REMARKS
BY
RT.HON. PRIME MINISTER
FOR
LAUNCH OF LABOUR DAY 1998
KINGS HOUSE GROUND, THURSDAY APRIL 16
Acting Governor General
Members of the Diplomatic Corp
Colleague Ministers of Government and Parliamentarians
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Each year I look forward to the observance of Labour Day,
because it is an occasion when the Jamaican people put on
display their finest traits of community spirit and
UWI LIBRARIES
Each Labour Day, thousands of fellow Jamaicans, through
youth clubs, churches, service clubs, workplaces and other
civic and community based groups, have dedicated time,
energy and resource to improve their immediate
environment and, as a consequence, the general quality of
life.
Labour Day has been a success over the years because
many people have used the occasion to extend a hand of
friendship to others.
In the past schools, police stations, hospitals, children's
homes, hospices for the aged and a wide range of social
institutions have benefited from the tremendous outpouring
of love, care and community spirit that accompany the
observance of Labour Day.
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This spirit of voluntarism has served us well in the past.
Many of our present social institutions owe their early
development to the voluntary services of many Jamaicans.
The Jamaica Library Service, Jamaica Cultural
Development Commission, Social Development
Commission, JAMAL, the Scout and Girl Guide
movements are just some of the institutions which have
benefited from the spirit of voluntarism in the Jamaican
Society.
This year's observance of Labour Day will focus on the
theme: Put A Clean Face on Your Community Space.
Communities can play a major role by maintaining and
protecting the physical facilities provided for the staging of
recreational, cultural and other social activities.
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In putting this year's Labour Day theme in effect, the
Government will be directing its efforts over the long term
to develop community football clubs into effective Non
Governmental Organizations (NGOs).
The objective is to enable these football clubs to become
income generating, and most importantly, to act as a
tremendous social force in transforming communities into
cohesive social units.
Similar efforts will be made to assist the development of
sports other than football.
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The Government, through the Sports Development
Foundation (SDF) and other agencies such as the Urban
Development Corporation, has embarked on the
improvement and expansion of recreational and cultural
facilities island wide.
Communities and the private sector are expected to play
their part in generating income to improve and maintain
these facilities.
Additionally, resources are also being directed at the
development of recreational parks. In this regard, the
National Labour Day project this year is the rehabilitation
and beautification of Mandela Park in Kingston.
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All of this is in accordance with Government's stated goal
of building a quality society and providing a better quality
of life for all.
In addition to the thrust to develop sports, Government has
initiated other programmes and measures to improve the
quality of life at the community level. These include the
reform of local government, the Social Investment Fund to
finance projects particularly in the poorest communities,
the Integrated Community Development Programme,
Citizen Association and Neighbourhood Watch
programmes among other initiatives.
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For the Government, putting a clean face on communities
also means ensuring that proper settlement policies and
practices are followed, as well as the protection of the
environment. These all contribute to the building of model
communities in which our people can enjoy a better quality
of life.
The commitment of this Administration is to build a quality
society. The building of this quality society must start at the
community level among the people. It is at this level that
families, households and other social groups mostly
interact.
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Let Labour Day this year be an occasion where the best
qualities of our people are once again put collectively on
show.
It gives me great pleasure to officially launch Labour Day
1998.
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