The following is the third part of events which took place last year and was compiled by Senior Associate Editor Lloyd Williams.
MAY:
T HE JAMAICAN Bar Association, Jamaicans for Justice and the Farquharson Institute for Public Affairs, said on May 1 that they were opposed to the Government's move to ratify the agreement to set up the Caribbean Court of Justice if there was not a referendum to allow Jamaicans to vote on the issue.
Businessman Joseph M. Matalon was named to head a committee to undertake a comprehensive review of Jamaica's tax system.
A major overhaul of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) as it affects staff and involving mediation, the organisational structure, job selection, performance appraisal, and the timely filling of clear vacancies, was recommended by the Muirhead Committee. The committee, headed by David Muirhead, Q.C., was set up in the wake of staff discontent at the office of the DPP, and a perceived erosion of public trust in the office, to undertake the investigation as a result of the undesirable level of negative media coverage in recent months, 'as well as the atmosphere which at present exists among the staff at the office'.
In a collaboration between academia and the police, the University of the West Indies, Mona, franchised its Certificate in Public Administration course to the Jamaica Constabulary Force's Staff College, Twickenham Park, south-central St. Catherine.
SMOOTH TRANSITION
Cable & Wireless (C&W) announced on May 5 that Errald Miller, chief executive officer of Cable & Wireless West Indies, the regional operation that oversees C&W's Caribbean interests from Florida, in the United States had resigned but would 'remain for a short time to assist in a smooth transition of the organisation'. Miller, a Jamaican, had been with C&W for 31 years.
Prime Minister Patterson said on May 6 that his government would be pressing ahead with the controversial Caribbean Court of Justice, without a referendum.
Members of the Jamaica Consta-bulary's Crime Management Unit killed four people in Kraal district, near Pennants, north central Clarendon, on May 6, in what they said was a shoot-out at a house from which they said they were fired on by gunmen. The dead were two women, Angella Richards, 45 and Lewena Thompson, 38; and two men identified only as 'Matthew' and 'Renegade'.
The Jamaican dollar dropped to $60 to US$1 in trading on May 8, losing 75 cents in value. The Canadian dollar sold for J$42.42 and the pound sterling for $95.71.
The police said that Dwayne 'Amin' Williams, 29, who was shot dead by a gunman on Rodney Road, Kingston 13 on May 8, had escaped while awaiting trial on a charge of murdering attorney-at-law Shirley Playfair.
The Hanover police said they recovered $4 million of the $17 million which was allegedly stolen by a security guard in Falmouth on April 25. They said the money was found in buckets buried in a canefield at Georgia, Hanover.
The Senate on May 8 began its sittings at 10 o'clock instead of the customary 11 a.m. start.
A BREACH OF CONTRACT
A breach of contract by the Ministry of Construction (Housing) cost the government more than $90 million, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament was told on May 13. Genefa Hibbert, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Water and Housing, told the PAC that Y.P. Seaton and Associates, the developers, were given an out-of-court settlement of $25.1 million, plus accrued interest of $65 million for damages claimed against the Ministry for its failure to meet certain obligations in relation to a construction contract."
Lennox Lewis, the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion who has Jamaican roots, was building a $180 million 10-room luxury house at Tryall Club, Hanover, The Gleaner reported on May 13. It is to be completed by March 2004.
The Jamaican dollar hit a new low on May 14 when it traded as high as $66.35 to US$1. It lost $1.75 in 24 hours. The British pound broke the $100-barrier with its highest buying rate settling at one pound to J$104.20 and the highest sell rate at $105. The Canadian dollar sold at C$1 to J$47 with the highest buy rate being $46.70.
The Cabinet approved the reduction of the cess on imported goods from four per cent to two per cent, The Gleaner reported on May 20.
The National Commercial Bank on May 20 announced a $150-million initiative to assist the development of local education.
Clarence Clarke, the president of the Jamaica Manufacturers' Association, and Simon Roberts, the deputy president, resigned on May 21 in the face of criticism of their acceptance of Government's two per cent customs user-fee in place of a four per cent cess on imports.
Prime Minister Patterson announced on May 22 that Local Government Elections, due since 2001 and three times postponed, would take place on June 19.
The Rev. Phillip Robinson, a immediate past president of the Jamaica Methodist District, was on May 22 elected president of the Jamaica Council of Churches.
A troop of 148 soldiers from the Second Battalion of the British Army's Royal Green Jackets and 140 Jamaica Defence Force soldiers on May 22 began four weeks of training in 'jungle warfare' as part of an annual military exchange programme. The British soldiers were based in east Portland and the Jamaican soldiers trained in Warminister, England.
The Senate on May 22 passed the Municipalities Act to enable the people of the Portmore communities of south, south central and south-west St. Catherine to elect their own mayor in the Local Government Elections scheduled for June 19.
Doreen Frankson was elected on May 27 as the new president of the Jamaica Manufacturers' Association. Mrs. Frank-son is chief executive officer of Edge-chem Jamaica, Ltd., manufacturers of automotive paints and industrial and furniture finishes.
The police on May 27 seized 11 guns and hundreds of cartridges from a warehouse at Newport West, Kingston 11. The guns were hidden in the cylinder of an air compressor.
Lawyers, book publishers and distributors on May 28 appealed to the government to remove the General Consumption Tax from legal services as well as from 'non-school' reading materials.
COMMISSIONER OF CORRECTIONS
Major Richard Reese, formerly of the Jamaica Defence Force, was appointed by the Public Service Commission to be Commissioner of Corrections from June 16, 2003. He succeeded Earl Fearon, who had been acting as commissioner. His two deputies are June Jarrett, who is in charge of human resource management, and Aileen Stephens, who is in charge of custodial services.
Trudy McLeary, a 14-year-old student of Ardenne High School in St. Andrew, and The Gleaner's Children's Own 2003 Spelling Bee champion, placed third on May 29 in the Scripps Howard Spelling Bee Competition in Washington, D.C. There were 251 competitors.
Two former bank managers were sentenced on May 29 to 18 months' imprisonment each for defrauding Kingston businessman Bentley Rose, and his company, Benros, Ltd., of $7 million. They are Winston McKenzie, 55, a former manager of a Workers' Bank branch in Kingston, and Melanie Tapper, a former general manager of Trafalgar Commercial Bank, St. Andrew. Both Tapper and McKenzie gave verbal notices of appeal.
The Rev. Sophia Azan, 67, of the Bread of Life Ministries, Vanity Fair, Linstead, was appointed Custos of the parish of St. Catherine.
A total of 495 candidates were nominated on May 30 to contest the June 19 Local Government Elections.
