KINGSTON, Jamaica – A team of lawmen assigned to the St Andrew South Police Division seized one .22 Diana G27 rifle during an operation on Glen Road, Kingston 13 on Tuesday. Reports from the Hunts Bay police are that about 5:40 pm, lawmen were in the area when a premises was searched. During the search, the weapon was seen inside the roof. No one was arrested in relation to this seizure. The police say the investigation continues.

MANCHESTER, Jamaica— Political rivalry is heating up in the ruling Jamaica Labour Party camp in Manchester North East since Audley Shaw’s announcement that he will not be seeking re-election. Earlier this week, Craighead councillor, Omar Miller rubbished claims by Hidran McKulsky that the educator was not invited to the constituency’s Jamaica Labour Party conference on Sunday. Both Miller and McKulsky have applied to take over from Shaw as the JLP’s aspirant for the constituency. “Please note that… Audley Shaw has always held his conference the Sunday before the national conference in Kingston and hence it is a fixed date for us to have our conferences. I have been a councillor for the past 13 years and that has never changed, not once,” Miller said in a voice message on Tuesday. “Always the Sunday before our annual conference. The Labor Party conferences are public gatherings and therefore doesn’t require any special invitations. We are free. Any Jamaican and visitor is welcomed to come to our conferences,” he added. Miller, who was endorsed by Shaw at the conference, said McKulsky would have been given the opportunity to speak there if he had attended. “I believe if Mr McKulsky and his team wanted to be a part of the conference, it would have been a priority. The platform party would have welcomed him and gave him an opportunity to address the gathering as good laborites. The decision from the Member of Parliament would have not changed as it relates to endorsing yours truly, Omar Miller, because the voice of the people is always the first priority for the Member of Parliament,” said Miller. “I will make a priority to note that Mr McKulsky and his team will be invited to our next conference next year going into our annual conference. We want to work together to build this constituency as we move forward,” added Miller.

The case of two policemen charged with murder among other offences in the fatal shooting of three men in east Kingston last week was postponed to December 17, 2024 when it came up for mention in the Gun Court on Tuesday morning. The hearing was postponed because the court was told that the defense had not received full disclosure of documents from the prosecution regarding their clients. Corporal Mark Roye and Constable Kelby White were each charged earlier this week with three counts of murder; using firearm in the commission of a felony; discharging firearm within 40 yards of a public thoroughfare; and placing an item on the scene of a crime. They are being represented by attorneys King’s Counsel Peter Champagnie and Althea Grant. The cops reported that about 2:30am on Sunday, November 10, while on patrol they had encountered a group of men along Windward Road and, during the encounter, gunfire was exchanged, resulting in the death of three men. One of the cops sustained a non-life-threatening injury and two illegal firearms were reportedly recovered from the scene. It was also initially reported that the now-deceased men were suspected to be involved in a robbery ring. However, following a probe into the incident by the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM), the cops were charged.

