THE Government used Wednesday’s post-Cabinet media briefing to continue defending the raft of initiatives Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced during the 81st annual conference of the Jamaica Labour Party at the National Arena on Sunday.

Holness’ announcements have been met with much scepticism from the Opposition and other segments of the society.

However, Information Minister Senator Dania Morris Dixon, in an all encompassing defence, said that the initiatives, which include a three-month amnesty for customers of National Water Commission (NWC), particularly pensioners and Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH) beneficiaries, and a reduction of the General Consumption Tax (GCT) on electricity from 15 per cent to seven per cent, are a suite of responses to the cost of living crisis Jamaicans have been experiencing.

“As you go around Jamaica and you talk to people around Jamaica, they are constantly talking about the pressures they’re feeling when they go to the supermarket, when they go to the market, you hear it time after time. So the Government has heard, the prime minister has heard and he has put in place a suite of measures that are aimed at addressing that and that was what he was outlining,” she said.

Highlighting other initiatives such as a waiver of fees for craft vendors, a widening of the group of Jamaicans who qualify for the recently introduced $20,000 reverse income tax credit, a one-time cash $20,000 to unregistered people aged 18 plus, and expanding the fleet of Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) buses and routes to ensure more Jamaicans, particularly students, have access to subsidised public transport, Dr Morris Dixon stressed that the interventions seek to reach as many Jamaicans as possible facing economic challenges.

“The Cabinet is continuing to look at other initiatives to see how we can further help Jamaicans, who we know are struggling in terms of meeting their needs. So, all these announcements are really showing the proactive nature of the Government and not just talking, but really sitting down and thinking about how are we going to make the lives of Jamaicans better,” she said.

In direct response to critics who claimed the announcements were an attempt to buy votes leading up to the next general election, the information minister insisted that the gesture is not a gimmick and were some of the initiatives that the Cabinet had been exploring for months

“This is not a gimmick. This is about the people of Jamaica who many of them are hurting. They don’t want us to be playing games and the Administration is not playing games. We are listening to them and we are responding,” she insisted.

Turning to the specific announcement which has elicited much debate — the reduction of GCT on electricity — Finance and Public Sector Minister Fayval Williams said it is part of an overall bigger effort to reduce electricity costs in Jamaica which is among the top 20 countries globally with high electricity costs at about US¢35 or J$56 per kilowatt hour.

She said what the reduction GCT will do is allow JPS to aggressively roll out nationally its prepaid service, giving Jamaicans more control over how much electricity they use and when they use it.

“Jamaicans with prepaid service can buy however much electricity they need — $100, $500, $1,000 — as often as they need to, so they can better match their income pattern with their affordability, “she said, adding that the prepaid service will be available to anyone, whether they are from uptown, downtown, country or town.

Williams pointed out as well that landlords, who sometimes have tenants who vacate the property and leave a high bill, would be able to better control that; and people who do Airbnb can convert to prepaid “and they don’t have to fret about the bill when that Airbnb person leaves”.

“So, there are immeasurable benefits to the reduction of GCT on electricity because of the different types of innovative services that it will allow for our power providers to offer to Jamaicans…And going prepaid means you will never be surprised by a high electricity bill anymore. And that’s a big benefit,” she said.

In the meantime, minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation Matthew Samuda, in defending the amnesty that will be introduced for some people who have been disconnected by the NWC because of unpaid bills for two years or more, said this will benefit more than 30,000 account holders who will have the ability to get $6.5 billion in relief from the Government.

“We believe that this initiative and amnesty will achieve the following: it will return individual and legal connections to portable water to tens of thousands of Jamaicans; it will return comfort and dignity to our pensioners and those living below the poverty line who have been affected by this debt and disconnected from the national water commission lines; it will reduce the need for purchase of expensive trucked water to those affected, thereby reducing the cost of living to those who are affected who access water from trucking sources,” he said.

“It’s a good initiative for the National Water Commission and we look forward to realising the benefits of our pensioners getting back water where they’ve been disconnected, of those on PATH getting back water who have been disconnected and the National Water Commission having more active customers paying their bills on a monthly basis,” Samuda added.