In one speech, the prime minister shows comfort with both sides of one issue. He wants senior members of his Government – Mrs Malahoo Forte, Mr Morgan, Mr Warmington, and party Chairman Mr Montague to cease the ‘cass cass’ regarding the Integrity...
The global burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) has reached alarming levels, posing significant challenges to public health. Acknowledging the gravity of this situation, the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MOHW) in Jamaica has taken...
Global plastic production has increased exponentially in the last decades, reaching nearly 400 million tons per year. Of this total, only nine per cent has been recycled. The rest ends up in landfills, and between 19 and 23 million tons end up in...
Jamaicans’ vulnerability to entrenched colonial brainwashing, aggravated by 60 years of failure to begin remedial education, affects every strata of society. So, Jamaica Observer reported (May 30) that eminent Counsel K.D. Knight mounted a solo...
About a decade ago a petty cybercriminal relieved one of my bank accounts of $60,000. From three ATM locations. In the space of less than an hour. It took me about a month for the bank to repay me. Although I asked questions, the bank clammed up...
“... Sun a shine an pot a bwile, but ... Things no bright, bickle no nuff ... Rain a fall, river dah flood, but, ... Water scarce and dutty tough ...” penned Louise Bennett-Coverley. This is likely to be the refrain of teachers, nurses,...
In a visit to the Cayman Islands recently, I was struck by the vast development, especially in relation to infrastructure, in a country which, some years ago, was exporting its waste to Jamaica for disposal. With a population of close to 70,000...
People from all walks of life recoiled in revulsion at the message of injustice that was conveyed in the Jamaican Government’s recent self-pay raise. This increase was two to three times previous earnings with no performance improvement to justify...
Romantic love is hazardous. When it works, one is constantly floating on clouds of ecstasy. When the flame fizzles and you add to it by messing up, your world tosses you into a pit of despair and a most terrible mental anguish. At times there is a...
Since time immemorial, employers and employees have been negotiating salary levels and working conditions. During the 19th century, workers, mainly in UK, Europe and USA, began organizing negotiations through groups called Trade Unions. After...
On February 17, the Centre for Reparation Research at The University of the West Indies convened a public seminar to discuss the University of Cambridge’s “Legacies of Enslavement Report”. This was the first major public seminar focused...
Harry Belafonte, who recently died in New York at the age of 96, was a pioneering Caribbean-American singer-actor who used his fame and wealth to support social causes. Belafonte was the first ever artiste to have sold a million records, with his...
“First, the increase is announced by Mr Clarke,” wrote my lawyer friend. “Then the public outcry and then the refusal to accept the increase by the PM and Leader of the Opposition. Either the increase is warranted or not. But the comedy routine is...
As I promised last Sunday, the reaction to announced salary increases for MPs, Ministers and Councillors has been overwhelmingly contentious. What did you expect from a system that allows Cabinet to pay itself whatever it wants? Democracy demands...
The massive salary increases for councillors, members of parliament (MPs), Cabinet ministers, and the prime minister have angered Jamaicans at home and abroad and led to calls for job descriptions to measure their performance. The critics argue...
Significant changes are long overdue in St Thomas. Now, with over 60 years of independence and colonial retentions continue to batter this parish; causing it to be still the most disrespected and left-behind parish. Morant Bay is the only parish...
Predictions of the imminent end of the Commonwealth are legion, with major events such as the death or ascension of the British monarch provoking especially dire warnings of the Commonwealth’s certain and justifiable collapse. In the public mind...
Martin Luther King, in his famous 1963 speech ‘I have a dream’, noted ‘the fierce urgency of now’ while cautioning against what he called ‘the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquillising drug of gradualism’. Jamaica is at just such an...
So Government’s dog and pony show (a.k.a. Constitutional Reform) is now in full swing. Or, more fittingly, full see-saw. Because fundamental flaws in the process are so contrary that every rise in the tide lifts only some boats while sinking others...
In recent times, there has been much discourse about the University of Technology (UTech), Jamaica, and STEM education. The general interpretation seems to be of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) as a destination. Since all...
Based on polls over the years and an acute understanding of our people’s religious, social, and cultural predispositions it was a given, born out of reality that both the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the People’s National Party (PNP) would always...
One in four women in Jamaica experiences sexual violence at least once in their lives. UN Women also reports that Jamaica has one of the highest rates of rape in the Caribbean. Many cases of sexual assault go unreported, though, and there is a...
Jamaica’s tourism industry is critical to the country’s economic development, and it is essential that every dollar invested in the sector is spent effectively and transparently and can be accounted for. Unfortunately, the development of particular...
It is not often that the Caribbean can claim to be first while also facing the possibility of coming last. On the track, Jamaicans are used to coming first, while often claiming second and third places, too. No one likes to come last, but when it...
The People’s National Party (PNP) seems determined to turn opportunity into shambles and, like Mr Phelps’ Mission Impossible tape, self destruct. For too long politicians have felt free to publicly terrorise or abuse journalists, police, civil...
