Dr Wallace made the call while delivering the keynote address at the Montego Bay Community College (MBCC) graduation ceremony, held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St. James, on November 20.

“There is a Jamaica where it’s peaceful; there is a Jamaica where it is natural for you to become well-off, [have a] nice home, two cars, children in good schools. That Jamaica is available. Call it the Promised Land; call it the Promised Jamaica. It’s there,” he said.

“Who is going to take us from where we are today to that Promised Jamaica? Who should we call upon; foreigners? The elderly? The children? No, it’s us in this room; it is really us that that call is falling on. Why? [Because] you guys are more educated than the average Jamaican. MBCC is no ordinary school. It’s one of the better schools in Jamaica; one of the better colleges, and you have been blessed with that education,” Dr. Wallace added.

He argued that for each of the graduates, there are “about 1,000 others who did not have the privilege of sitting in your seat, so I want you to feel that weight of responsibility. I am placing on your shoulders now for this transformation of Jamaica to get us from where we are to that Promised Jamaica. You are going to have to influence 1,000 persons around you, be that positive influence”.

Meanwhile, Dr. Wallace in congratulating the graduates also commended their parents and guardians for the support they gave while the students studied and for showing up in their overwhelming numbers at the ceremony.

Two hundred and eighty students graduated from the institution at the ceremony.