G2023 | The Year in News

From earthquakes to financial scandals and the hiccups of implementing a new law and restructuring public sector wages, the narratives that took centre stage in 2023 have influenced our trajectory as we step into the upcoming year. Here’s a selection of some of the major news stories over the past 12 months.

Seismic shocks

A 4.9-magnitude earthquake that rocked the island in April and whose epicentre was located 17 kilometres northwest of Yallahs, St Thomas, is what Professor Simon Mitchell said triggered fault lines and tossed Jamaica into having one of the most eventful years for earthquakes.

In September, another earthquake of similar magnitude was felt across the island. And on October 30, the country experienced what was arguably the most significant earthquake in a decade when a 5.9-magnitude tremor rocked the island.

Fortunately, no lives were lost or any major injuries reported, but concerns were raised about the country’s readiness to coordinate all aspects of the response to such natural disasters after the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) took more than six hours after the quake to address the nation. And with scientists’ ominous predictions of a “big one”, critics said the ODPEM’s lethargy was even more concerning.

“We need more public education. We need more drills. That’s the first thing. That’s to make people aware of what’s going on because of the potential [of a tsunami] when we get something bigger … ,” Mitchell told The Sunday Gleaner of what needs to be done going forward.

Mitchell, a professor of sedimentary geology at The University of the West Indies, Mona, also expressed concern that no geologist is currently employed at the ODPEM. He said this needs to be remedied as it has an impact on how the public is informed and trained, and in how information is provided in the event of an earthquake.

“Because obviously, one of the very big things is that you cannot have an Office of Disaster Preparedness that doesn’t have one or at least two geologists in there, because you’ve got the issues of earthquakes, which are obviously geological; you’ve got the issues when rain come in the form of landslides, which are geological; and they should have somebody who can speak about it and, apparently, at the moment, they don’t,” he said.

US$30 million Stocks & Securities Limited fraud

In what was arguably the story of the year, financial crimes investigators are still trying to determine how more than 200 accounts at Stocks & Securities Limited (SSL) were defrauded of almost J$4 billion.

The Gleaner broke the news on January 12 that track and field legend Usain Bolt was among the victims of the alleged fraud. Ex-Client Relationship Manager Jean-Ann Panton is the only person implicated so far in the case.

The Government also took some flak after The Gleaner revealed that the regulator, the Financial Services Commission, flagged SSL years ago for a culture of non-compliance and mismanagement of client funds. The investment firm, however, kept operating despite a documented history of breaches and poor financial management.

Investigations into the high-profile alleged multibillion-dollar fraud at SSL took an interesting turn in December when its St Andrew corporate office was broken into and at least five laptop computers, including one belonging to SSL’s chief financial officer, were stolen. The break-in is not expected to impact the case.

But stating that they will take the matter to trial this year, Bolt’s attorney, Linton Gordon, is lamenting the lack of significant progress with the recovery of the sprint legend’s money, which he says is due to the multiplicity of litigation launched in the matter.

Additionally, he charged that there was too much secrecy surrounding the investigation.

“We will go to trial with our matter, and we are hoping that the dispute between the parties, as to who is in charge of SSL, will be sorted out by the courts, and we are back now on course to have the courts make a decision as to responsibility and liability,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.

The new Road Traffic Act

The new Road Traffic Act and Regulations was enacted in February. It was hailed as a tool to curb indiscipline on the nation’s roads, enhanced with increased fines and stiffer penalties for breaches of the road code. But its enactment caused its fair share of disorder.

There were traffic jams at courthouses islandwide in the lead-up to the February 1 implementation date as motorists rushed to settle outstanding tickets.

Additionally, the Government was forced to make several concessions to the law, including scrapping the contentious requirement for children to be restrained in special seats in public passenger vehicles.

It was also placed on the defensive as critics labelled the new Road Traffic Act as a revenue channel.

Data obtained by The Sunday Gleaner from the Island Traffic Authority showed that more than $2.4 billion was collected from infractions last year under the new Road Traffic Act. During that same period, 688 licences were suspended.

Vice chairman of the National Road Safety Council, Dr Lucien Jones, believed that enforcement of the new act, along with an improved ticketing system, played an integral role in the reduction of road fatalities last year. There were 425 road deaths last year, compared to 487 in 2022.

While noting that the enforcement of the law is only one aspect of the safe-system approach, Jones asserted nonetheless that its application, along with an improved electronic ticketing system, will result in a further reduction of road deaths this year.

