Ashford W. Meikle, Staff Reporter
President of the Jamaica Manufacturers' Association, Doreen Frankson (right) and Senator Delano Franklyn are in deep conversation before the JMA's awards banquet at the Jamaica Pegasus recently. - WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
DOREEN FRANKSON was re-elected unopposed as president of the Jamaica Manufacturers Association (JMA) at the association's annual general meeting which was held at the JMA's offices on Duke Street in downtown Kingston on Wednesday.
Ms Frankson is also the managing director of Edgechem Chemicals. The managing director of Boss Furniture, Omar Azan, was also returned unopposed as deputy president while Jody Summerbell of Sweet Craft Limited was elected Treasurer. The other elected members of the board are Stephen Salmon, Raymond Miles, Chris Bicknell, Mrs. Indi Persard-Couch, Brian Pengelley and Mrs. Terri Thomas.
DISMAY WITH EU DECISION
Ms. Frankson expressed dismay with the recent decision by the European Union, which will see the price paid for sugar (from ACP countries, like Jamaica) cut by 39 per cent. In her inaugural address she said this decision, "will result in significant decline in income to the farmers and instability in employment in the rural areas."
The JMA president also noted that the poultry industry is under threat from foreign imports. She said, "We are ruining an industry that we could keep. All I am hearing is that people are losing jobs."
She also criticised the way public officials did their jobs.
"We have an unsympathetic civil service," she said. "We are not operating for the benefit of the country. The scrutiny of local products is intense by officialdom - I think people have to begin to realise Jamaica is our country and protect it within the trade agreements - every other country does it."
Mrs. Frankson identified the challenges facing Jamaican manufacturers as being high interest rates, Government bureaucracy and crime.
She told the members that the JMA championed the cause of the packaging industry in Jamaica and based on its lobbying efforts, a carton manufacturing plant will be opened in August in the industrial complex off Marcus Garvey Drive.
