That's stark and crushing to national pride. But it's only one of the few stark facts which one will encounter in the World Bank's hefty, more than 300-page report just released a few days ago, titled Jamaica Country Economic Memorandum: Unlocking Growth.
The fact that renewable energy resources such as solar radiation and wind are available free of cost leads many to believe that electricity can be generated from these resources at lower cost than that being experienced utilising fossil fuels.
A symptom of the deep political frustration that afflicts our country is the recent rash of calls to replace the current crop of parliamentarians with younger persons. In their constant search to find excuses for our failures, political pundits on the periphery have determined that the peak of human wisdom is at the age of 40...
There is strong consensus among many that the Manatt-Coke commission report has merely sought to pull a 'George' on us and that it is a report for the birds, as it were.
The decision by The Gleaner to publish stories based on leaked United States diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks has drawn the ire of some, including the Honourable Bruce Golding.
On June 3, I was greatly honoured and extremely privileged to have been invited to the Canadian Senate Chambers to listen to the Throne Speech which marked the opening of the 41st session of Parliament.
Things are never so bad that they can't get worse. It's a lesson West Indies cricket fans have learnt ad nauseam over the past 15 years. Since 1995 we have watched in disbelief as unimagined new depths are regularly plunged.
The report of the commission of enquiry into the extradition of Christopher 'Dudus' Coke and the engagement of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips is finally out.
From May 23-25, 2010, the Jamaican populace cowered as armed gangsters torched police stations and attacked large swathes of the capital, while the security forces struggled to regain control.
WikiLeaks, commission of enquiry and political violenceI have very mixed feelings about publishing the WikiLeaks diplomatic cables, and I can just imagine the editorial and managerial agony of The Gleaner in deciding to do so.
Along Jamaica's journey on the Independence road, up to the passage of our new Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, there have been pivotal moments.
Despite my disagreements with the recent articles on FINSAC by Claude Clarke and Dr Paul Chen-Young on May 22, at least it is clear that they had some knowledge of what happened.
We are reading media reports that foreign diplomats have been trying to tell a past prime minister who should or should not be in our Cabinet. We suspect that they also want to tell us how our Cabinet should run foreign policy.
Over the last couple of weeks, an odd mixture of revulsion, and bewilderment has absorbed a great number of Jamaicans. The citizenry seems repulsed by bombshells that blasted the political domain and are facinated by the range of spin brazenly placed on the questionable activities of politicians at the highest levels.
