have too few opportunities; and communities across the country are trapped in poverty, crime, and neglect,” he said. “Stability in the public finances without quality of life for people is not prosperity and is why Jamaicans are clamouring for change.”

Golding highlighted the PNP’s previous contributions to national development, including fiscal reforms and social programmes such as PATH, the National Health Fund, and JADEP for seniors. “We understand both the progress and the pain because we have walked this road with you. We were the architects of Jamaica’s celebrated macroeconomic reforms, from the key elements of the Fiscal Responsibility Framework to the modernisation of the revenue system, bringing the nation’s debt under control and allowing a regime of inflation targeting to be introduced,” he said.

The opposition leader also cited infrastructural achievements, including the National Housing Trust, Jamaican Urban Transit Company, major highways, expanded seaports and airports, modern telecommunications, and renewable energy projects such as the Wigton Wind Farm. Yet, he stressed, the benefits of development have not reached all communities.

“Urban blight and decay plague our cities while rural Jamaica has been left behind. Farm roads are impassable, irrigation is inadequate and outdated, and farmers lack the tools, machinery, and support systems to produce and prosper,” Golding said.

The manifesto outlines 10 pillars: justice for all, access to quality education, modern infrastructure, agriculture and food security, innovation and industry, care for the vulnerable, accountability in governance, land and housing, opportunity for youth, violence prevention, and environmental resilience. “They will guide us to invest in people, close the gaps between uptown and downtown, between tourism zones and rural parishes, between the well-connected few who thrive while the majority feel neglected and dejected,” Golding said.

He promised that a future PNP government would safeguard economic stability while fostering inclusive growth and tackling corruption. “Jamaica, time come to lift our country higher and build a future that belongs to all of us. Let us take this journey together,” he said.

Golding also reaffirmed plans to restore the Office of the Political Ombudsman as an independent body, strengthen the Integrity Commission, improve parliamentary oversight, and reform the Access to Information Act for quicker and broader public access. Other initiatives include modernizing licensing frameworks, increasing the monetary jurisdiction of parish courts, and launching a public dialogue on the National Sex Offender Registry.

Three key pieces of legislation passed under former Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller—the Local Governance Act, Local Government Financing and Financial Management Act, and Local Government Unified Service and Employment Act—will be reviewed, Golding said, with a focus on full enforcement and community empowerment.

“We will shift focus from constituency politics to community development by expanding the powers of our municipal corporations to make a difference in local people’s lives. And we will establish a National People’s Assembly, including Diaspora representatives, to review laws and shape policy impacting local communities. We will introduce participatory budgeting and local planning, where citizens help to decide the spending priorities, which is contemplated by the three strategic laws,” he said.

Golding concluded: “Jamaica is demanding broader inclusion, alongside greater accountability and integrity in public affairs. And the People’s National Party, under my leadership, will deliver on that broad call.”