Golding criticises gov’t's ‘lethargic’ legislative agenda

Mark Golding, Opposition leader, has castigated the Government over its lethargic and inefficient approach to passing strategic laws for the benefit of the country.

In his contribution to the 2026/2027 Budget Debate in Gordon House this afternoon, Golding said laws of strategic importance that require urgent amendment remain on the books for years without the problems being addressed.

Urging the government to move from a low-growth to a pro-growth philosophy, Golding said the public sector procurement system urgently needs reformation to avoid undue delays in the execution of projects and programmes.

He says the current arrangements are a big impediment to national development owing to the lack of optimum spending on capital investments.

According to the opposition leader, year after year, the government’s capital budget is pared back because of an inability to execute capital expenditures on a timely basis.

Giving examples, Golding said for the current fiscal year ending March 31, the original budget was for $62.6 billion of capital expenditure, but that has been revised down in supplementary estimates to $55.4 billion.

In the previous fiscal year 2024/2025, the original budget was for $80 billion of capital expenditure, but that ended up at $62 billion.

He said the fiscal papers highlighted slower-than-anticipated project execution as the main cause for the underperformance.

“We are not sufficiently focused on tackling these inefficiencies. The sloth is reflected in our legislative process,” he said.

Giving examples of prolonged legislative gestation, Golding said amendments to the companies legislation to facilitate the migration to Jamaica of companies incorporated overseas was yet to be debated after being tabled some four years ago.

He said the new Customs Act that entered Parliament over five years ago has yet to be passed into law.

Further, Golding said legislation to establish the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA), the vehicle announced last year to drive post-Melissa reconstruction, has not been brought to the House for approval.

He said the NaRRA remains a mere department within the Office of the Prime Minister with no legislative framework and statutory powers to enable it to pierce through the bureaucracy and drive rapid transformational reconstruction.

Another legislative measure, which Golding said has not seen the table of Parliament, is proposed amendments to the laws governing teenage promiscuity.

He indicated that the lack of legislative amendments continues to result in hundreds of adolescents being dragged before the courts each year, despite the 2018 reform recommendations of the joint select committee, which reviewed the relevant laws.

Golding said this legislative inefficiency negatively impacts Jamaica’s economy and the society.

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