Commentary

Last week's bumping up by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) of Jamaica's second-quarter growth figure, to 1.8 per cent, was good news.

As late as last Monday, Dr Fenton Ferguson was still claiming that there were only 35 'confirmed' cases of chik-V in all of Jamaica. If the goodly dentist has a public-health inspector to spare, I can prove that a full 25 per cent of these cases are concentrated in just two roads in my neighbourhood!

There is the perception that Jamaican politics can be sanitised and made to practise good governance if we give them more money. This perception has very little evidence to support the claim.

Encouraging data has been released by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) pointing to a 4% growth in manufacturing in the second quarter of 2014.

In a perverse sort of way, the chikungunya epidemic is a great opportunity for the Government and, ultimately, for Jamaica.

THE EDITOR, Sir: Are hospitals in Jamaica prepared to handle Ebola patients, and can the public be assured that the virus should not pose the same threat in Jamaica or the United States as it does in Africa?

After a year without a political ombudsman and with local government elections on the horizon, the minister with responsibility for electoral matters, Phillip Paulwell, said the appointment of a new political ombudsman will be made by the end of the year.