4 weeks ago
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Former Prime Minister, PJ Patterson, has offered a scathing assessment of the Holness administration’s stewardship of the country’s affairs.
Patterson slammed the government’s management of the island’s road network, health system and what he described as the alarming levels of poverty in the country.
It’s some of the most strident comments against a sitting administration from the former Prime Minister since he retired in 2006.
Ricardo Brooks reports.
Percival Noel James Patterson was Jamaica’s longest serving Prime Minister. He served from 1992 to 2006.
He is also the country’s most successful political leader, winning an unprecedented three terms in government.
With a general election looming, the former Prime Minister has decided to wade into the political arena.
By his assessment, Prime Minister Andrew Holness and his Cabinet have done a poor job on several fronts.
He started with the state of the nation’s roads.
The Holness government has defended its stewardship of the road network, pointing to the more than 45-billion dollars in road repairs under the REACH and SPARK programmes.
Patterson next turned his attention to health care.
The former Prime Minister says the sector is bordering on complete failure.
He took particular aim at the delays at the Cornwall Regional Hospital.
The former Prime Minister says the Holness administration’s boasts of prosperity ring hollow.
Among the economic indices the former Prime Minister references are the lowest unemployment rate in history and the longest period of no new taxes being levied by an administration.
Data available from PIOJ indicate the highest poverty levels recorded in the last three decades were under the Patterson administration when it stood at 21.6 percent in 1996.
Patterson says the time has come for a new direction in the country.
The former Prime Minster was speaking at a recent forum put on by the PNP Region Six.
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