PM vows to stop ‘FINSAC beneficiaries’ from gaining political power

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has vowed to prevent politically connected individuals who benefitted from the financial crisis of 1990s from holding political power in the country. 

Holness cited the need to protect Jamaicans from those who exploited the crisis. 

"I have no doubt that is what they want to do to come and get wealthy on the backs of the poor! 

"I will not allow that to happen again in this country!" declared Holness to thunderous cheers from attendees at the Young Jamaica's (JLP's youth arm) meeting at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) on Wednesday night.

The pledge by the prime minister came after Opposition People's National Party (PNP) spokesman on National Security, Senator Peter Bunting, told a party meeting in St Elizabeth on Sunday that the Government's release of the FINSAC Commission archives was a tactic aimed at purportedly distracting the country from the Integrity Commission's (IC) investigation report into Holness' statutories. 

The FINSAC Commission was established on January 12, 2009, and tasked to, among other things, examine the circumstances leading to the collapse of several financial institutions during the 1990s.

The release of the archives has led to an all out political clash between operatives and politicians of both the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the parliamentary Opposition. 

Holness waded into the public debate on Wednesday by first pointing out how hard he has worked for the past eight years to ensure that the Jamaican economy remains stable.

The fired-up JLP leader was careful not to directly mention the PNP, or any Opposition party member by name.

However, he hinted that such persons connected to the Administration during the financial debacle of the 1990s, allegedly benefitted from the high interest rate policies implemented by the State.

"People who are talking now, people who are seeking to lead the country now, they benefitted; when I say they benefitted, they became millionaires and billionaires on the backs of the people," Holness claimed.

He suggested that the then Government's "high interest rate policy" helped to "drive up the debt".

Holness said he had "no doubt" that such beneficiaries of such a policy wanted to return to political power to further benefit from today's growing economy, which he said will not happen under his watch.

"And I hope that my voice is carrying to the halls around here so that those youngsters who don't know their history, who are brainwashed and misled will understand that the real power is right here in this room with the young people who have had the knowledge and the understanding," he stated.