KINGSTON, Jamaica — President of the Union of Clerical, Administrative, and Supervisory Employees (UCASE), Vincent Morrison is confident that justice will prevail in the ongoing legal battle between the newly formed Security Guard Taskforce, and security firm Marksman Limited and its parent group Guardsman Limited. “We are presently in the court with the security guard issue in which they were given a contract to sign which states explicitly that upon signing the contract, all the benefits, the years of service — some workers having worked for 40 odd years — all of that would be extinguished. And we believe that contract is unreasonable and they took that matter to the court,” Morrison told Observer Online. With the next court hearing scheduled for December 8, the union leader has expressed strong faith in Jamaica’s judicial system in resolving the matter. “I have an abundance of faith in our jurisprudence, in our judicial system that justice will be done for the workers in the security guard industry,” he said. The controversy surrounding the contracts intensified after a landmark Supreme Court ruling in 2022, which declared that security guards at Marksman Limited were employees, not independent contractors. Following that judgement, several security guards refused to sign the new employment contracts, citing concerns over the absence of specific transitional arrangements relating to their previous years of service and vacation leave. The contracts, a version of which was seen by the Jamaica Observer, read: “The officer was engaged as an independent contractor on a fixed-term contract that would have come to an end pursuant to the Supreme Court judgment in which the court determined, “with prospective effect that the security engaged under the contract and who provided services to third parties are in fact employees”. “And because of that decision, the parties to the contract have agreed that the contract will terminate by mutual agreement without blame or fault as of March 31, 2023 on the terms and conditions set out…”

The Realtors Association of Jamaica (RAJ) has continued to advocate for a number of issues within the local real estate industry to be remedied, especially as its members seek to operate on a level playing field. In outlining issues which cut across overdue policy reforms and other compliance matters, the challenges, if adequately addressed, the association believes will auger well for transparency, efficiency, and growth within the real estate sector. The once-booming real estate sector, which enjoyed consecutive periods of growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, has in the last few years witnessed back-to-back downturns as output slowed, due mainly to unstable market conditions. Speaking with the Jamaica Observer recently, RAJ president, Newton Johnson, said the challenges, which largely calls for stricter enforcement, could push some “rogue” operators in the space into conformity. With issues surrounding approval processes and long wait times for transaction processing remaining among the strongest pain points, he called on bodies such as the municipal authorities to step up their monitoring and oversight so as to have improved service delivery in the respective areas. Pointing to delays with a number of other state agencies, including Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ), National Land Agency (NLA), National Housing Trust (NHT), and some mortgage providers, Johnson stressed the need for legal engineering to modernise a number of the current legislative frameworks, particularly those which concern the Transfer Tax and Stamp Duty Acts as well as Residential Tenancies Act. “These are issues that we have been facing for a number of years, a lot of which has to do with policy, and we are of the opinion that while much of them may not be a quick fix, they can all be addressed. To this end we have been meeting successively with the relevant stakeholders to see how best we can come up with solutions,” Johnson told the Business Observer. “We continue to advocate in having the issues fixed, as unlike most workers, our pay is based on commission, so the longer it takes to have an approval sorted and for a property to be sold that will negatively affect our members. What we have found is that too much of the processes in this sector are taking way too long, as gone are the days when a transaction could be processed in about 90 days maximum. Instead, what we are looking at now is anywhere between 120-180 days, up to even a year, which is untenable,” he added. In seeking to have a permanent seat on the Real Estate Board, the body likewise believes it can, through further collaboration with this stakeholder grouping, enhance policies that will lead to an overall betterment of the sector. Further bemoaning what he described as a type of disproportionality, Johnson said developers were also not being held to the same level of scrutiny as realtors, who, by nature of their profession, have to comply with all the stipulated regulations. “We understand and appreciate the need for full regulatory compliance, but what we want is a level playing field where other players in the sector will be held to the same level of account. We all operate under the [Real Estate (Dealers and Developers) Act], which means the same rules should apply for all parties concerned. “For years we have been advocating to the policymakers, and to date nothing much has been done, and we want to see a change where that is concerned. As an association, the RAJ adheres to international best practices, as all our dealings have to be above board and anything otherwise will be dealt with according to our by-laws. Through our organisation we have already established that it cannot be a free-for-all, and so we want to ensure that there is equity across the sector,” the president noted. The RAJ, which is a body made up of some 1,600 members, represents the interest of local real estate professionals and affiliates dedicated to the industry’s growth. The entity, as a support network, offers members educational resources, legislative advocacy, and professional standards enforcement. Despite the challenges, the RAJ president, in expressing optimism for the future growth of the sector, said that much of its progress continues to rest on how much further the interest rate will be brought down. “There still remains a vibrant market in certain spectrums, whether for commercial or residential purposes, but the real issue affecting higher levels of output right now concerns the interest rate. It has started to come down, but if we can adjust it further, I think we will see even more activity in the market, as most people are waiting to buy property but are currently in a wait-and-see mode. The slowing down of the market has impacted us to some extent, but amid the challenges, the industry, I think, remains very vibrant, as there is a lot that is going on now and we are very optimistic in terms of where the market is headed. “If we can, however, move forward in solving the outlined issues, the industry, I think, will be in a much better place. Things will also become even much better if the policymakers can get more people to toe the line where a number of these issues are concerned,” Johnson stated.

