It is more the norm than the unexceptional that words with depth come to us as bigger than what the moment demanded. Usually, those words are delivered to us via the wisdom of a veteran politician/statesman. In this instance, it is none other than...
I know. This’ll be the last time (for now) I write about Government’s crude attempt to disguise a gluttonous grab for more power as a constitutional reform process. I promise! It’s just too annoying to watch quietly while we’re taken for fools as...
On May 13, the Fourth Ministerial Meeting of the China-CELAC Forum was successfully held in Beijing. Foreign ministers, representatives of member states of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), as well as heads of regional...
Justice is the foundation of a fair and equitable society, and ensuring the protection of vulnerable children is a fundamental aspect of justice. The United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UNICESCR) affirms...
The global demand for healthcare workers is increasing, and with it, the need to enhance international collaboration in health, including through South-South cooperation. My recent trip to India and the Philippines provided just such an opportunity...
The political discussion in Jamaica today is boring me to tears. We continue a futile finger pointing game instead of focusing on the one necessity that stands out like a sore thumb which is the welfare of We the People. If we haven’t learned over...
The 2021 Patterson Commission Report on education reform in Jamaica was a well-meaning and long-overdue initiative. It offered broad recommendations on governance, teacher training, early childhood education, and funding. However, it overlooked a...
I knew him from way back. It would be in 1995, at the same time that he adopted the 13-inch ficus. Shut didn’t have much. He lived with a few hill folks, and they cultivated a few ganja plants for sale later on the flat. If Shut and his woman had a...
Traditionally, much of Jamaica’s tourism has been concentrated on the north coast, with the emphasis on sun, sand, and sea, but the island’s south coast is increasingly asserting itself as a very desirable alternative to the traditional tourism...
It has recently been reported that a young man was convicted of the crime of practising obeah in the St James Parish Court and punished with a fine. The facts appear to be that the police executed a search warrant at his home and found it to have...
I wish to thank Tashiba Julius and the St Mary Ambassadors for Change for their letter to the editor, published in The Gleaner on Wednesday, May 7, highlighting concerns regarding the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH)....
If Marcus Garvey could have imagined what an executor of his vision for Africa’s development could look like, he might have pictured President Ibrahim Traoré and his revolutionary model for Burkina Faso’s development. It is worthwhile sketching a...
Over the Easter weekend, I attended church in Montego Bay, and to my surprise, I was greeted by a new landscape of multistorey development clusters around the lagoon and its route into the parish of Hanover. The solemn three-hour Good Friday mass...
So, with the Teachers Council Bill passed in the Senate and on its way to the “Lower” House, once again Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) has thrown a tantrum and tossed its toys out of the pram. JTA is only reprising its puerile performance of...
On May 9, we commemorated the 80th anniversary of the Victory over Nazi Germany, honouring the heroism and self-sacrifice of those who fought to liberate the world from the tyranny of Nazism and fascism. This historic triumph stands as a...
Despite Government’s serial sulking; PNP’s asinine affectation; and some commentators’ perilous predictions, Constitutional Reform isn’t dead. It’s very much alive and well. A conversation stalled for 30 years was revived but, instead of asking for...
Jamaican women have contributed significantly to the voting process since the 1944 adult suffrage. However, there has been a significant decline in the number of persons who chose to vote in 2020. The voter turnout was approximately 37.85 per cent...
The Gleaner reported that “France’s president says that making Haiti pay for its independence was unjust” addressed the position of French President Emanuel Macron on the injustice imposed by France on Haiti over centuries. Macron stated that a...
Like many, I have been reading about the Chinese auto repair shops in the Corporate Area and St Ann. Customers rave about the quality of the repairs and stellar service received. I am not in the least surprised to read that the repair shop in St...
Militarism goes hand in hand with authoritarianism. While democratic values include popular participation in decision-making, checks on the power of government and the protection of people’s rights and freedoms, militarisation threatens democracy...
Pope Francis I (Jorge Bergoglio) who recently died, was the first ever pontiff from Latin America and the first non-European one in 1,300 years. The 88-year old Argentinian’s 12-year papacy transformed the 1.3 billion-strong Catholic Church into...
In the mid 1980s when many of our political leaders had not yet decided what percentage of Michael Manley they should be, it was accepted that the People’s National Party’s (PNP’s) Michael Manley was everyone’s ideal of the complete politician. The...
On December 17, 1936, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in Flores, Buenos Aires, Argentina to Mario José Bergoglio and Regina María Sívori. Students of Numerology, an ancient Hindu science, recognise he was born on a “Number 8 Day” (1+7=8). In...
The opinion article by Howard Mitchell titled ‘Why Jamaica Must Defend Its Rum Heritage and Its Future’ presents a passionate defence of National Rums of Jamaica’s (NRJ’s) position in challenging the strict provisions of the Jamaica Rum...
Six hundred billion dollars. Let that sink in. According to Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Floyd Green, this is the sum that the Government of Jamaica now proposes to spend over the next six years to revitalise the Montpelier...
