Thread by @MarkJGolding

The import taxes on goods valued at over US$50 are burdensome on consumers who shop in this way to achieve greater value.
#BudgetDebate2022 #CushionTheCrisis

I am calling on the Government to increase the tax-free value on these imported personal items, from US$50 to US$150. #CushionTheCrisis #BudgetDebate2022

It will make a real difference to consumers who need to reduce their cost of living by using these new opportunities that modern technology and logistics have made possible.
#CushionTheCrisis #BudgetDebate2022

And for the Jamaicans overseas who send home barrels with food and other essentials to help their families to survive, I say reduce the cost of clearing the barrels at the wharf. #BudgetDebate2022 #CushionTheCrisis

I propose that it be reduced by 50% for the coming year, from J$6,500 to J$3,250. Give these families a needed break in clearing the barrels; a lifeline sent by their families abroad. #CushionTheCrisis #BudgetDebate2022

Online teaching will remain part of the education system, even though face-to-face classes have resumed. The Government’s pandemic programme of free devices, while welcome, was far too limited in scope. It has not adequately covered those in need. #CushionTheCrisis

Many parents cannot afford the cost of tablets or laptops. Their children’s education continues to suffer.
That is reality, not fantasy.
#CushionTheCrisis #BudgetDebate2022

It is immoral, & bad policy too, for the Government to be collecting taxes on devices needed by children to access education. Once again, we call on the Government to remove all taxes from these devices. Make them more affordable, & lessen the cost to parents.
#CushionTheCrisis

There is another reality which is deep, and which all of us need to pay attention to. Jamaica has so much potential. Our people are naturally talented; naturally entrepreneurial; and powerfully resilient.
#BudgetDebate2022

We shine wherever we go around the world, in every field of endeavour. Yet here at home, many are performing below their true potential.
#BudgetDebate2022

Our society was built on fundamental inequality, coming out of our history of slavery and colonialism. Sadly, even as we approach 60 years of independence, Jamaica remains a very unequal society.
#BudgetDebate2022

Just recently, the Governor-General pointed out that 1/6 of all Jamaicans go to bed hungry every night. That is approximately 500,000 Jamaicans.
That is reality, not fantasy.
#CushionTheCrisis #BudgetDebate2022

In the education system, there is a wide gulf in performance between traditional secondary schools and many non-traditional schools. It leaves leaving too many of our youths disillusioned, and with diminished prospects to become productive citizens. #BudgetDebate2022

In health care, if you get sick and don’t have money or support from family and friends, “dawg nyan yuh suppa”. #BudgetDebate2022

So-called free health care is another fantasy. If you get sick and you don’t have money, “fahget it”. No diagnostic tests; no surgical implants; nothing but the most basic medication.
#BudgetDebate2022

In the legal system, if your rights are trampled on, without money in your pocket, there is no justice. There is no effective legal aid system for civil cases, where you seek the aid of the court to protect your rights.
#BudgetDebate2022

Our economy has evolved as a system of enclaves. The best commercial, agricultural and recreational spaces are owned and available to the privileged and the powerful. The majority do not have equal access to opportunity. For them, life is always a struggle.
#BudgetDebate2022

That is the reality. For the majority of Jamaicans, prosperity under the current system is but an illusion to be pursued but never attained.
#BudgetDebate2022

Indeed, with so much unfairness and frustration in our country, the use of “prosperity” as a political slogan has brought that word into disrepute. No wonder, it seems to have been retired to the same place as “you can sleep with your windows and doors open”. Fantasy again.