“The fear of the increased fines, the fear of having your licence suspended if you continue to break the law, and also to have a warrant issued for your arrest, those fears will change behaviour. What will make a difference also is not only the writing of tickets electronically, but the capturing of breaking of the law by the cameras, and those cameras are scheduled to come in within the first quarter of 2024,” he told The Sunday Gleaner last week.

Although a committee to review the provisions of the law was established, Jones said that there have not been many suggestions coming in from the public. Thus, while it is still in place, it is currently inactive.

Public sector compensation review

Protests characterised the Government’s compensation restructuring exercise in the public sector with various unions expressing their disapproval of the new salary scales. But it was the massive salary increases granted to members of the political directorate that sparked the biggest public backlash. Increases of more than 200 per cent were accorded to councillors, members of parliament, cabinet ministers and the leader of the opposition. The Holness administration endured a public fallout as a result, with citizens taking to the streets, social media, and traditional media to air their disapproval. This action prompted Prime Minister Andrew Holness to exempt his office from the increase.

Opposition Leader Mark Golding, whose party had initially supported the massive increase, later said that he has taken a decision to donate the retroactive sum associated with his salary increase to six charitable organisations.

Calls for a rollback were ignored, and the increases were justified as a means to attract the brightest to the country’s political leadership. The salary increases also renewed calls for job descriptions for the political directorate to be put in place to hold political representatives found guilty of criminal and/or moral crimes accountable.

In June, Prime Minister Holness tabled in the House of Representatives job descriptions for parliamentarians in the form of a Green Paper and for cabinet ministers in the form of a White Paper, and a joint select committee was subsequently established to review the draft.

“These will set out the strategic objective of the post, its purpose, reporting and accountability, the key deliverables and responsibility areas, performance standards, competencies, contacts, and the working conditions,” Holness said.

The Union of Clerical, Administrative and Supervisory Employees represented more than 30 groups in the compensation negotiation process. Its president, Vincent Morrison, told The Sunday Gleaner last week that he was wary of the many hurdles involved, some of which have spilled over into the new year.

“Even as we speak, some of those groups who have signed off are having complaints,” he said.

“I am hoping that the new leadership of the confederation will find it necessary and urgent to meet with the Ministry of Finance and look at the issues and see how we can have what I would describe as a ‘refinement’, so that the tenets of the compensation review, which, as the minister says, border on fairness and equity … to move from 300-plus benefits down to 16, must have problems. I think the big issue is that we seem to be overlooking some of those issues and I don’t think that is fair,” said Morrison.

The Integrity Commission faces the heat

Last year, senior lawmaker and Justice Minister Delroy Chuck declared that the Integrity Commission (IC) did not have any integrity.

His declaration marked the peak of attacks on the IC by government legislators, who were peeved over how the commission handled a report that flagged Prime Minister Andrew Holness for an alleged conflict of interest. An investigation report released in February slammed the prime minister over the award of a contract to a business partner while he was minister of education between 2007 and 2008. Two days after the report was released, the commission released a ruling, stating that it would not be pursuing criminal charges against him.

wCivil society groups, including the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, accused the IC of undermining the office of the prime minister with how it released the information. A tweet of a news report by the commission’s executive director, Greg Christie, led to calls for him to resign. The controversy became a political issue with government minister Everald Warmington proposing changes that would weaken the authority of the commission, including the removal of the auditor general from the commission.

Warmington subsequently classified the agency as a “rogue organisation” that “must be reined in”.

Holness later urged government members to halt their assault on the agency.

The IC has remained a talking point after it disclosed in July that it was investigating six members of parliament for alleged illicit enrichment.

Principal Director of National Integrity Action Danielle Archer is pressing for the conclusion of those investigations and the swift prosecution in 2024 of any politicians suspected of illicit enrichment.

Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert falls on her sword

For the first time in Jamaica’s political history, a Speaker of the House had to resign in dramatic fashion.

Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert joined the list of public servants in Jamaica who have had to resign after damaging allegations from investigative bodies after the Integrity Commission ruled that she should face eight counts of corruption-related charges.

She stepped down in September after the report accused her of allegedly making false statements on her statutory declarations.

The report asserts that Dalrymple-Philibert did not declare that she owned a Mercedes-Benz motorcar for which she was collecting travel benefits. However, she said she did not recall that she owned the car, which was sold in 2022, months after she told the commission that she did not own the vehicle. The case is now before the courts.

Juliet Holness, MP for St Andrew East Rural and wife of Prime Minister Andrew Holness, was elected the new Speaker with the backing of the Opposition.

She has since been dragged over the coals over her ruling to end the practice of tabling all IC reports upon their submission to the Parliament. She said that special and annual reports of the commission will go to its oversight committee for deliberations first and then tabled later with the committee’s own report.

