PNP leader Mark Golding is flanked by General Secretary Dr. Dayton Campbell (left) and Shadow Spokesman on Energy Phillip Paulwell (right) at Tuesday's media briefing.
By Racquel Porter
The People's National Party says the promise by Prime Minister Andrew Holness to cut the GCT on electricity to 7 per cent next year, ahead of the general election due in September, is gross misconduct in the energy sector.
The reduction in GCT on electricity was among promises by the Prime Minister at the JLP's 81st annual conference on Sunday as he made the case for his party to be given a third term.
Speaking at a media briefing on Tuesday morning, PNP leader Mark Golding said what is needed is strong leadership to reduce the cost of electricity through a transformation of the energy sector.
Mr. Golding said the PNP has a plan and a shadow minister who will bring modern laws to achieve reduction in electricity bills and massive investment to the energy sector.
Shadow Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell, who also spoke at the media briefing, said Jamaica has not seen such gross mismanagement of the energy sector since Independence.
"Rather than pivoting for growth, he is pivoting for election. We have seen tremendous hardship to the consumer, but we've also seen, because of the high price of electricity, the lack of growth in our economy. Jamaica's energy costs is one of the highest now in the world, coming from US$0.23 per kilowatt-hour in 2016 when we left office, to at times way over US$0.40 per kilowatt-hour. To solve the energy crisis, you have to have laser-like focus on both energy generation and energy transmission and distribution. It won't be solved by some half-baked, cynical, hand-wringing scheme at the eleventh hour, on the eve of national elections, to throw little and meaningless goodies at the problem, he contended.
'Vote-buying scheme'
The People's National Party has also described the government's reverse income tax credit initiative as a "blatant, run-with-it, vote-buying scheme".
But PNP leader Mark Golding said it has backfired, as the recent by-election victories for the PNP in the Aenon Town and Morant Bay divisions "show that the Jamaican people are not for sale and are determined to have a change of government".
Last month, the government launched its Reverse Income Tax Credit programme to provide a one-off grant of $20,000 to eligible individuals who earned less than $3 million during year of assessment 2023.
The initiative is costing an estimated $11.4 billion.
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