In Focus

I would like to offer some thoughts on the recent announcement that the Government of Jamaica (at the behest of the Chinese Government) is planning to implement a large port development project in the Portland Bight Protected Area (PBPA). In particular, I would like to respond to a few of the points made by the Rev Garnett Roper in his guest column 'Goat Islands: ecology and economy' (Sunday Gleaner, August 25, 2013).

It might be because they are called Goat Islands, but that doesn't mean that Government can do as it 'maaay'. We are being asked to trust a government that has a Corruption Perception Index score of 3.8 on a scale of 1-10 - a party that told the country that there was no hanky-panky in a matter that only involved a few million chicken-feed dollars, yet there is still no full disclosure.

The Jamaica Observer majors on food, fashion and frolicking, crime past and present, and news releases about Sandals and Audi.

The indication from Dr Omar Davies that the Government of Jamaica is contemplating an unsolicited investment proposal of US$1.5 billion in Jamaica's seaport in the Portland Bight Protected Area (PBPA) from the Chinese is welcome.

The recently released national unemployment report by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica has suggested that joblessness now stands at 16.3 per cent.

The media were in a frenzy all of last week over new unemployment figures which showed that the rate had reached a 10-year high at 16.3%, with youth unemployment well over 30%. And to deepen that alarm, bus fare increases of 25% were announced effective today.

'Cock mouth kill cock.' I am not sure if Anne Shirley is familiar with the words of the Jamaican adage, but now some feel this woman was the wrong man for the job.

Let's begin with good news.

NEWS THAT Jamaica's unemployment rate had hit over 16 per cent came last week amid images of a hoard of unemployed teachers who turned up at a career fair to compete for scarce or non-existent jobs.

Every year, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) publishes, among other things, a listing of the net foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into the region, country by country.

On July 9, Biography Channel aired a documentary on Christopher Coke's extradition. Jamaica's national security minister, Peter Bunting, appeared and said, "The Attorney General's Department was essentially at the service of Christopher Coke ... . He had had these nine months to prepare and essentially make Tivoli Gardens into a bit of a fortress."

A few days before Independence Day, Minister of National Security Peter Bunting, backed by a spirited pastor Greg Baldeo of the Mandeville Seventh-day Adventist Church, renewed unapologetically his call for divine intervention as part of the country's crime-fighting strategy. And detractors in the commentariat renewed their ridicule.