By Mario Boothe From Caribbean News Now

During his first budget debate as prime minister, there was no trace of the Andrew Holness that was ushered into his role as prime minister by former PM Golding and the hierarchy of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in 2010 then prophesied as Jamaica’s “Obama moment” being sold as the first post independence PM; the bringer of the “new type of politics” echoed since ending of the 80s.

It may have taken him some time and political beating from inside and outside his own political party for this brand new PM Holness to walk into a role as the possible game changer in which all the little remaining hope lies. We see and hear a confident leader with a purpose, a mandate and an unforgiving voting public that is increasingly tired of non performing governments and politicians serving undeserved lengthy terms.

It is daring to say now as the first 100 days have yet to expire, but there is a small spark of inspiration among the millennials or at least those of the ‘articulate minority’ who have been credited for bringing the PM to his current position. The small spark is fueled by his obvious commitment to his policies aimed at creating prosperity and constitutional reforms that will support good governance – both were given featured in his presentation highlighted in the widening of the minimum wage threshold for NHT beneficiaries with 0% interest and fixed election dates.

It is now important for PM Holness to disseminate the message of prosperity and constitutional reform, by making the hard sell to the nation not just as a election campaign slogan but as a call to action for national development that bridges the societal and political divides. The effectiveness of this call to action will depend heavily on the PM’s ability to capitalize on the energy that exist now surrounding his policies and this energy is embodied in the youth – millennial.

Millennials, the Messengers

We’ve seen PM Holness taking a few pages out of President Obama’s playbook as it regards his political styling, but now there is space for him to invoke the leadership qualities of Obama – and like the American president he must take his message on the road, the airwaves, the college campuses and online. The Jamaica Labour Party already has a superior social media infrastructure but this must be transformed into mobilizing the administration’s policies, engaging the citizens and soliciting participation.

It is critical for the Jamaican youth to be able to visualize what prosperity means for them, their immediate future and how they can be involved in creating this new type of politics and prosperity.

As a millennial, it is abundantly clear that our economic power has been virtually erased by the widening gap of income inequality has transferred into strong influencing social/civil power from those slacktivist on social media to youth leaders in government and civil society. Youth influence has forced governments across the world to incorporate “millennial power” that has the ability to make or break a government and their policies.

It’s important that the youth leaders of Jamaica begin to encourage the millennials to embrace their roles, make themselves available and call for greater part in governance beyond voting, ensuring that they are vocal check and balances of a broken system that has resisted change thus far.

Andrew Holness was able to capture the youth vote overwhelmingly but now he must work hard to keep them and converting the immense youth influence into an essential part of realizing his legacy, but more importantly driving a sense of nationalistic pride unseen before as we prepare to create a new Jamaica, land we are still learning to love.

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Mario Boothe is a young governance advocate, blogger and Occupy Jamaica activist, a governance watchdog group

For more on this story go to: http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/headline-Commentary%3A-Hope-in-PM-Holness%3A-Millennials-and-the-message-of-prosperity%3F-30572.html