WESTERN BUREAU:

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller says the People's National Party (PNP) is "more united than ever" following its recent National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Kingston.

"As a political party, a vehicle of transformation, we came out of that NEC meeting united, motivated, strong, powerful and energised to go forward," she declared.

"I am bubbling; I'm filled with enthusiasm, fuelled by love, to continue to intensify the work to create this peaceful, pleasant productive and prosperous Jamaica."

The party president was giving an address at a fund-raising reception in her honour at the Bellefield Great House in Granville, St. James, on Saturday night. The $20,000-per-ticket event was well attended by party supporters and members of the business community.

Urged to fight crime

The governing PNP has had to deal with the fallout from a contentious selection process as it moved to name its full slate of candidates for the upcoming general election. So far, Mrs. Simpson Miller has presented 58 of the 60 constituency representatives of what she alluded to as her "winning team". West Portland and South East St. Ann are yet to be settled.

In outlining the importance of western Jamaica to the country's economic development, she urged the city fathers to assist in confronting the monstrous creature of crime in Montego Bay.

"Everywhere I go, I am seeing evidence of life returning to full strength. The construction industry has bounced back from the cement crisis, one of the early challenges that I had to face after taking office," Mrs. Simpson Miller said.

"We have excellent reasons to be upbeat about tourism, now the largest single employer and earner of foreign exchange, and a sector which continues to attract significant investment."