Mixed interest in Williams’ debut budget

As finance minister Fayval Williams laid out her plans for the 2025-2026 fiscal year at the start of the budget debate yesterday, public reaction ranged from keen interest to complete indifference.

While some Jamaicans closely followed the debate, eager to understand how it would affect their lives, others dismissed it as political noise with little bearing on their daily struggles. At a sports bar on East Queen Street in downtown Kingston, the budget debate played live on a screen in the game room. But with music blaring and patrons more focused on their gaming machines and drinks, few seemed engaged. Still, 39-year-old Kardia Lindo made a deliberate effort to stay informed.

"Listen, mi affi keep up because mi need fi know wah gwan and what's to come," she told THE STAR. "Every Jamaican should be interested in how di country's money a go spend." She also explained that every Jamaican should care about the country's finances.

"Mi nuh understand how Jamaicans ever a keep up wid wah gwan a foreign but nuh care bout yard. Nuh weh betta dan yard," she said.

"It nuh matta if you a PNP or JLP, yuh affi watch how taxpayers' money a spend," she added.

Similarly, Tecifha Barracks, a 45-year-old vendor, said that although she was busy tending to her stall, she always made time for budgetary hearings.

"Mi watch it because mi care bout wah gwan in di country," she said, adding that she planned to catch the full proceedings on YouTube later that evening.

"Nuh suh we know if dem a guh gi wi more tax and if di country a guh get better or worse," she added. But for others, the budget meant little. Seventy-year-old Basil Campbell, who said he was not in the best of health, had no interest in politics.

"Mi nuh business wid politics, cause mi never get nothing from politics yet," he said adding that the last time he voted, he was in his 40s, and he has no intention of ever doing so again.

"It nuh really matter who in a power, enuh. A dem lead, and we just affi follow. So mi nuh see di sense wasting mi time fi dip finger in a ink," he explained.

Fifty-year-old Oneil Tucker shared Campbell's skepticism, expressing little faith in the finance minister's leadership.

"Dem can talk all dem want, but mi nuh see how dis budget a guh change nuttin fi di likkle man pon di street," he said.