Violence in Jamaica is a perennial problem. Our murder rate is consistently in the top 10 globally. During the first half of the first month of this year, about five times more people have been murdered in Jamaica than were killed in Singapore,...
The scandal and corruption having to do with the Ministry of Education and the Caribbean Maritime University are of even greater shame and long-term distress than that surrounding Manatt a decade ago. This is true, first because it is happening...
A couple weeks ago, the stalls owned and used by unapproved vendors in downtown Kingston were destroyed in a clean-up exercise by the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation. Images of the exercise were circulated on January 9 which,...
I still vividly recall those high school days, at St George’s College, when I walked to the heart of Parade in downtown Kingston to catch a ‘Jolly Joseph’ (Jamaica Omnibus Service) bus home. Sometimes I was lucky enough to see a number 1 bus parked...
We appreciate America’s policy, reiterated by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during his visit to Jamaica last week, that it isn’t US policy to disclose why it revokes travel visas issued to individuals, as has happened to two senior Jamaican...
The University of the West Indies welcomes opportunities to participate in this meaningful discourse on higher education funding within the Caribbean context. It is arguably one of the main development challenges facing our regional community...
We are all emotional beings. The problem is that one half of the world’s population is consistently being told they are not emotional but rational. And this is the badge of honour they wear. When the going gets tough, they must muster up all the...
Two Fridays ago, Sir Roy Augier was awarded the highest honour that is conferred by The University of the West Indies: the Chancellor’s medal for distinguished service to the Caribbean region. Established in 1998 on the occasion of the 50th...
I make no bones about the lack of flesh on this measure called the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), but one purpose it serves is to tell us what the nation feels about the level of corruption in this country. As I’ve consistently indicated,...
Despite the impressive macroeconomic numbers which Jamaica has been enjoying since 2014, high and sustained economic growth still eludes the country, up to this point. The latest attempt to use moral suasion to increase consciousness around the...
Even with someone as objectionable as Donald Trump as America’s president, Jamaica can’t but maintain good relations with the United States, its close and powerful neighbour and major economic partner. The circumstance, though, demands from...
Recent happenings at two of the country’s tertiary institutions have demonstrated how things can fall apart when boards do not give reasonable attention to their legal and ethical responsibility to provide oversight of the institutions they are...
Years ago, I did a small study exploring the experiences of male victims of domestic abuse in Jamaica. As I recall, the literature had no explanations for female abusers not being able to control their emotions, or that it was their fathers’ fault...
It just happened in Jamaica, but with a vengeance and some missiles. According to The Gleaner (January 13, 2020), vector-control personnel carrying out fogging exercises are facing hostility from residents across Jamaica, with the latest reported...
Perchance no one in Jamaica has paid attention, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), concerns over political divisions notwithstanding, may be on the cusp of the long-elusive economic breakthrough. The issue is whether Jamaica is ready to grasp the...
We have heard the constant concerns from the masses on why are we pushing this ‘gay agenda’. And, as has been personally asked of me, why don’t you seek to go to a country that is more accepting and supportive of your ‘lifestyle’? Among other...
Jamaica has been involved in a long and arduous search to find an answer to the indiscipline and the violent crime said to be gang-related, now aggravated by crime against children and women with an alarming increase of spousal murder attributed to...
As someone who has studied both the natural and social sciences, I have been fascinated by the concept of entropy. Entropy is defined as “the degree of disorder” in a system, and the Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the entropy of the...
If one of the big regional conglomerates, say, the Massy Group, or the privately held Bermudez Biscuit Company, racked up losses, was in danger of becoming illiquid and had its capital calls rejected by shareholders, the firm’s managers and...
A striking portrayal of the entrenched thinking that has retarded any hope of the much-needed civic-mindedness to lift our society out of the marshland of loutish behaviour in which we have been mired since Independence especially was published in...
That verse from Job 14:14 was used as the basis for a sermon at the funeral service at Boulevard Baptist Church for the late Raymond Peart, better known as ‘DJ Venom’ by his FAME FM fans. That verse came to mind because at the recent Golden Globe...
At a recent sitting of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) where the auditor general’s report on aspects of RADA’s (Rural Agricultural Development Authority) bidding methodology for road rehabilitation contracts was being discussed, the...
What Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Mike Pompeo, America’s secretary of state, are unlikely to address, or insist there was none, when they speak at today’s press conference, are the political deals or quid pro quos that may have been settled...
When the European explorers encountered Jamaica, they must have been struck by beauty, serenity and mellowness that forced the utterance, “the land of wood and water.” In fact, this phrase is still alive, but is Jamaica really “the land of wood and...
“Corruption is when a politician uses public funds to deliver pistachio ice cream to his home and transfer garden furniture to his Caesarea villa, then requesting that the expenses be covered for the water in his pool and fights to get a private...