THE pain that one 16-year-old student of Alpha Institute in Kingston felt after his older girlfriend exposed him to sexual intercourse and then dumped him, is the only lesson he needed to understand that he should wait until he is an adult and is emotionally ready for that activity. Even though has recovered from a state of depression and has found himself another girlfriend who is currently pressuring him to have sex, he is determined to hold out until he is ready. On Tuesday, the student was a participant in an International Men’s Day workshop ‘Jamaican Boys becoming men’, hosted by Terri Salmon, head of the non-governmental organization Youth for Arts and Recreational Development (YARD) Empire. The workshop was held at the Alpha Mercy Historical Centre and targeted at risk boys and young men who attend the Alpha Institute on South Camp Road. The theme of the workshop was “Risky Behaviour-Nuh Dweet”. “I was dating a girl when I was 15. She was around age 16 or 17. We dated for around nine months. Around five months into the relationship I finally got to have sex with her. She left me after nine months. That happened pretty recently. We were both good until all of a sudden she just said the relationship was done. “It mash up my meditation, like, 100 per cent. I loved her, so when she left I had a mental block. I wasn’t focusing on school at all. When I came to school, I wouldn’t do any work. I would just look in the teacher’s face every day. My mind was gone, basically. Right now, I am not focusing on those things because you live and you learn. “I am not going to lie, I have another girl now but we are not having sexual intercourse. From the experience I had, I don’t even think about those things. I am not going to rush it. I think the right time to do that is when I leave school. This new girl wants me to have sex with her, but I tell her no. She is saying that I am behaving like a boy. I told her that the pain I felt with my last girlfriend is what created the person I am now. She said if I keep moving the same way, she is going to leave me. Today, I want to buy her some KFC and reason with her,” the young man said. Salmon’s workshop sought not only to highlight the dangers of boys and young adults engaging in sexual intercourse and various forms of risky behaviours such as drug usage, but also aimed to make them aware of and be able to identify occurrences of same-sex harassment. The boys were very appreciative of the lessons imparted about same-sex harassment and gave thumbs up to a short film highlighting the issue. The film was directed by Salmon, who is a known actress and director. The short video, entitled The Mentor, depicts a male employer cheekily wanting to assume the role of mentor-sponsor to a young male employee who is a university aspirant. The employer seeks to shower the young man with gifts and takes him out for lunch. The young man eventually finds himself in an uncomfortable position after lunch, when the employer touches him on his thigh “The presentation was meaningful. It shined some light on my darkness. To be honest, I saw it happening to one of my friends but I never knew there was a hotline we could call. Now that I have the paper and the information, I am going to take the picture and send it to him. He was going through the same thing in the video. A man was trying to help him and little did he know that it was ‘something’ the man wanted from him,” one of the Alpha Institute students said. As it relates to heterosexual sex, the young man said that he has learned to leave that alone for now and focus on his education. His advice to vulnerable young men was: “Try to get out of the ghetto and do your thing. We came into the world because of sex. We came and saw it and it will be here after we are gone, so we don’t have to run it down.” Another student spoke on both topics of same-sex harassment and engaging in heterosexual sex far too early. “The workshop was informative because it showed me certain ways how it can happen. If a man is trying hard to be your friend, you can pick up on it and know what it can lead to. If he is telling you about lunch, he is instigating certain things to try and catch you in a trap that he is trying to set. “As it relates to the big women who come after us as young men, it happened to me many times. I think about doing it with them but I don’t want to be in certain bangarang. I am a good youth. I am 17 and plenty times big woman look me. I am talking even women in their 30s. My advice to youth is that they should basically hold their own,” he said. Mark Davidson, the actor who plays the role of the predatory employer in the film, wanted to make it clear to people who come across the video that he is no homosexual in real life. His reason for deciding to play the role, however, is that he is aware that many young men fall victim to sexual harassment from other males. His advice is that young men must do their best, work hard and avoid loving handouts. “The character I play is a harasser. I am not a harasser in real life. A lot of it is going on in the performing arts and even among ghetto youths. You have young ghetto youths who go into a space where they are vulnerable. They get a particular job and