We can, we must, do better. The society needs a national effort to change these conditions for the hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans who live on the margins, who are barely surviving.
#BudgetDebate2022

To put our people on a path to real progress, we need a new national spirit in the land.
We need to pull up each other, and power a new Jamaican Dream, where everyone has a stake, and there is equality of opportunity and social justice for all.
#BudgetDebate2022

The Jamaican Dream is to change our society, fundamentally. It will create conditions where everyone can achieve a reasonable quality of life. Where everyone, and not just a few, can truly say “Jamaica Nice”.
#PowerInTheDream #BudgetDebate2022

As Stanley & the Turbines said, “I’m dreaming of a new Jamaica; a land of peace of love”. #PowerInTheDream #BudgetDebate2022

Imagine a Jamaica which is characterized by fairness and justice for all our people. Where the system does not treat any Jamaican as more worthy of dignity or respect than any other.
#PowerInTheDream #BudgetDebate2022

Imagine a Jamaica where the system makes every possible effort to ensure that each Jamaican has a fair chance to access the opportunities of a good life.
That is the Jamaican Dream.
#PowerInTheDream #BudgetDebate2022

The Jamaican Dream is not a fantasy. Together we can Power that Dream. Together we can build that new Jamaica.
And there is #PowerintheDream. #BudgetDebate2022

The @JamaicaPNP Party under my leadership, is committed to building a society that embraces the Jamaican Dream. It is dream rooted in equality, social justice, and a deepening of our country’s democratic processes. #PowerInTheDream #BudgetDebate2022

We believe in creating the conditions to unleash the potential of every Jamaican who has ambition and wants to achieve a good quality of life life.
Today, I will share some of our ideas to make the Jamaican Dream a reality for all our people.
#BudgetDebate2022 #PowerInTheDream

The pandemic has worsened the weaknesses in Jamaica’s education system. Two years of school lockdowns have created a devastating crisis of learning loss that must be addressed with urgency.
#BudgetDebate2022

A recent World Bank study pressed for an increase in the expenditure on education by at least $2.4-$3.9 Billion per year, for the next two years. #BudgetDebate2022

It says Jamaica must finance urgent programmes to restore the learning loss suffered by our children, who were deprived of education for two years during the pandemic. If this is not done, the cost to the country over the long term is estimated at $848 Billion!
#BudgetDebate2022

MP Julian Robinson spoke about this last Thursday. I support what he said, and wish to reinforce it.

Instead of focusing on making two years of sixth form mandatory, the Government must invest in addressing the serious deficits in early childhood development and primary school education. Those are the foundations of our education system.
#BudgetDebate2022

This budget does not provide the increased annual expenditure needed to address the learning loss crisis. There is no comprehensive, well-funded programme to tackle the crisis in the education system.
I regard this as a fundamental dereliction of duty.
#BudgetDebate2022

The recent report of the Orlando Patterson Commission is also very disturbing.
It shows that a large proportion of Jamaican students are not achieving even minimum learning standards.
#BudgetDebate2022

The report states that - “At the end of primary school, the majority of students remain illiterate and innumerate, and most leave secondary school with no marketable skill.”
#BudgetDebate2022

In 2018, only 65% of Grade 4 students acquired mastery in numeracy, and only 47% of students who sat Maths CSEC were able to pass it (and many students were not considered competent to sit the exam). #BudgetDebate2022

Jamaican students are performing below their peers in other Caribbean countries.
The report shows that in 2019, a third of Grade 6 students could not read; 56% could not write; and 57% could not extract information from simple sentences.
#BudgetDebate2022

All of us in this Parliament must take stock of this, and do something about it. We are facing yet another crisis.
Global evidence has found that investments in early childhood education are among the most effective interventions in achieving national development.

It is well established that the poorest segments of the population are more likely to benefit from public investment in education at the primary level.
#BudgetDebate2022

A recent World Bank study shows that government expenditure on early childhood education per student in Jamaica, at 7% of GDP per capita, is significantly lower than all other comparable countries.
#BudgetDebate2022

This poor allocation of resources has negative outcomes which flow throughout the education system.
For Jamaicans, education and training are the path out of poverty.
#BudgetDebate2022

Education and training also increase productivity and competitiveness within the economy, so that Jamaica can achieve sustainable growth and development.
#BudgetDebate2022

Our national productivity and competitiveness are being held back, because we are not providing our children with the fundamentals of a good education.
As the World Bank puts it – “The low level of human capital can mainly be explained by the low quality of education.”