Commentary

There’s a natural mystic flowing through my hair … On August 1, 1834, enslaved Africans in Jamaica and other British colonies received their freedom from slavery. On August 6, 1962, we gained independence from Britain, making Jamaica an independent...

ONE OF the things I hope for every time I celebrate Jamaica’s Independence is that more of us would know our history – our true history and how deeply we are grounded in Christianity. This has been the key to our success as a country. Pre-...

THERE IS much in Chief Justice Bryan Sykes’ statement on Tuesday with which this newspaper agrees, including his mild upbraiding of the attorney general, Marlene Malahoo Forte – who he referred to neither by name nor title – and his reminder to the...

There is a clear double standard in the way we view corruption and how fluidly the parameters change, depending on the accused. The recent revelation by two of Jamaica’s top pollsters that voters are largely unmoved by allegations of corruption is...

The Jamaican sugar industry is a vertically integrated agro-industrial business that contributes one per cent of Jamaica’s GDP and employs over 100,000 persons directly and indirectly, mainly in rural communities. The sector is deeply linked to the...

After the long battles that followed their contentious elections, there has been a peaceful transfer of power in Guyana. On Sunday, Mohamed Irfaan Ali was sworn in as the country’s president. In other words, the rule of law and constitutional order...

I still recall the pride and excitement of Independence Day in 1962. Our young nation was like a teenager being given the keys to the family car for the very first time. The feeling of power, self-determination and awesome responsibility were...

Hugh Faulkner won’t escape comparisons with Terrence Williams, his predecessor and the only other person, so far, to hold the post of commissioner of the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM), the agency that probes complaints of...

I can’t possibly be the only one missing Ruel Reid so much. Although I was never personally privileged to witness him in full-dress regalia, I imagine that he was a sight to behold. Certainly, The Gleaner has pictures of him dressed in all white...

A century ago, Marcus Garvey’s legendary convention of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League opened in Harlem, New York, on August 1. Emancipation Day in the West Indies was a most appropriate date for the...

This Fifty-Eighth Anniversary of Independence celebration might be the most memorable one so far. We cannot celebrate with the customary total abandon marked by merrymaking with hugs, kisses, and parties galore. The COVID-19 pandemic is like cold...

As we commemorate Emancipation Day today, it seems incomprehensible that the quest for land continues to be such a contentious issue in Jamaica. Just as how freed slaves craved, in 1838, to own the land on which they had toiled, so, today, landless...