The Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) believes that competence should supersede confidence when public-board appointments are being made.The composition and efficacy of boards have commanded renewed attention in light of public...
More and more non-unionised workers are having their cases sent to the Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT) for arbitration, according to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. Changes to the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act close to...
Hugh Faulkner, executive director of the Legal Aid Council, is urging police officers not to delegate the role of an attorney to a justice of the peace (JP) when dealing with detained citizens.He explained that the duty counsel framework provides...
Every citizen is entitled to legal representation and the government's legal aid budget has been climbing in recent years due to the growing demand for counsel, with the budget for the 2018/2019 financial year standing at $228 million. The figure is...
The Small Business Association of Jamaica (SBAJ) is calling for urgent intervention from the Government as it says that members are "being squeezed out of existence".It says that small businesses are in an adverse economic position due to high...
Phillip Paulwell, shadow spokesman on energy, has dismissed an assertion that the Opposition's main strategy is to call for embattled public officials to be dismissed. Over the past three months, multiple officials under the science, energy and...
Andrew Holness, leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), says his Government will not neglect the important role politics plays in governance.He asserted that previous JLP administrations lost touch with citizens by focusing on government policies...
Floyd Green, minister of state in charge of youth, is confident that private-public sector partnerships will generate the estimated $106 million needed to reconstruct the Walker's Place of Safety.According to the Jamaica Fire Brigade, a fire started...
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat is implementing a results-based management (RBM) system to arrest the long-standing "implementation deficit disorder" that has plagued the efficiency of the organisation and its agencies.The RBM system...
The University of the West Indies (UWI) is pushing to replace Queen Elizabeth II as its Visitor, which would make justice more accessible for students and staff who have conflicts with the institution by the appointment of a regional jurist to the...
Luis Alberto Moreno, president of the Inter-American Development Bank, is urging Jamaicans to embrace the planned National Identification System (NIDS), which is facing some public pushback and a constitutional challenge.The IDB has provided a loan...
Professor Carolyn Cooper is adamant that the $13,000 licensing fee imposed yearly for the recreational and commercial use of a beach should be urgently increased and the Government's approach to beach access and the accompanying management framework...
The Guardsman Group has said that the $13,000 it pays annually to the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) as a licensing fee to operate the Puerto Seco Beach in Discovery Bay, St Ann, should not be confused with the lease of just under $...
Diahann Gordon Harrison, national rapporteur on trafficking in persons, says that inadequate staffing and resources have hampered the operations of her office. The Office of the National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons (ONRTIP) was created in...
Only 20 per cent of the National Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons' (NATFATIP) stakeholders interviewed by the Office of the National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons were able to articulate their area of responsibility in tackling the...
Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) is pushing to attract 10,000 volunteers for the 2018 staging of the International Coastal Clean-up (ICC) Day set to take place on September 15. Last year, Jamaica was recognised as hosting the 12th largest ICC event...
The former leadership of the State-owned Petrojam oil refinery spent more than J$1.4 million (US$10,500) to host a 'staff party' for 25 guests at the upscale Palms at Palmyra in Montego Bay, St James, on September 19, last year.That was less than 24...
Resource constraints within Government and legislative delays have hampered the implementation of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS).The Government launched the NFIS in March 2017 in a push to design policies to allow all Jamaicans and...
A little over 15 per cent of persons with disabilities (PwDs) who graduated from a four-year skills-training programme under the Social and Economic Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities project, which was spearheaded by the Ministry of Labour and...
Jamaica needs to place more attention on creating a disaster-resilient built environment in a push to lessen the impact of natural disasters, according to Craig Fugate, former director of the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA...
Bishop Dr Wellesley Blair, former board chairman of the Universal Service Fund (USF), has declined to comment on an employment contract he allegedly signed unlawfully that resulted in the termination of former USF CEO Dr Hugh Cross."Anybody [who]...
The Jamaican Bar Association (JamBar) has proposed that the Labour Relations Code (LRC) be amended to empower the Industrial Disputes Tribunal and other boards to examine cases in their entirety instead of dismissing them for minor procedural...
Despite quitting as chairman of the state-owned oil refinery Petrojam almost a month ago, the embattled Dr Perceval Bahado-Singh continued to serve as a member of the boards of two government entities in the energy sector.The Gleaner has confirmed...
Prime Minister Andrew Holness has said that the state of emergency (SOE) in St James has been instrumental in the reduction of the average daily murder rate across the island.All 52 members of parliament who were present yesterday voted in favour of...
The Government needs to set aside approximately $16 billion annually to cover losses associated with hurricanes and floods over the long term, according to the World Bank.The recommendation forms part of a drive to create a comprehensive disaster...
