Prime Minister Andrew Holness has hit back at critics who have questioned why the nation’s leader would participate in the ground-breaking ceremony for a private business, by declaring that it is a “national duty to support the private sector in the development of the country”.

Holness, who was speaking on Saturday at the ground-breaking of Hambani Estates on Bamboo Avenue in Liguanea, St Andrew, said it was vital for him to answer that question.

“… and I raise it because sometimes there is a love-hate relationship with the private sector, with capital (and) with business,” he claimed.

“The society oftentimes see business as just getting rewards that are internal to the business, and there is no real national benefit. That could not be further from the truth,” argued Holness.

On that premise, he called on Jamaicans to instead embrace entrepreneurs and others who invest in the country.

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