So public servants are to expect retroactive pay from April 1 last year, on the new scale which wraps up pre-existing allowances into basic pay. But these allowances have been paid already for the months between April and November. So if they are...
Senegal, Cameroon, Ghana, Ecuador … I am almost tempted to say, “lef dem wife and pickney outa door!” Even more tempting is the line, “nobody’s business but their own”. A traditional Jamaican folk song, it was one of those we sang as youth in the...
In the shadow of the recent pandemic and given the changing face of the population’s health profile, strengthening health systems has never been more important nor required more urgent attention than right now. At the Ministry of Health...
That Jamaica is in need of a new and modern maximum security prison or adult correctional centre isn’t in question. The current correctional facilities are nothing to write home about – they are overcrowded, 18th-century workhouses that are beyond...
In September 2017, Norma Rodney Harrack made a routine visit to the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. She was there to confirm her teaching schedule. The outcome of her meeting with management was completely unexpected. She was...
Quite frankly, I just want to watch football. It’s a diversion from the usual endless stream of doom and gloom constantly fed to us by the mainstream media. Yes, there is a major war in Europe that our empathy was steered towards, without any...
In these difficult times when conversations inevitably come around to murders, corruption in high places, carnage on the roads, scamming and other criminal activities, kindness and compassion appear to be in short supply in Jamaica. However, there...
Call me a cynic, but years of participation in negotiations between developed and developing countries have schooled me to be cautious about grand announcements and promises. The devil is usually in the details. Experience has taught me to remain...
Anything that is ‘in the cards’ is extremely likely to happen. In Trinidad, there is an English card game called ‘All Fours’ which goes back to the 17th century and, like Nostradamus, predicted some major recent global events. The most startling...
“By their fruits you shall know them”. Everyone leaves a legacy, whether they want to or not. People will remember you for what you actually did, not for your good but unfulfilled intentions, however high-sounding. A few weeks ago (on October 12...
It is a safe bet that the 13 government senators will vote in favour of extending the states of emergency (SOEs) that are now in force in the parishes of St James, Clarendon, Hanover, Westmoreland, St Catherine and parts of Kingston and St Andrew...
On September 25 and 26, 2022, heavy rain from the passage of Tropical Storm Ian, battered sections of Jamaica, particularly in St. Catherine and Clarendon. The National Works Agency (NWA) has calculated the full extent of the islandwide damage to...
Something smells off about this World Cup. And no, it’s not this unusual combination of international football, pepper lights, Christmas carols and tinsel. There’s something darker about the competition this year than ever before, and that includes...
On November 25 each year, the global community commemorates the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The date also signifies the beginning of 16 days of activism to end gender-based violence (GBV) and concludes on...
It does not require too much reading between the lines to discern that the Government is wavering between allowing the Office of the Political Ombudsman to lapse and making it an ill-defined appendage of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ)....
Published:Wednesday | November 23, 2022 | 12:14 AM
The acceptance by the rich world of its obligation to help pay for global warming-related disasters in poor nations is a positive outcome of the COP27 climate conference. The proposal is legally and morally justified, and the facility is one that...
Published:Wednesday | November 23, 2022 | 12:06 AM
Recently, a senator disclosed that only 17 per cent of the national security budget has been spent this fiscal year. Are we serious about improving the crime situation? Are we serious about education/socialisation? I am dismayed at how many of our...
Published:Wednesday | November 23, 2022 | 12:06 AM
Well, the greatest show on earth, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) World Cup, the quadrennial men’s tournament, has started in Qatar and will end on December 18. I have been watching the Football World Cup for as long as...
Last week, I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. On Sunday, transport operators voted to withdraw their services islandwide for three days, starting Monday. The reason? The Government turned down their request for a traffic ticket amnesty. It...
Jeez Louise! Danger of further mental slavery by British Law Lords forced yet another serious Tuesday column. In deciding whether a lawyer’s files containing matters pre-dating the new Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) can be seized and searched by...
As Rosalee Gage-Grey, head of Jamaica’s Child Protection and Family Services Agency, reminded last week, what stands as discipline in the island’s homes is violence, either in physical or psychological forms. Eight out of 10 children, she reported...
I am sympathetic to the need for public passenger vehicle (PPV) operators to make a living. However, I often criticise those that behave terribly on our roads because I am totally against them flouting the law, disrespecting and endangering other...
The announcement of a wage settlement with a majority of government-paid workers is good news. The blending of multiple tax-free allowances into basic salaries will magnify base pay and, therefore, pension entitlement. The higher gross ought to...
We take at face value America’s acknowledgement that the flow of illegal firearms into the island is an “enormous problem” for Jamaica, and Washington’s willingness to do something about it. But while recent gun-control legislation in the US is a...
By the time this column is out, there will be the ringing of bells, in a tsunami of green. Neither green nor orange is a colour that forms part of my wardrobe or décor. Yet, I have to admit, that in a robust democracy like ours, it is quite a...
