News in brief

CAPI calls for Azan's head

Civil society group Citizens Action for Principle and Integrity (CAPI) yesterday called on Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller to fire Richard Azan as a state minister in the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing.

The call follows the publication of a special report by the Office of the Contractor General (OCG), which has characterised the role of Azan in the illegal construction of wooden shops at the Spaldings Market in Clarendon as being, at best, "politically corrupt".

The OCG referred the matter to the director of public prosecutions to determine if the politician and others should be charged for conspiracy to defraud the revenue of the Clarendon Parish Council.

Yesterday, CAPI said since the matter came to public attention, Azan's arrogant public utterances on the matter suggest he is devoid of a sense of honour and morals, values which underpin the Westminster model of governance. The group is calling for his resignation.

OCG refers May Pen mayor for prosecution

Mayor of May Pen Scean Barnswell has found himself in hot water for his role in the sordid Spaldings Market controversy.

The Office of the Contractor General has formally referred Barnswell to the director of public prosecutions for misleading the office during the conduct of an investigation into the illegal construction of shops at the Spaldings Market and the unlawful collection of rental proceedings by the contractor.

The contractor general also recommended that the auditor general undertake a review of the financial operations, and accounting systems and practices of the Clarendon Parish Council.

Police confiscate several items from artistes' cells

Two cellular phones, three thumb drives, one DVD player and an Apple iPod were confiscated from the jail cell occupied by dancehall artiste Adidja Palmer, more popularly known as Vybz Kartel, the police have reported.

The Constabulary Communication Network (CCN), which made the disclosure yesterday, said detectives also seized a sim card as well as a piece of paper, which it said had instructions purportedly written by a popular entertainer, from the cell of Garfield Vassell, otherwise called 'Zebra'.

The CCN said a DVD player was also seized from the cell of Shawn Campbell, otherwise called 'Shawn Storm'.

The police are investigating the murder of popular music producer Patrick Samuels, otherwise called 'Roach', who was killed in St Andrew on Sunday.

"The items taken from the cells will now be analysed for evidential purposes in the police's search for clues as they seek to find the perpetrators behind the murder of Samuels," the CCN said.

Kingston Technical to give students manual labour instead of suspensions

Ernest Donaldson, principal of Kingston Technical High School, said the institution is working assiduously to ensure students do not miss classes.

"For this academic year, we are trying to not suspend students. Instead, we will be allowing them to do manual labour, and at the same time, give them the opportunity to participate in classes because a big part of the problem is that students are left unsupervised," Donaldson said.

"Other issues are cell phones and lack of furniture. These things adversely contribute to conflicts, so it is a work in progress," he said.

National coordinator of the Safe Schools Branch, Sergeant Coleridge Minto, in a recent interview with The Gleaner, said he is expecting a decrease in school violence for the current academic year.