PM Re-affirms Commitment to Democracy

Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness has re-affirmed his commitment to Jamaica’s democracy and the principles that support it.

Addressing party faithful in West St. Mary on Wednesday, the prime minister noted no political party should take the country’s democratic traditions for granted.

The prime minister’s comment follows criticism from the opposition People’s National Party, accusing him of showing autocratic tendencies.

Sections of civil society have also accused the Holness administration of putting the country’s democracy under strain.

In rejecting those criticisms, the prime minister said the only time in the country’s independent history that the democracy was threatened was during the 1976 declaration of a state of public emergency by then Prime Minister Michael Manley.

Several prominent members of the then opposition Jamaica Labour Party, including current cabinet minister, Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange, were rounded up and imprisoned at Up Park Camp.

Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness.