Member of Parliament (MP) for St Mary Western and Chairman of the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), Robert Montague, is proposing a $15 billion programme for all 63 constituencies aimed at uplifting the poor and vulnerable.
He shared his idea on Tuesday as he made his contribution to the 2024/25 State of the Constituency Debate in the House of Representatives.
He explained that the Sports, Housing and Health, Agriculture, Rural Development and Employment (SHARE) programme would create opportunities for Jamaicans “and finally bring light and water to every nook and cranny of Jamaica”.
Said Montague: “We have always asked the poor to sacrifice, to ‘band dem belly’, to hold strain, to cut back - let us now invest in the poor, let's give them a chance - an opportunity to share the prosperity. They have waited long enough. By spreading this money over the year and across Jamaica, the effect on inflation of this investment will be negligible, but its effect on revenues will be immense”.
Montague broke down the programme as follows:
-Sports: $2m per constituency to be spent on community playing fields. One high school playing field to be included, to be funded from the CHASE Fund and the Sports Development Foundation (SDF).
- Health: $3m allocated to each constituency to help people with prescription drugs, eyeglasses, medical items and equipment, to be funded by the National Health Fund (NHF).
-Housing: A grant of $5m per constituency, to be funded by the uncollected National Housing Trust (NHT) returns (refunds) and the Housing Fund.
-Agriculture: $4m to be granted for agricultural start-up enterprises or expansion of existing ones, that will see at least one new person being employed or new technology being transferred, with emphasis on youth and women.
-Rural development: $2 billion to be shared equally for rural water and light. At least one solar powered water system to be done per rural constituency, and a programme to provide electricity to rural communities. This should include the use of solar or wind technologies for hard-to-reach communities.
-Employment: Each MP to recommend 200 participants in a one-year programme of employment and training, and paying them $20,000 per week.
“All 170 Government agencies, ministries and departments must indicate how many trainees they can take, and how much funds they can contribute to the initiative of approximately $15 billion investment programme,” said Montage.
He told the House that a unit should be established in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation to manage the programme.
“Persons to be recommended should be from age 18 to 55 years old, to give older persons a chance to retool or to get a job, and to create opportunities and experience for the young. We all have shared the hardships, made the sacrifices, now let us all share the prosperity,” the MP declared.
