Sat | Jul 4, 2026

Commentary

Published:Sunday | May 17, 2020 | 8:48 AM

GIVEN THE long hiatus in classes and the abandonment of the final segment of this year’s Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examinations for grade-six students, the method to be used by the education ministry to place children in high schools in September...

Published:Sunday | May 17, 2020 | 8:16 AMVal Wint/Guest Columnist

LET ME commend Minister Nigel Clarke on the stimulus package he presented during his 2020-21 Budget Debate, which, I hope, will bring some relief to many Jamaicans who have become vulnerable at this time. We do understand that aspects of this...

Published:Sunday | May 17, 2020 | 8:53 AM

THE ATTENTION on how inadequately the Government regulates private hospitals ought not to stop there. Questions should be asked, too, about the quality of oversight of the State’s institutions, and if the body tasked with the job – a division of...

Published:Sunday | May 17, 2020 | 8:44 AM

My heart bleeds. I know the three ladies as students in the Faculty of Social Sciences on my plantation. Tiana James, a current next-generation graduate student, died after giving birth, and her baby also passed two days later. Then, 2019 graduate...

Published:Sunday | May 17, 2020 | 8:44 AMLauren Marsh/Guest Columnist

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), workers and businesses are facing catastrophe, in both developed and developing economies, as a result of the continuous spread of the coronavirus. The outbreak is expected to wipe out 6.7...

Published:Sunday | May 17, 2020 | 8:33 AM

Unless it is being done on the quiet, we expect the Financial Services Commission (FSC) to join the central bank in announcing a mutual understanding with the institutions it regulates to suspend the declaration and distribution of dividends to...

Published:Sunday | May 17, 2020 | 8:33 AM

The novel coronavirus has continued its rapid spread, challenging global health and the economy. The virus transmits through human contact, threatening normative ways of doing business as face-to-face interactions continues to be an essential...

Published:Sunday | May 17, 2020 | 8:31 AM

An objective of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in 2020 is strengthening relations with Africa through the African Union (AU). A summit was scheduled around the time of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Rwanda. Postponement...

Published:Tuesday | May 5, 2020 | 12:10 AMNadine McCloud-Rose and Peter-John Gordon/Contributors

THE CURRENT COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the operations of our schools, with classes currently delivered in a ‘distance mode’ in which pupils stay at home. A distance mode is not the same as simple homeschooling, in which the entire educational...

Published:Tuesday | May 5, 2020 | 12:05 AM

I HAVE been focused over the last few months on the matter of Jamaica’s food security. In my series of articles, I identified possibilities for sustainable import substitution and export expansion, as well as prescribed structural changes to be...

Published:Tuesday | May 5, 2020 | 12:05 AM

A FEW days ago, Ed Bartlett, the tourism minister, offered his perspective of what the global travel industry would look like when the COVID-19 pandemic passes and how Jamaica should position itself for the new reality. Don’t expect that tourists,...

Published:Monday | May 4, 2020 | 12:18 AM

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to rack up casualties. Every day new cases are being diagnosed as the disease spreads. We have a fair idea of how many people are infected and of death rates as data is readily available, even though we will never...

Published:Monday | May 4, 2020 | 12:10 AM

MY HEARTFELT condolences to the family and friends of Jodian Fearon. From what I understand, 23-year-old Jodian was being readied to give birth at the Andrews Memorial Hospital when her condition caused the medical team to wonder if she had COVID-...

Published:Monday | May 4, 2020 | 12:10 AM

LATE LAST month, Sister Mary Paschal Figueroa died at more than 100 years of age. A Jamaican of middle-class background, she was a nun, a member of the Religious Sisters of Mercy, for over 80 years. As we thrash about to determine what kind of...

Published:Monday | May 4, 2020 | 12:00 AM

IN HIGHLIGHTING the potential long-term fallout for Caribbean economies from the COVID-19 pandemic, Barbados’ Mia Mottley has called for a global initiative to repurpose the Bretton Woods and related institutions, to better respond to the crisis...

Published:Sunday | May 3, 2020 | 12:17 AM

This is my fifth and final article on how to dramatically increase productivity, thus creating a virtuous upward cycle for improving the well-being of our people. I have previously shared six case studies demonstrating how diverse groups of us...

Published:Sunday | May 3, 2020 | 12:00 AM

Alongside this pandemic of the Wuhan flu another viral disturbance has infected the country. And unlike COVID-19 where the paucity of testing leaves us guessing about infection rates, this other virulent virus has got almost everyone. I’m banging...

Published:Sunday | May 3, 2020 | 12:00 AM

If Kamina Johnson Smith is understood correctly, it is the view of the Government that it has reserve powers, other than those under the Disaster Risk Management Act (DRMA), should they be required, for its response to the COVID-19 epidemic. It...

Published:Sunday | May 3, 2020 | 12:14 AM

And it came to pass that the parish of St Catherine was locked down for one week. Lockdown was extended for another week. A housekeeper who lives in the parish called her employer the second week. She wanted to break out and come to work. The...

Published:Sunday | May 3, 2020 | 12:06 AM

Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke has announced his intention to have a plan dealing with the ordered resuscitation of the Jamaican economy after COVID-19. To this end, he has assembled a COVID-19 economic recovery task force whose mandate,...

Published:Saturday | May 2, 2020 | 12:10 AMChris Ramsaroop and Kevin Edmonds/Guest Columnists

On April 13, the story emerged of a courageous Jamaican migrant worker who had shared a copy of the egregious contract that they were required to sign in order to participate in the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) this year. The...

Published:Saturday | May 2, 2020 | 12:10 AM

From the time I was five, I used to go cricket. We booed loudly and clapped intermittently when it was slow cricket. Then the TV came and, to my delight, it used to show cricket. We were able to see Lara get cheated in Australia and we thought of...

Published:Saturday | May 2, 2020 | 12:09 AM

The impact of COVID-19 on the Jamaican economy is aptly illustrated by empty beaches and quiet airports, for when the tourists stop coming and there is a dive in international travel, everything slows down. The economic shocks predicted by the...

Published:Friday | May 1, 2020 | 12:23 AM

Having laboured to conserve Jamaica’s natural environment over decades, and encountering powerful opposition, I cannot help but notice similarities with current efforts to protect Jamaica’s population from spread of the novel coronavirus. There are...

Published:Friday | May 1, 2020 | 12:21 AM

THE ROAD to hell, the saying goes, is often paved with good intentions. Which is why we are wary of Gloria Henry’s proposal that it should be made mandatory for anyone entering the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry to join her Global...

Pages

Subscribe to Commentary