PM outlines inclusive growth strategy Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness on Tuesday opened what he termed the next chapter of Jamaica’s economic transformation by outlining six key pillars of the Government’s growth strategy that, he said, will “move beyond plans and policies and deliver tangible results for the Jamaican people”. Against the backdrop of a digital display driving home his message that the Administration is set on pivoting to inclusive growth, Holness told guests at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Andrew, and Jamaicans listening and watching a live stream of his policy statement that the time for talk had passed and it is now time for action. “As we move to the next chapter of our development journey we must now come together and forge a new national consensus on economic growth, just as we united around debt reduction and stabilization,” Holness said. “It is time for us to set ambitious goals, to think big, and to focus on policies that will enable Jamaica to realize our immense potential as a nation,” he added. He listed the key pillars of the growth strategy as: Human capital development; diversification of the country’s economic base and development of new industries; infrastructure development; improving the ease, cost and speed of doing business; security; and inclusive growth which, he said, is in keeping with the Jamaica Social Protection Strategy, 2014, which established the provision of support to the most vulnerable groups in the society. Holness explained that under the human capital development pillar the Government will invest heavily in preparing Jamaicans for the opportunities of tomorrow to counter the shortage of skilled labor which, he said, “is now a binding constraint on our growth”. Stating that a comprehensive transformation of the education system is already underway with the implementation of recommendations of the Orlando Patterson Commission report, Holness said that the Administration will give priority to the basics; namely literacy, numeracy, early childhood education, and computer literacy. He said the Administration is currently working on the establishment of the Jamaica Institute of Technology in partnership with the Government of India and India’s National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology. “This will be a game-changer for creating the labour force for the industries of the future for which Jamaica must position itself,” the prime minister said. In relation to the development of new industries he said the focus will be in the areas where Jamaica has unique comparative advantages. Those include the link between the agriculture and tourism sectors to “reduce imports, boost local production, and create a sustainable economic ecosystem”; the island’s geographic location that “positions us perfectly to become a global logistics hub”; meeting the “massive demand” from the ageing population in North America for affordable, high-quality medical services; investment in Jamaica’s creative and cultural industries to maximise their economic potential; and the creation of a digital society that will transition Jamaica from being a consumer of technology to a regional leader in the development of technology. “Our vision is to make Jamaica the Silicon Valley of the region. We have already started investing in making this vision a reality,” he said. His declaration that the Government is determined to “tear down the walls of bureaucracy” elicited sustained applause. “The Jamaican bureaucracy has become self-serving… it has no concern as to whether or not the country grows; that must change,” he said to nods of agreement and more applause. He said the Government intends to amend certain pieces of legislation and realign some regulations “to ensure that they are not obstacles to development” and that they are practical. He announced the creation of an Efficiency Programme Oversight Committee to ensure that bureaucracy supports growth, and said the Administration will also be looking at the tax and Customs laws with a view to streamlining them and making them easier to implement, as well as to provide incentives and drive productivity and economic growth. He traced the country’s economic turnaround “from being dismissed as a basket case to now being celebrated as a global model of resilience and fiscal reform. “We have achieved even more than we set out to when we embarked on this path in 2009. So today, I can proudly say, on behalf of every Jamaican, that we’ve accomplished the mission of economic stability,” Holness said. “This success that we now celebrate and mark officially was a national effort, and I believe it is important for me to stress this, and it is not my intention to lay singular claim to this,” he said. He thanked former prime ministers Bruce Golding and Portia Simpson Miller, former opposition leader and finance minister Dr Peter Phillips, former finance ministers Audley Shaw and Dr Nigel Clarke, as well as Bank of Jamaica Governor Richard Byles who was