Commentary

This is too often the case in Jamaica. The Government announces bold initiatives or puts in infrastructure, which soon crumble, if they are not stillborn. Usually, it is the result of the deficit in implementation and/or absence of maintenance. We...

If Prime Minister Andrew Holness’ assessment is accurate, the Jamaican public is in the same boat as its police force. The constabulary is in the throes of transformation. It is just that neither the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) nor the society...

We are now in June, one week-plus into the 2019 hurricane season. By now, central government and local authorities should be well advanced in their preparations for hurricanes which may come our way. However, as I traverse the corridors of...

The practice of invisible data gathering by many organisations in Jamaica is growing and there are no clear policies enacted to provide protection for individuals or organisations against this practice. Smart meters, smartphones and many other...

The announcement by Seprod Ltd of its planned July 2019 closure of the Golden Grove Sugar Factory in eastern St Thomas, with the loss of 150 jobs, should not be a surprise. In September 2018, the company signalled that it had racked up losses of...

In a tense domino game, the score was five-all in the deciding six. Dessie was playing with infrequent participant Peter ‘Poop’ and, late in the game, had the choice of blocking the game by going two fives (letting in double-five) or killing the...

At only six years old, Ruth Auguste, a Haitian-Canadian woman, was sexually assaulted by her stepfather, Jean Pressoir Marol. In her 2012 memoir, The Children of Injustice: One Haitian Canadian Woman’s Memoir of Healing, she details this ordeal. In...

One of Ja­maica’s main problems is a lack of focus. We have consistently failed to focus on very important things, and that ends up impacting society in extremely negative ways. Political administrations always focus on votes, and they do whatever...

It’s not long now, by the end November, until Jamaica’s 36-month Stand-By Agreement (SBA) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) comes to an end. The SBA, which provides the Government with a US$1.7-billion insurance policy against exogenous...

Perhaps it is fitting that he had a closed casket because very few were brave enough to stare him directly in the face. He was affectionately called the ‘One Don’ by cartoonists and my impression is that after a while, he relished the title. Eddie...

Six more illegal guns found. More than 1,500 assorted rounds of ammunition seized. We are digesting this news that more weapons and ammunition intended for the killing fields were intercepted at the Montego Bay wharf. The most disconcerting thing...

Recently, there was a newspaper headline in Trinidad about the prime minister and a female television host, ‘Rowley lose cool bouff Hema’. In fact, although ‘bouff’ is a local colloquialism for someone being put in their place or rebuked, if I...