‘No more band yuh belly’
Juliet Holness touts economic progress, urges voters to reject PNP
Published:Tuesday | May 6, 2025 | 10:16 AMKimone Francis/Senior Staff Reporter
St Andrew East Rural Member of Parliament (MP) Juliet Holness says the Andrew Holness administration has brought Jamaica to a point where citizens no longer have to “band their belly” to survive, urging the electorate to reject the opposition party in the upcoming polls.
Holness, who is also the speaker of the House of Representatives, credited the current Government with creating strong economic foundations without relying on loans from international agencies.
“Labourites, when you are in a place where you can fix your country and you don’t have to go to nobody and say, ‘I begging you. I borrowing. We need a likkle money to borrow.’ And when you can’t get it you come to the Jamaican people and say, ‘Band yuh belly. Band yuh belly and pay some more taxes; and if you are a civil servant, we can’t increase your pay,’” Holness said as she addressed at a JLP Area Council 1 meeting in St Andrew Eastern late last week.
She emphasised that the Government’s work has allowed Jamaica to grow without placing undue burdens on its citizens.
“This Jamaica Labour Party [government] has been able to work, and to work honestly and diligently in a way that Jamaicans no longer have to band our belly. We are now able – because of the work we have done to fix our country – [to] build our country, and we can do it without borrowing anybody’s money ... ,” she added.
Holness also urged voters to reject the opposition People’s National Party (PNP), claiming their era is over.
“Their time will not come again. Their time will not come again for a long, long time,” she asserted.
Echoing her sentiments, St Catherine East Central MP Alando Terrelonge warned that a PNP-led government poses the “greatest threat” to Jamaica’s growth.
His comments come as the country prepares for a general election due by year end.
“Time come for them to move out of Jamaica. You heard how our finance minister take you through how you govern a country. Your finances have to be in order, and if your finances are not in order, then 40,000 more businesses are going to fail. You might also lose your house,” he said, referring to the meltdown of Jamaica’s financial sector in the 1990s.
“If you can’t choose Jamaica on election day, then turn up the next day and tell the PNP dem seh you late but you reach. Don’t vote against Jamaica. Choose Jamaica,” he added.
Last week, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness urged the electorate to choose his Government’s housing policies over the Opposition’s when they go to the polls, even as he acknowledged the ongoing housing crisis that has been overwhelming middle- and low-income earners.