Attempts to derail criminal investigations by falsifying, concealing, destroying or disposing of documents or items relevant to a probe could land offenders in serious trouble with the law. The proposed penalty, if new provisions in the Criminal...
Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis yesterday revealed that she was the one who contacted chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Julian Robinson, to appear before the oversight body, as she had “nothing to hide” and “was answerable to the...
Government members of a parliamentary oversight committee on Tuesday caused eyebrows to arch when they insisted that Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis divulge the name of a Gleaner journalist who contacted the country’s chief auditor to confirm a...
Following a plethora of queries by some government members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) as to why Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis was absent from an exit interview by auditors from the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service in...
Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher on Thursday turned the spotlight on the use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) by students, and vowed that lawmakers would ensure that the new tobacco-control legislation include provisions to deter...
Audrey Deer Williams, who for many years was the senior director of investments at the National Insurance Fund (NIF) in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, came under fire on Tuesday from members of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (...
The constitutionality of tough restrictions in the Tobacco Control Act, 2020, which seeks to create a firewall between players in the tobacco industry and government workers, was questioned by one legislator who is of the view that the proposed law...
Director of the Overseas Employment Programme in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Delroy Palmer, says Jamaican farm workers travelling to Canada and the United States have the option of getting vaccinated while overseas. By this weekend...
A coalition of 13 organisations on Tuesday urged the Government to introduce provisions in the National Identification and Registration Act, or the Data Protection Act (DPA), to remove a two-year period of exemption that would be applicable to the...
As the transitional process from the Registrar General’s Department (RGD) to the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) is set to get under way following the passage of the NIDS law, a trade union leader is cautioning against...
The Opposition warned on Tuesday that amended coronavirus legislation giving the prime minister power, unfettered by Parliament, to make orders attracting criminal sanctions presented a dangerous overreach on democracy. But Opposition Leader Mark...
Contributors or mortgagors of the National Housing Trust (NHT) who have lost their jobs for 12 months or more will be able to access their contribution refunds one year in advance, effective this July. The initiative will expire in July 2022. And...
An audit is under way into the roll-out of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which met with challenges in the first two days when some persons not slated to receive the jab were thrust to the front of the line to be inoculated. Permanent secretary in the...
Despite the Government’s proposed roll-out of its $60 billion SERVE Jamaica programme this fiscal year, the parliamentary Opposition says the administration’s budgetary allocation is insufficient to tackle the deepening economic and social fallout...
An internal audit conducted into the death of 81-year-old Noel Chambers, who had languished in inhumane conditions at the Tower Street Correctional Centre for four decades without trial, has been completed and is expected to be tabled in the Houses...
The Government has signalled that it is prepared to take any disciplinary actions warranted, based on investigations being conducted by the Office of the Services Commission and other oversight bodies, into allegations that correctional officers at...
Government member of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Juliet Holness was peeved on Tuesday that nearly $550 million in benefits targeting the poorest of Jamaicans under the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH)...
Deputy Prime Minister Dr Horace Chang’s comment on Tuesday that the democratically elected Holness administration “cannot be vetoed in carrying out executive action in the face of crisis” triggered a warning from the parliamentary Opposition that...
The reason for granting a 60-day extension to Bengal Development Limited to pay a $40-million environment performance bond remains a mystery to the public. Members of the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) ran into a brick...
Up to the period July 31, 2019 when the Audit Committee of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MLSS) presented its annual report to the ministry, the oversight body made adverse observations, including incorrect use of funds and lack of...
Eyebrows were raised during Thursday’s meeting of the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) when works czar E.G. Hunter disclosed that only 22 per cent of members of parliament (MPs) have used the entire allocation for Christmas...
Lawmakers were left peeved on Wednesday after a startling revelation that two newly constructed municipal corporation buildings have run afoul of their own guidelines for public buildings by failing to create full access by the disabled. Members of...
Deputy Auditor General Marlon McAdam dismissed on Tuesday a suggestion by Permanent Secretary (PS) Dr Alwin Hales that the Jamaica Urban Transit Company Limited (JUTC) did not breach government guidelines when it racked up $1.2 million in car-...
A Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) worker whose salary skyrocketed by 304 per cent on an initial promotion after two months on the job, and ultimately 583 per cent on a second elevation within 13 months, has been described by the management of...
The Auditor General’s Department has strongly reprimanded the Ministry of Labour and Social Security for its inertia in responding to worrying internal audit findings that repeatedly flagged significant internal control deficiencies placing...
