When days before Tuesday’s nominations the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) ditched Dr Ryan Simpson as one of its candidates for next month’s general election, this newspaper welcomed the decision. We respected the action even more when the party held...
I am already tired of the election jingles, posturing and propaganda. So far, the campaigns of the two political parties lack substance; what we are being served is the usual circus, albeit somewhat toned down due to COVID-19 restrictions. Pre-...
The headline on Monday, July 13, read: ‘Miracle baby killed in freak accident’. The grief-stricken mother, RB, was barely able to speak. “She is my only child. Dem (doctors) seh me couldn’t get pregnant and me beg God fi me baby. And she jus get...
As we celebrate the milestones in our history, it is important that we place premium on the effort to educate our people on the real richness of our history. There are many great Jamaicans that are generally ignored, especially those from the late...
THERE ARE many things for voters to consider in next month’s coronavirus-constricted general election. None, though, is more profound than which party is more capable of leading Jamaica not only out of the pandemic, but the economic crisis it...
It isn’t only the gender balance of their election slates to which Jamaica’s political parties need to pay attention. They have to address the matter of who they appoint to boards – now disproportionately packed with men – when they are in...
On September 3, 2020, Jamaicans will go to the polls to vote in the 18th national election since Universal Adult Suffrage in 1944. For most, the choice will be made on the basis of support (or lack thereof) for a particular party. That support...
I last wrote on the now Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS)-European Union (EU) post-Cotonou negotiations on June 17 following the meeting of the lead negotiators, EU International Partnerships Commissioner Jutta...
We need to be clear that structural, systemic racism in all its forms and manifestations throughout America, Europe, and its former colonies, originates from the idea of white supremacy. The comments related to my first article underline how...
Jamaica’s struggle with crime has been both long-standing and deleterious. In October 2017, The Gleaner published a report in which the then minister of national security advised that the estimated annual cost of crime was $68 billion. The ongoing...
Do you sometimes find yourself worrying about everything? COVID-19, finances, health, family, to the point where you are unable to function effectively? Do you stay awake at nights ruminating, or overthinking, so that your sleep is disturbed? Do...
The novel coronavirus didn’t just descend on Jamaica. The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed on March 3. Three days later, the Government activated the Disaster Risk Management Act and declared the entire island a disaster area at risk of...
I received a very sad news recently; someone that I met just a few years ago died. The person who told me of the death was among a small group of tradesmen that I encountered. He remembers well how I begged and cajoled and encouraged one of them to...
Last week, my attention was directed to an interesting letter to the editor of a local newspaper. The subject was the advertising of sanitary pads for women during the sports segment of television newscasts, “especially in prime time”, which the...
The breakfast downtown which cost $250 at the beginning of the year, now costs $350. The lunch which went for $350 is now $450. The price of cabbage, the staple with rice and plenty of gravy or ketchup for Sunday dinner, recently rose steeply....
Donald Tapia, Donald Trump’s ambassador in Kingston, says the United States has no favourites among the parties in Jamaica’s September 3 general election. America, he says, will happily work with whatever administration that emerges from the...
“…Thus, the cycle continues. The cycle of history repeats itself in remarkable ways, small and large, across the generations of us Jamaicans, though we may be scattered around the diaspora and far away from home where it all started. It is up to...
I don’t really have all that much of a problem with the prime minister breaking the clearly stated promise of a fixed election date … except for that we have been thereby robbed of a full and enjoyable campaign. Well, some nuance ought to be added...
Jamaica’s 17th contested general election since adult suffrage in 1944, and the 12th since Independence, is to be held on September 3. The 16th took place on February 26, 2016. At that time, over half of those eligible to vote didn’t cast their...
Imagine addressing a state of public emergency (SOPE), dreadlocks in schools, COVID-19, and a general election all at the same time. Therefore, one might easily forget that tomorrow, we celebrate the 133rd earth day of the second greatest black man...
There’s a provocative answer to that question in Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey: Or, Africa for the Africans: “I really never knew there was so much colour prejudice in Jamaica, my own native home, until I started the work of the...
The emerging wisdom on campaign financing is that there is no perfect or permanent legislation that can be formulated. Whatever measures are put in place, efforts will be made to circumvent them and to find loopholes. The Electoral Commission of...
It is likely that there will be more women in the new Parliament than in the last. The best-case scenario is for an increase of more than one and a quarter over the 11 females who sat in the outgoing Parliament. But whatever the gender...
So the political parties are off on a short sprint to reach Gordon House. The September 3 polls may well be remembered as the Pandemic Elections, like none other, conducted in a way to improve public safety without threatening the integrity of the...
Not many would know that in 1997 – some 23 years ago – the then leaders of our Caribbean Community (CARICOM) determined that each member state should set up an independent national committee to receive and look into complaints of human and civil...
