Jamaica: Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller launches employment initiative

Jamaican Prime Minister., Portia Simpson-Miller. PHOTO/File

The Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP) was officially launched by Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller thursday at a ceremony held off Barbican Road near the Stand Pipe community in St. Andrew.

Declaring that JEEP is not a political partisan initiative, Simpson-Miller said the programme is an emergency response to the crisis of unemployment in Jamaica.

JEEP is expected to create short-term employment for some 5,000 Jamaicans.

Dismissing the detractors of JEEP, Simpson-Miller said many have attacked the programme since it was first announced.

With the squeeze of a hand-held horn three times, Simpson-Miller announced this afternoon that JEEP was up and running.

She quickly invited her audience to step up and take a ride on the JEEP as it was a national project.

The prime minister made it clear that partisan politics will not be tolerated in the implementation of the programme.

Describing the first phase of JEEP as a modest but significant start, Simpson-Miller pledged that in the new fiscal year her administration will be announcing more initiatives under JEEP.