the first chairman of the Economic Programme Oversight Committee, his successor Keith Duncan, and all the members of the National Partnership Council. “But most of all, I want to thank the people of Jamaica for their patience, resilience, courage, and sacrifice. Jamaica’s turnaround would have been impossible without the willingness of the Jamaican people to endure the hardships that they had to bear. “We will never forget that, and no future Government should ever forget the sacrifices that were made to get to this point. It is my solemn pledge as prime minister that I will never allow Jamaica to return to those dark days when we were on the edge of the precipice,” Holness said. “This new chapter is about our economic independence; it is about generating our own opportunities and using our own resources to achieve our dreams and aspirations. This chapter is about us fulfilling our destiny as a great people,” he said. “Let me be clear, moving on to the next chapter does not in any way mean that we are going to abandon fiscal prudence. We will not go back to ‘run wid it’ – not under my watch,” he declared. “We have worked too hard and sacrificed too much

KINGSTON, Jamaica —The University of the West Indies (The UWI) says it has formalised a new global partnership through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUas) from the Netherlands. This cross-continental academic collaboration was signed into effect by the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Global Affairs at The UWI, Sandrea Maynard, and the President of BUas, Dr Jorrit Snijder, during a virtual ceremony on November 12, the university announced in a news release. Over the past decade, The UWI has developed joint global centres and initiatives with various respected universities, advancing its strategic goal of increasing access to higher education. Specifically, The UWI aims to expand its offerings across all continents, the release stated. The UWI and BUas are international research institutions that offer undergraduate and graduate degree programmes. The areas of collaboration will include faculty and student exchanges, exposure to corporate partners, volunteering, internship opportunities, and co-internships. These initiatives are designed to better prepare students from both universities to meet the demands and opportunities of a rapidly changing world, the regional university said. The release further stated that BUas will gain from The UWI’s extensive research outputs, Caribbean expertise, and scholarship related to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). In turn, The UWI will benefit from BUas’ innovative approaches in digital media and game design. Expressing enthusiasm about the new partnership PVC Maynard said, “The cross-continental collaboration not only bridges European and Caribbean educational cultures but also promotes global understanding and development, aligning with both institutions’ strategic goals of international engagement and innovation”. Dr Snijder noted, “Ultimately, this partnership will enhance educational quality and research impact on both continents. By combining resources and expertise, both institutions can foster greater internationalisation, develop joint academic programmes, and facilitate student and faculty exchanges, contributing to a richer, more diverse academic environment.” This collaboration bridges European and Caribbean educational cultures, promoting global understanding and development. It aligns with both institutions’ strategic goals of international engagement and innovation. Ultimately, this partnership aims to enhance academic quality and research impact on both continents, the release stated.

The National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) is advising the public that persistent rainfall across the island has significantly impacted its operations at disposal sites recently. NSWMA said in a release Monday that the adverse weather conditions have resulted in soggy and waterlogged grounds at several disposal sites, creating challenges for vehicular navigation and reducing efficiency. Consequently, waste collection operations, particularly in Kingston and St Andrew, have been slowed, resulting in longer turnaround times for garbage trucks, the authority said. It said it recognizes that this situation may cause delays in garbage collection for residents and businesses, and it deeply regrets any inconvenience caused. To address the issue, the NSWMA said it commenced urgent remedial work on disposal sites access roads. River shingle and stones are being utilized to stabilize these roads and facilitate improved movement of vehicles, the authority said. Executive Director of the NSWMA Audley Gordon sought to reassure the public of the authority’s commitment to resolving the challenges posed by the persistent rains. “Our teams are working around the clock to restore normal operations. We have experienced personnel and the necessary equipment at our disposal. We ask for the public’s patience and understanding as we push forward to ensure efficient waste management despite these challenges,” Gordon said.

