Taxpayers will have to dig deeper into their pockets to cover the Customs fees waived by the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) when it applied its tax-exemption status to import goods on behalf of at least four private companies. Acting...
The Government has adjusted its tax policy in relation to the Special Consumption Tax (SCT) on non-alcoholic sweetened beverages and the Environmental Protection Levy on domestic goods, but the measures will remain revenue neutral. In closing the...
Members of a joint select committee reviewing the Child Diversion Act, 2018 have suggested that children deemed “uncontrollable” should not be placed in state homes and institutions. Instead, the members said, they should be referred to the Child...
Senators on both sides of the political divide yesterday locked horns over a timeline for eliminating the asset tax paid by financial institutions, which should have been phased out about a decade ago. Members of the Upper House were debating two...
Opposition Spokesman on Housing and Sustainable Living Senator Professor Floyd Morris is calling on the Government to stop what he describes as continued raids on the National Housing Trust (NHT), arguing that contributors’ funds should be used to...
Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis has flagged as a breach of procurement rules actions taken by senior Cabinet minister Daryl Vaz in relation to the purchase of 200 Starlink devices valued at $12.12 million. In a compliance audit tabled in...
Admitting that the Houses of Parliament breached the procurement guidelines in acquiring 16 air-conditioning (AC) units, Clerk to the Houses Colleen Lowe blamed a former operations manager for the violation, saying that he was on a “frolic of his...
Government Senator Rose Bennett-Cooper has called for the administration to roll out a comprehensive public education exercise to inform Jamaicans with old, non-custodial convictions on how to have their criminal records expunged. She made the call...
When Parliament reconvenes next Tuesday for its first sitting of the New Year, a pivotal performance audit report examining public health procurement related to infrastructure at the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) and the University Hospital of...
Finance Minister Fayval Williams will next Tuesday table the third Supplementary Estimates of Expenditure and update the nation on the various sources of financing to help Jamaica recover from the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa. The third...
The Cabinet has approved a US$150 million loan to the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) to facilitate the restoration of power to all customers of the light and power company by the latest February 2026. However, with the JPS indicating that...
Some Corporate Area public and private schools have volunteered to host students displaced from western institutions severely impacted by Hurricane Melissa. Education Minister Dr Dana Morris Dixon said the ministry has introduced the Host School...
Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Energy, Carol Palmer, has revealed that the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) has asked the Government to extend its current licence, which expires in July 2027. The request, she said, is intended to help the light...
At least 75 per cent of Digicel customers in four of the parishes with significant impacts from Hurricane Melissa will have service restored to them within the next two weeks, according to the local telecoms giant. Senior officials from the company...
Tensions flared in Parliament on Tuesday after Speaker of the House Juliet Holness muted the microphone of Opposition Leader Mark Golding during a heated exchange over questions posed to a government minister. The incident led to a dramatic walkout...
Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton addressed Parliament on Tuesday with a statement outlining the Government’s actions to curb a potential rise in dengue fever. However, Opposition Spokesman on Health Dr Alfred Dawes quickly shifted...
A key technical support whereby auditors general have sat on the Integrity Commission for more than five decades might soon be brought to a halt as, yesterday, government lawmakers made the decision to remove the current auditor general, Pamela...
The Houses of Parliament and the Spectrum Management Authority (SMA) are currently under intense scrutiny as the Auditor General’s Department conducts two special audits of the legislative branch of government and the public body which is an agency...
A Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining internal audit report has highlighted allegations that fertiliser donated by the Kingdom of Morocco for Jamaican farmers was being sold at a private farm store in St Catherine in August 2023. An...
Despite establishing standard procedures to distribute agricultural inputs, the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) has been unable to verify that tens of millions of dollars’ worth of fertiliser, allocated to members of parliament (MPs...
Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs Marlene Malahoo Forte yesterday suggested that Opposition Leader Mark Golding has backtracked on his original pronouncement of moving forward with the constitutional reform process with the things both...
Eyebrows were raised among staff at Jamaica’s Parliament after an internal memo warned that employees showing up to work “with visible marks on their skin, colloquially referred to as ‘hickeys’, would face immediate disciplinary action. The notice...
Declaring that “this is the year of decision”, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness made an impassioned appeal to the Jamaican electorate yesterday to join his administration “in writing the next chapter” as a general election looms in the months ahead...
A proposal to pass comprehensive legislation to eliminate abusive contractual arrangements which deny workers their basic employment rights has resonated with President of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) St Patrice Ennis. In his...
Michael Leckie, former president of the Small Business Association of Jamaica (SBAJ), says the proposal by the parliamentary Opposition to exempt new micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) from corporate income tax for an initial period...
