Holness urges shift from short-term demands to long-term policies

KINGSTON, Jamaica—Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Friday called for a shift in Jamaicans' outlook from short-term responses from the government to supporting long-term policies with lasting benefits. Addressing a New Social Housing Programme handover ceremony in north west St Catherine on Friday, Holness said the prevailing expectation of immediate gains undermines effective policymaking. "Instead of looking for a short-term gain from government, you could invest in government and your faith and trust in government for the long term. That is not currently the view, " he said. "Nobody is saying I'm going to invest faith in the government for a long-term delivery because of that; it affects the policy side because there's nothing that you can do in government that will have a real impact in the short term," he added. According to the prime minister, there is no real impact to be gained for the country in the short term. "Anybody can go on any stage and say the government does nothing, and everybody believes it because the prevailing view is that it has never happened. But we have to change that. The society can only change when the electorate changes the incentive for the political class. If the incentive for the political class is to deliver short-term benefit because that satisfies the electorate, then you're in a short policy cycle, and you can't deliver big things in a short political cycle," the prime minister urged. Meanwhile, Holness emphasised that the New Social Housing Programme is a non-political programme, with beneficiaries selected based on need. "Nobody can question anyone who has got any of these houses as to their needs. To get to that point, the level of administration, checks and balances and scrutiny," Holness said, noting that the shortest part of the process is actually building the house.