McClaren, Bailey confident Boyz can overcome USA challenge in second leg IN a game they must win to advance to the semi-finals, Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz Head Coach Steve McClaren and winger Leon Bailey say they have to play with belief against hosts United States in the second leg of the Concacaf Nations League (CNL) A quarter-final at Energizer Park in Missouri. Kick off is at 8:00 this evening. Jamaica’s senior men’s team went down 0-1 on Thursday at the National Stadium, after giving up a fifth-minute goal to Ricardo Pepi. Jamaica’s Demarai Gray missed a penalty in the 13th minute which could have made honours even. The defeat pushed Jamaica’s all time record against the United States to 21 losses. They have also been winless in their last eight games versus the Americans. However, McClaren’s two wins since becoming head coach in July have been away from home, those results coming against Honduras and Nicaragua. Jamaica, under then Coach Heimir Hallgrimsson, also overturned a deficit away to Canada at the same stage last year to book their spot in the Nations League finals. McClaren says talent and tactics won’t be enough, and urges his team to be brave against Mauricio Pochettino’s men. “The process, the tactics, everything is important but if you don’t believe you can win, don’t bother turning up. So, we have to believe; we have to have the confidence to do that. It doesn’t matter if we concede a goal because we know we need to score two, so we have to be ambitious and creative,” he said. “We’ve done that in away games — we’ve been solid, we’ve defended well, and in transitions we’ve been good, which is why we won in Nicaragua and Honduras. When I reflect on the game when we were 2-1 against Canada and won 3-2, there’s resilience in this team. That becomes more apparent in away games, and I want to see that tomorrow. We have to start very well, we have to be on the front foot, and we have players in our squad that can win games — so if we do our job defensively we expect our match-winners to win the game for us.” Bailey, who made his return to the team on Thursday after a year’s absence, says the team has what it takes to overcome the one-goal deficit. “Everything is a process, and I believe you just have to keep believing in the process — and if you don’t, it doesn’t make sense,” he said. “Not because you lose one game [means] you [should] make that define everything else that’s been happening. I believe we have to keep believing, showing up, and believing in the process. We’ll bounce back and get results in the future.” The Boyz will once again be without English Premier League stars Michail Antonio, Ethan Pinnock and Bobby Reid, but have been given a boost with the return of midfielder Ravel Morrison. As they seek goals McClaren believes Morrison can make a difference with his creativity. “I’m always looking out for good players and players who can make a difference, handle the ball, big-game players — and Ravel has always been one of them. I worked with him for two years at Derby County and I got to know him well. I like him; he’s got a great personality and a big, unbelievable talent,” he said. “He wasn’t picked before because he wasn’t playing. All of a sudden he gets a club in Dubai and [has been] playing very well, scoring goals and assisting. I think it’s a perfect game and opportunity for Ravel to come into the squad. This is a big game, and whether he starts or comes on he’s one of those players who can win a game of football.” Striker Corey Bennett earns a recall to the squad while Kaheim Dixon (travel documents) and Mason Holgate (suspension) will be absent. The USA will be strengthened by the return of Leeds midfielder Brenden Aaronsen, who has recovered from illness, and Juventus forward Tim Weah who missed the first leg through suspension. Jamaica’s Leon Bailey (left) takes on Antonee Robinson of the United States during the first-leg Concacaf Nations League quarter-final football match at the National Stadium on Thursday. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

