Caribbean & Central America - November 2011 (ISSN 1741-4458)

Jamaica’s outgoing prime minister, Bruce Golding, presided over his final cabinet meeting on 18 October before formally tendering his resignation to the governor-general on 23 October.  His replacement as leader of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and thus as prime minister is Andrew Holness, Golding’s education minister.  At the age of 39, Holness is the youngest person to become prime minister of Jamaica.

It is a precociousness that Holness has shown throughout his political career.  When first elected to parliament in 1997 he became the country’s youngest MP at the age of 25.  After the return to power of the JLP in 2007, Holness became the youngest member of Golding’s cabinet.  During the years in opposition, from 1999-2007, he was opposition spokesperson on land and development, housing, and education.  In the lead-up to the next general election, which must be held by December 2012, this youthfulness will undoubtedly be presented by the JLP as a positive attribute compared with the 66-year-old leader of the opposition People’s National Party (PNP), Portia Simpson Miller.

Holness’s inheritance of the premiership comes at a time of reasonable economic expectations.  Data released in early October showed the Jamaican economy growing by 2.1% in the second quarter, above the government’s projection of 1.5%.  Finance Minister Audley Shaw has said that he expects annual GDP growth in 2011 to exceed the 2.5% target.

However, the country is under the strict supervision of the IMF, and as Golding noted cautiously when greeting the second quarter growth figures: “While the performance for this fiscal year is broadly on track, there are challenges that must be addressed in order to achieve our medium term targets through 2015/16.  Principal among these is the provision that must be made for payment of the 7% increase granted to public sector workers inclusive of arrears covering the period 2009-2011.”