Last Friday evening, with the intervention of the Ministry of Education, a quiet, but significant, triumph for the Charter of Rights, and specifically for faith rights, took place, in a nail-biting, eleventh-hour finale at the University of Technology,...
So, terrorism's poster boy is no more. Or, as J.K. Rowling might put it, it all ends for Hairy Plotter. Incomplete scorecard reads Civilisation 2: Terrorism 0.
He is still my friend and respected graphic artist, who knows Jamaican political history, but despite his well-reputed expertise on the subject, Troy Caine should not think that he has a monopoly.
This is the second of a five-part series on Jamaica's new Charter of Rights. From where did bills or charters of rights spring? What is their place in the societal governance order? What is their contribution to the development of a people? What really...
After spending more than half a trillion dollars in the fight against terror since 9/11, the US's recent termination (with extreme prejudice) of bin Laden at his Abbottabad hideout will no doubt be the hottest topic for some time to come.
Are fiscal-responsibility laws and transparency the new flavour of the month? Several other flavours have been in vogue and have been consumed internationally with varying...
Journalists Cliff Hughes and George Davis wondered aloud after Finance Minister Audley Shaw's Budget presentation how Omar Davies could recover from the politically devastating, feel-good Budget that had been delivered.
In my last article, I made the point that one of the things that our Charter of Rights does is that it presents the judiciary with the opportunity to be the vanguard that stands between the citizen and the State, as the...
On April 19, the Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC), along with the National Consumers' League, released a Draft Code of Conduct - Banking Services, regarding the conduct of banking entities.
Guest columnist, Dr Orville Taylor, has apparently taken on the new role of political analyst in his piece in The Sunday Gleaner of April 10, regarding the by-election in South West St Catherine.
The clumsily named Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme (JDIP), at $36 billion, is not only the biggest development fund and programme in the history of the country, it has the ugly potential of being the biggest political pork barrel ever.
In 1960-61, on the eve of Independence, 61 per cent of Jamaica's national income went to 20 per cent of the population. Jamaica was a very unequal society. It had been so long before.
Below is the first of a three-part series from Edward Seaga's Prime Ministerial Reflections address, hosted recently by the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies.
Beyond an ad hominem title that may not necessarily be attributable to Darron Thomas, his response to my 'Clarifying the Jurisdiction of the FTC' bears a staunch resistance to reading primary as opposed to secondary research material.
Significantly slashing the tax on motor vehicles, including gas-guzzling SUVS, might not be the best way to send the signal that you support production over consumption, and it is certainly not sending a message that you are eager to reduce our crippling oil-import bill.
After laying out some three supplementary budgets in fiscal year 2010-2011, the credibility of the estimates of expenditure for fiscal year 2011-2012 presented on April 21, 2011 has immediately been questioned. The approximately $48-billion nominal increase over last year's revised figure of $497 billion crudely keeps the real budgeted amount unchanged.
When he makes his presentation later this week, Finance Minister Audley Shaw must be judged on whether his Budget can deliver growth, maintain fiscal prudence, and expand employment while reducing poverty. If his presentation indicates that these sometimes contradictory goals can be achieved, we would have a Budget we can applaud.
On Thursday, April 14, the Government of Jamaica tabled an expenditure budget of $544.721 billion in the House of Representatives which includes projected debt-servicing costs of $263.343 billion. The debt-servicing estimates suggest projected interest payments of $131.084 billion and amortisation payments of $132.259 billion.
Parliamentarians completed examination of the Estimates of Expenditure for the financial year 2011-2012 last week in a charged atmosphere, and now all eyes are on Finance Minister Audley Shaw who will open the Budget Debate this week.
The February 2010 revisions to the Financial Administration and Audit Act require the provision of significant pre-Budget information to engage the consciousness of, and feedback from, civil society. Several groups have complained of not being consulted, and it is difficult to identify a coherent and consolidated set of pre-Budget information.
The Throne Speech has been delivered to start the new parliamentary year. The Budget Debate will follow this week. The Sectoral Debate will come after that. We should be able to look to the Throne Speeches delivered by our governors general for the direction we have chosen to go forward.
Things are happening in the Budget which have not been seen for decades, perhaps not since the end of the 1960s, early 1970s. But we may be now too tired and cynical from years of lifting the massive debt burden, or too party-loving, to even notice, much more to celebrate.
