As was noted in the first part of this essay, there are substantial social and economic costs in the annual loss of human capital necessary for national development, which makes possible the high level of remittances the country receives each year...
“If you Big Man know how to eat a food, why man like me mustn’t tek some too”? That was the response of the clerk in the municipal office who, unashamedly, demanded a sizeable “blessing” in order to allow correction of an inconsequential clerical...
While it was deeply troubling that the issue was overshadowed by race and the seeming abuse, for political gain, of citizens’ private information held by the government, Mark Golding, the opposition leader, did the right thing by deciding to...
In September 2004, Hurricane Ivan demolished Grenada, submerged Cayman, and battered Haiti and Jamaica. In the immediate aftermath of the passage of this devastating hurricane, CARICOM heads of government met in an emergency session and, according...
Two decades ago, when I moved next door to Dr Ouida Skeffrey, she graciously welcomed me to the neighbourhood. She attended the housewarming party I hosted and made me feel at ease. I had some regrets about leaving the cocoon of College Common, on...
A shade lighter than emerald green, she is transparent and a strange mix of silicate of beryllium and aluminium, with strong and weak elements that cause breaks along her flaws. Names may not mean anything when it comes to hurricanes and tropical...
Our oceans are warming and producing more frequent and more extreme weather phenomena. These destroy coastlines, infrastructure, buildings, lives, and economies. Hurricane Beryl set several records. It was the first major hurricane [east of the...
Juveniles participating in crime is at crisis level. Sounding the alarm bell is someone who has spent decades fighting crime in Jamaica. Deputy Commissioner of Police Fitz Bailey told a group of school-leavers recently that, over the last six years...
Everyone’s heart should cry out for the people of Union Island, Carriacou, St Vincent, Grenada, parts of Jamaica, St Lucia, and the fisherfolk of Barbados, all of whom suffered greatly under Hurricane Beryl’s severe blow. On Union Island and...
Two cowboys were lost in the desert. One cowboy saw a tree covered with bacon. Happily, he said to his friend, “A bacon tree! We’re saved!”. He ran to the tree and was shot up with bullets. It wasn’t a bacon tree. It was a ham bush. That is what we...
The Integrity Commission cannot be blamed for gaps in the laws and regulations which governs its operations. Neither the Commissioners nor the staff of that creature of parliament must attract any criticism for how the law is written – for what...
For some time now, it is estimated that over 2,000 Jamaicans are homeless. Almost half of that number are estimated to be mentally unwell. Persons falling within this category need especially close attention from the authorities because they pose a...
Quite rightly, Prime Minister (PM) Andrew Holness remonstrated against the role that Jamaican parliamentarians have set themselves as glorified social welfare officers, using taxpayers money. But in the next breath, blaming the exigencies of the...
THE RESIDENTS of south St James have once again been left in the shadows, forgotten by the Jamaica Public Service (JPS), the National Works Agency (NWA), the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MLSS), and the member of parliament. Our rural...
Prime Minister Andrew Holness struck an appropriate note with his promise on Tuesday that his government will pay attention to resilience in rebuilding from the destruction caused by Hurricane Beryl, which sideswiped Jamaica eight days ago. This...
THE 2024 Olympics begin in just over two weeks’ time and, even though track and field’s one true king, Usain St Leo Bolt, has been retired for the better part of the last seven years, the games still feel empty and lacking without him. From 2008...
The South Cambridgeshire District Council in England ran an interesting experiment, which it decided to continue. At the start of 2023, the Lib-Dem-controlled local government cut working hours for council staff by 20 per cent. It achieved...
On July 4, the United Kingdom (UK) held general elections and in the early morning of July 5, it was clear that previous predictions and exit polls were correct that the centre-left UK Labour Party, led by Sir Keir Starmer, would form the...
The calls are growing louder for President Joe Biden to pull out of the November 2024 American presidential race, given what appears to be his clear signs of a ‘fuzzy brain’. This became more starkly clear during the June 27 debate in which an...
Dr Lloyd Barnett, outlining ‘Factors Guiding the Constitutional Reform Committee’s (CRC) work’, signalled: “With respect to the determination of whether the UK Privy Council should remain Jamaica’s final appellate court or be replaced by the...
On July 1 in this newspaper, in a letter to the editor titled “I am equally disappointed Drs Rattray and Abrahams,” Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton responded to recent articles written by me and my colleague Dr Garth Rattray...
Unless the Holness administration possesses David Copperfield’s conjuring skills, it is clear that the Government’s planned reform of Jamaica’s Constitution is dead until after the general election, due next year. Even if it could pull it off on...
The Labour Party’s landslide victory at the polls presents a fresh opportunity for the United Kingdom (UK) to establish a genuine modern partnership with the Overseas Territories (OTs) after 14 years of Conservative Party rule in which the...
Jamaica followed the British tradition of electing political representatives by a first past the post system. This has meant governments with large seat majorities in the legislature but with a miniscule majority of the popular vote. Conceivably, a...
After Labour’s landslide victory in last week’s election, Britain’s new foreign secretary, David Lammy, claimed that after years of being inward-looking, the UK was reconnecting with the world, including the Global South. Mr Lammy, who is of Afro...
