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Gear up for JEEP - Programme starting Wednesday with 700 jobs
PM knocks opposition’s criticism of Jamaica Employ
BY ALESIA EDWARDS Observer staff reporter alesiae@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, January 23, 2012
OCHO RIOS, St Ann — The governing People's National Party's (PNP's) much-talked-about Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP) will be incrementally rolled out in seven parishes this week.
Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller announced yesterday at the party's National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in this resort town on Jamaica's north coast that a small part of JEEP, in which 700 jobs are to be created, will be launched on Wednesday.
During its election campaign last year, the PNP promised that JEEP would not only create jobs, but spur investment, stimulate economic growth and ensure prosperity for all the people.
"Seven parishes we will be starting where 700 persons will shortly be put to work," Simpson Miller told the first NEC meeting since the party's victory in the December 29, 2011 general election.
"When we talk about JEEP, we are not joking about it, and the other ministries and ministers are working to ensure that as soon as we can, the other areas of the JEEP will be unveiled."
She mentioned that Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke is continuing discussions he started with both local and foreign investors so that more people can be put to work and for some areas in the agriculture sector to be revived.
Meanwhile, Simpson Miller said some members of the business community have reacted positively to her appeal for at least one qualified individual to be employed by the private sector under an initiative she dubbed 'Jamaica Employ'.
The prime minister made the appeal last Wednesday as she broke ground for ATL Autohaus' $13.5-m facility on Oxford Road in New Kingston and at the groundbreaking ceremony for a new Lasco factory in St Catherine.
"One businessman called to tell me that he's opening two stores to ensure employment as part of this request. Another, before I left the ATL groundbreaking, gave me his card and said 'I'm going to be taking on one person,'" Simpson Miller said.
She added: "We are getting a number of information, one man, a business person, called to say 'I'm going to be building a store so I can employ some people', and I want to thank all of those persons."
Opposition Leader Andrew Holness has criticised the Jamaica Employ initiative, describing it as a Band-Aid approach to the country's unemployment problems. Holness said a more sustainable approach that will provide long-term employment was needed.
In defending her appeal to the private sector, Simpson Miller sought to make it clear that she was not compelling the business people, but was making a call in the interest of the country.
"We have an awesome responsibility, and for those who feel that my appeal might be careless to ask the private sector to help create some jobs in partnership with the Government, then if it is not going to be done that way, how is it going to be done?" Simpson Miller said.
The prime minister said it was her belief that Government has a responsibility to help facilitate job creation in the country and she warned the Opposition to behave in a more responsible way.
"I hear the leader of the Opposition said they will be a strong Opposition... we expect you to be responsible and act in a very responsible way because if you don't, we will remind the country," Simpson Miller said.
She said while her party was in Opposition it acted in a responsible manner, pointing out that the Jamaican people and the best interest of the country were placed first.
She also sought to make it clear that the Jamaica Employ initiative would not replace the JEEP.
"They can say anything they want to say, curse what they want to curse, we promise jobs, we put it in our manifesto, it is in the Progressive Agenda and I still am repeating my call to the private sector; employ one professional," she said.
Simpson Miller said she would also be pushing for the Harmony Cove development project in Trelawny as well as several other projects across the country as she seeks to get the country back on a path of economic growth and development.
President of the People's National Party and Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller addressing party functionaries during yesterday's National Executive Council meeting at Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz1kGoUM2HE
PM knocks opposition’s criticism of Jamaica Employ
BY ALESIA EDWARDS Observer staff reporter alesiae@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, January 23, 2012
OCHO RIOS, St Ann — The governing People's National Party's (PNP's) much-talked-about Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP) will be incrementally rolled out in seven parishes this week.
Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller announced yesterday at the party's National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in this resort town on Jamaica's north coast that a small part of JEEP, in which 700 jobs are to be created, will be launched on Wednesday.
During its election campaign last year, the PNP promised that JEEP would not only create jobs, but spur investment, stimulate economic growth and ensure prosperity for all the people.
"Seven parishes we will be starting where 700 persons will shortly be put to work," Simpson Miller told the first NEC meeting since the party's victory in the December 29, 2011 general election.
"When we talk about JEEP, we are not joking about it, and the other ministries and ministers are working to ensure that as soon as we can, the other areas of the JEEP will be unveiled."
She mentioned that Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke is continuing discussions he started with both local and foreign investors so that more people can be put to work and for some areas in the agriculture sector to be revived.
Meanwhile, Simpson Miller said some members of the business community have reacted positively to her appeal for at least one qualified individual to be employed by the private sector under an initiative she dubbed 'Jamaica Employ'.
The prime minister made the appeal last Wednesday as she broke ground for ATL Autohaus' $13.5-m facility on Oxford Road in New Kingston and at the groundbreaking ceremony for a new Lasco factory in St Catherine.
"One businessman called to tell me that he's opening two stores to ensure employment as part of this request. Another, before I left the ATL groundbreaking, gave me his card and said 'I'm going to be taking on one person,'" Simpson Miller said.
She added: "We are getting a number of information, one man, a business person, called to say 'I'm going to be building a store so I can employ some people', and I want to thank all of those persons."
Opposition Leader Andrew Holness has criticised the Jamaica Employ initiative, describing it as a Band-Aid approach to the country's unemployment problems. Holness said a more sustainable approach that will provide long-term employment was needed.
In defending her appeal to the private sector, Simpson Miller sought to make it clear that she was not compelling the business people, but was making a call in the interest of the country.
"We have an awesome responsibility, and for those who feel that my appeal might be careless to ask the private sector to help create some jobs in partnership with the Government, then if it is not going to be done that way, how is it going to be done?" Simpson Miller said.
The prime minister said it was her belief that Government has a responsibility to help facilitate job creation in the country and she warned the Opposition to behave in a more responsible way.
"I hear the leader of the Opposition said they will be a strong Opposition... we expect you to be responsible and act in a very responsible way because if you don't, we will remind the country," Simpson Miller said.
She said while her party was in Opposition it acted in a responsible manner, pointing out that the Jamaican people and the best interest of the country were placed first.
She also sought to make it clear that the Jamaica Employ initiative would not replace the JEEP.
"They can say anything they want to say, curse what they want to curse, we promise jobs, we put it in our manifesto, it is in the Progressive Agenda and I still am repeating my call to the private sector; employ one professional," she said.
Simpson Miller said she would also be pushing for the Harmony Cove development project in Trelawny as well as several other projects across the country as she seeks to get the country back on a path of economic growth and development.
President of the People's National Party and Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller addressing party functionaries during yesterday's National Executive Council meeting at Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz1kGoUM2HE
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