The Office of the Political Ombudsman (OPO) is pushing for increased powers to allow the commission of Parliament to submit reports to the director of public prosecutions (DPP) for rulings on breaches such as vote-buying. For years, many political...
After failing to account for oil amounting to $5.2 billion over a five-year period, Petrojam Limited, the state-owned oil refinery, has implemented new initiatives to reduce oil losses. In her 2018 special audit of Petrojam, Auditor General Pamela...
The Auditor General’s Department has warned the management of the Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA) that action may be taken against responsible officers for paying out more than $8 million in termination benefits, in excess of the amount due, to...
The Accountant General’s Department (AcGD) has come under the microscope of the country’s chief guardian of public expenditure for paying out millions to pensioners up to seven months after they have died. Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis stated...
Opposition Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs Lisa Hanna has said that for many who have followed United States politics for decades, yesterday’s development in Washington was disturbing on a number of fronts, particularly against the background of...
The massive impact of COVID-19 on government revenue this fiscal year has seemingly tempered the expectations of trade unions as the new round of public-sector wage talks draws closer. However, two senior trade unionists are eager to see the...
Seventeen-year-old Kimberly Cross, a Jamaican now attending East Orange Campus High School in New Jersey, United States, has made history by being the first student from the institution to be accepted to an Ivy League university. Cross received a...
Far-reaching provisions have been crafted in the Tobacco Control Act, 2020, that will bar public servants from investing in the tobacco industry and also prohibit them from operating a tobacco manufacturing, wholesale, retail or import business....
Professor Peter Figueroa, one of Jamaica’s leading epidemiologists, said that if visitors from the United Kingdom (UK) to Jamaica in the last few weeks were observing strict quarantine measures, the risk of transmission of a new variant of...
Jamaica’s ranking on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) poses a barrier to the Audley Shaw-led Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce’s efforts to woo foreign direct investment to the country, a global quality...
While credit- and debit-card fraud remains the most prevalent financial crimes committed locally, the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) is reporting that females and millennials are disproportionately targeted by the fraudsters. Major Keron Burrell, head of...
Jamaica is among 117 countries that have failed to reach the minimum threshold for adequate Budget public participation, transparency, oversight, according to an Open Budget Survey (OBS) in 2019. The revelation was made on Wednesday at a forum...
As lawmakers review a bill to address the vexed issue of sexual harassment at the workplace, a trade union expert is suggesting the establishment of a social movement locally to succour victims. “There is a need for the equivalent of a Me Too...
While disagreeing that the exercise of ministerial power to override decisions of the state environmental regulator casts a shadow over officials’ integrity, Pearnel Charles Jr said that there may be cause to reopen the debate on having an...
Despite projections that Jamaica’s economy is set to decline by up to 10 per cent for the current fiscal year owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Andrew Holness administration has no immediate plans to adjust its target of rolling out 70,000...
With the country’s key environmental regulatory body falling outside of his immediate control as minister with responsibility for the environment, Pearnel Charles Jr said he is not perturbed by the arrangement. Charles, who is minister of housing,...
Anti-corruption advocate Jeanette Calder is raising questions as to why delinquent lawmakers are not named in the annual report of the Integrity Commission for failing to provide additional information to complete the examination of their statutory...
There is growing concern that a court injunction taken out by former Member of Parliament (MP) Ian Hayles more than three years ago, barring the Parliament from tabling a report from the Integrity Commission detailing allegations of irregularities...
If strong appeals for the Holness administration to withdraw approval for Jamaica World LLC to mine the Puerto Bueno Mountain in St Ann fall on deaf ears, a leading corruption watchdog is not ruling out testing the constitutionality of the...
Thrust into full remote learning with the onset of COVID-19 in March, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has cast the crisis as a game-changer that has accelerated the strategic plan to reach 100,000 students in the global online market. In a...
The United States administration says it is deeply concerned about the high rates of killings in Jamaica, highlighting the murder of women, even as it bemoans the “insufficient response” by the Government to end the violence and hold the...
While making it clear that dog owners must be held accountable if their animals injure people or cause damage to property, Jalil Dabdoub, president of the German Shepherd Club, is urging the Government to make adjustments to the Dogs (Liability for...
With a membership of more than 300, the Small Business Association of Jamaica (SBAJ) says a recent survey it conducted has revealed that 35 per cent of its business operators have closed their doors owing to the crippling effects of the COVID-19...
National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang says that the heads of the security forces “see the need” for the declaration of a state of public emergency (SOE) to quell the spike in murders in the last few weeks. However, government action, seemingly...
As the security forces make significant inroads into the local drug trade, National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang said that the major narcotics dealers are dangling big money before members of the security forces to entice them to assist them...
