Why Does the Establishment Want Andrew Holness Gone?
Jamaica Live News Desk– | Sept 7, 2025
Andrew Holness is just 53 years old — the youngest Prime Minister ever to hold office in Jamaica — yet the chorus for his departure is already loud and insistent. Compare that with Opposition Leader Mark Golding: at 60 years old, he will be 65 by the next election. Despite losing, there’s no establishment campaign pressuring him to make way for “new blood.” Why is the youngest, most dynamic Prime Minister in Jamaica’s history being told to pack up, while an older, defeated opponent is quietly given time and space?
This contradiction is not coincidence. It smells like coordination.
The Media’s Unsubtle Push
One day after the election — ballots still being counted, Holness seemingly positioned as leader-elect — the establishment’s loudest microphone came out swinging. Dionne Jackson Miller, one of the country’s most prominent journalists, asked Holness if he would resign should he lose. She went further, suggesting it was “unlikely” he would even finish his full term. Imagine that: Jamaica’s leader being written off before the ink dried on the count. That isn’t journalism, that’s an agenda.
Why is the mainstream media so eager to plant doubt? Why are they scripting a resignation narrative before the people have even spoken fully?
The disappointment was written all over the faces of mainstream media on election night — long faces, heavy sighs, as if Jamaica had fallen into darkness. They even dragged their feet to announce Andrew Holness’s victory, leaving it to Nationwide News to break the story. Now the same voices are busy planting doubts about his future. Coincidence? Or is this a coordinated effort by the establishment and their media mouthpieces to push Holness out — not because he failed, but because he threatens the system that profits from Jamaica’s stagnation?
Who Benefits From His Removal?
Let’s ask the harder question: who profits if Jamaica loses Andrew Holness?
Holness has moved the country in directions never seen before: reforming governance, expanding infrastructure, modernizing wages, and reshaping Jamaica’s international image. He is a reformer, and reformers disrupt the status quo.
The “status quo” — the shadowy blend of elites, political lifers, and corporate players who profit from a Jamaica stuck in cycles of dependency — are not comfortable with a young, ambitious leader charting new courses.
The ugly truth? Some people benefit from stagnation. A struggling Jamaica means contracts, consultancy fees, foreign dependency deals, and political bargaining chips. A rising Jamaica threatens old money and old power.
The Double Standard Exposed
If Holness were a tired relic at 70, there might be some logic in urging renewal. But at 53, with decades of energy and vision left, why the rush to push him out? Meanwhile, Mark Golding, older and recently defeated, is treated like a patient heir waiting for his turn.
This double standard is telling: the establishment is not interested in fairness, only in control.
A Dangerous Question
So, Jamaica must now ask: Is there a network of people behind the scenes — media voices, old political operators, corporate elites — who thrive on the slow destruction of Jamaica?
If Holness stays, they lose their grip. If Holness goes, they return to the driver’s seat. That’s why the pressure is so unrelenting.
🔥 The controversy is not Andrew Holness. The controversy is the establishment that seems more invested in undermining Jamaica’s youngest Prime Minister than holding an older, defeated Opposition Leader accountable.
The people must decide whether they want to keep listening to the whispers of those who benefit from a broken Jamaica — or defend the right of an elected leader to finish the vision he started.