Holness has also been chided for her refusal to share the attorney general’s full opinion on the matter.

Haitians in Jamaica

Thirty-seven Haitians who arrived in Jamaica in July are still awaiting a decision on their asylum request. However, three other groups that followed, seeking refuge in Jamaica from their war-torn country, have been sent back home.

Human rights lawyer Malene Alleyne has been vocal in criticising the Government’s approach when dealing with the Haitians, accusing it of breaching international law.

“What the minister has done is unilaterally designate a national group – Haitians – as undesirable migrants who are not eligible for refugee status, and who are excluded from due process guarantees such as the right to communicate with a lawyer,” she said.

Believing that more Haitians attempting to escape the crisis in their homeland will end up in Jamaica, Alleyne is calling for regional coordination to deal with this issue going forward.

“What this is requiring is a regionwide comprehensive and coordinated response to establish a framework for refugee protection for Haitians in mobility, and it has to be a coordinated response involving the United Nations and other international partners,” she said in a Sunday Gleaner interview last week.

Constitutional reform controversy

The Government unveiled a committee tasked with driving the constitutional reform process in March last year.

The reform process includes Jamaica removing the British monarch as the country’s head of state.

However, very early in its work, the committee was rocked by public confidence issues after it was criticised for not being open with its deliberations and for appearing to have made decisions before consultation with Jamaicans.

The opposition PNP has insisted that it will not support the removal of the monarch without the simultaneous removal of the UK’s Privy Council as the country’s final court of appeal.

A national public education campaign to enlighten Jamaicans about the constitutional reform process is expected to gain further momentum this year. The campaign, announced by Minister of Constitutional and Legal Affairs, Marlene Malahoo Forte, will run for two years, in six-month implementation phases, between August 1, 2023, and August 1, 2025.

Beryllium heists

Cash-in-transit company Beryllium made the headlines in 2023 for the frequency of attacks on its teams across the country. Many of the at least seven incidents happened as security guards tried to restock ATMs. This resulted in scores of bank customers struggling to get cash as the attacks affected the service providers’ ability to replenish the machines with cash.

The robberies also brought to the forefront concerns over whether there is adequate training of security personnel who engage in the delivery or protection of assets.

Minimum wage increase

Last year saw the largest increase in minimum wage in 20 years at 44 per cent. The national minimum wage was increased to $13,000, with $14,000 per week for for industrial security guards.

Small and medium-size businesses that were expected to be most impacted by the increase were encouraged to find creative ways to implement it.

Dr Adrian Stokes, economist and financial analyst, extolled the positive impact the increase will have on the economy.

“It’s hard to imagine a material fallout in the employment of these workers because of the wage increase. Most employers are enlightened and recognise that paying a liveable wage to their workers is better than having to recruit and train workers frequently due to high staff turnover arising from material dissatisfaction with wages,” he said.

Crime stories that shook the nation

Phillip Paulwell’s daughter killed: It is the case that rocked Jamaica. On September 10, it was reported that 27-year-old Toshyna Patterson and her 10-month-old daughter Sarayah were abducted from their home in St Andrew on September 9. They were never seen again.

Baby Sarayah was the daughter of lawyer Phillip Paulwell, a People’s National Party member of parliament.

A month after they went missing, the police confirmed that Patterson and her baby were shot dead and their bodies burnt.

The alleged mastermind is Leoda Bradshaw, a member of the US Navy, who also shares a child with Paulwell.

Bradshaw and her cousin Roland Balfour are expected to stand trial. Two other men were sentenced for their role in the brutal plot. A fifth suspect was picked up on December 28.

Murder of Danielle Rowe: In June, eight-year-old Danielle Rowe was abducted from the Braeton Primary and Infant School. She was later found with her throat slashed in a derelict building near the National Stadium in St Andrew. She was taken to the Bustamante Hospital for Children, where she died two days later.

The brutality of the crime shocked the nation.

On August 11, Kayodi Satchell, a 31-year-old dental assistant, was apprehended at her Lady Musgrave Road, St Andrew, offices and subsequently charged with Danielle’s abduction and murder. She is still in custody.

Melissa Silvera murder probe: In a massive twist, Melissa Silvera’s death spawned a murder probe weeks after her death as bullet fragments were discovered in her body during an autopsy.

The wife of former People’s National Party parliamentarian Jolyan Silvera was reported to have passed away in her sleep on November 10.

But a month later, the police upgraded the probe to a murder investigation.

A law enforcement source told The Gleaner that the postmortem confirmed that Melissa died from multiple gunshot wounds. No suspect has yet been named.