KINGSTON, Jamaica— People’s National Party (PNP) President Mark Golding says Sunday afternoon’s staircase collapse at Torrington Park Housing Scheme in St Andrew, during which an elderly woman was injured, could have been avoided if his alleged years of warnings were heeded. In a news release following the incident, Golding stated that he has been calling attention to the deteriorating state of the building since 2018. “I have repeatedly reached out to key officials, including then Permanent Secretary Audrey Sewell, former Minister of Housing Pearnel Charles in 2021 and even Prime Minister Andrew Holness in both 2022 and 2023,” the Opposition leader said. “For nearly five years there has been no effective action taken to ensure the necessary repairs were done, in spite of meetings, inspections and assurances that the repairs have been approved, only for the work to be deferred, with nothing done to address this avoidable risk,” he added. Golding said that a year ago, a community meeting was scheduled to be held with representatives from the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation to inform residents that the issues with the building were going to be addressed, however this was not done. He added that he was informed last Wednesday that the emergency procurement to make repairs to the building was blocked by the Public Procurement Commission. “It’s a procurement issue within the government system that has prevented this from being addressed over the last year, but my representations to the government on this I think go back four or so years, and we brought engineers here to look at it, and it’s clear that something needs to be done, because this is obviously rotten, and there’s some other issues as well with the building, and now this thing has collapsed,” Golding said. He opined that for emergency situations, where lives are at risk the Public Procurement Commission should not be able to block decisions. “I think that where there’s a situation where people’s lives are endangered by a structure, a government structure, I don’t think the procurement system should be able to take a decision to block the procurement based on some assessment from reading a document, they should come and have a look, I don’t believe they came to see it,” Golding said. He added: “There needs to be a greater connection between the bureaucrats who are making these decisions, and what’s actually happening on the ground. If they’re told this is a situation of urgency, and an emergency situation, they shouldn’t just be able to say, well they’re not satisfied with it, and then that’s the end of the matter.” Golding in the release spoke to the residents of Torrington Park stating that he shares in their frustration, pain and anger. He said the government owes the Torrington Park residents “more than apologies; it owes them action.”

Portland shelter for homeless, people with mental illness seeking US$45,000 to keep going Buoyed by success stories like that of a man who was previously jobless on the streets after suffering a mental breakdown following a crash in which his family perished, Portland Rehabilitation Management Homeless Shelter has launched a GoFundMe account to raise US$45,000 to expand and keep its operations going. The shelter, headed by rights advocate Carla Gulotta, is dedicated to supporting homeless individuals and those struggling with mental illness. Currently, it provides shelter, clothing, and meals to more than 40 residents, and 36 others who come daily, while also offering rehabilitative services to homeless individuals across Jamaica. Gulotta told the Jamaica Observer last Friday that she was determined to continue the work of the entity which places heavy emphasis on rehabilitation. “A lot of people just have a drop-off centre. Drop-off centres you have a crowd at 5:00 pm, and they take a shower, get a meal, but the following day they are back on the street. It’s nicer to shelter them. All around is full of homeless, they lie down in the middle of the street. I have my office downtown Kingston and you see them all around,” she told the Observer. She said the encounter with the man who suffered the mental breakdown and who now lives and works in the United States, happened because he had taken up refuge outside her office in downtown Kingston. “Now and then I would give him a lunch or a lunch money. Then one day I was carrying in some boxes and I asked him, ‘Could you give me some help?’ and he said ‘No problem,’ ” Gulotta shared. “The following day I had more boxes and he helped. After some time the caretaker resigned and I asked him ‘Would you like this job?’ and he was very happy. The only thing is, he asked to use the bathroom, because he had nowhere to wash himself. So he was there and he was liking what he was doing,” the rights advocate continued. “One day I was in office and I was struggling with QuickBooks and he was there behind me and he was telling me “No, don’t do that, do this.” I was astonished. So I said, ‘Tell me your story,’ ” Gulotta recalled. When that story came tumbling out, she was floored. “He and his family were driving one Sunday. He had an accident, his wife and children died, he went completely out of his mind, nobody was helping him so he lost his job, he couldn’t pay his rent and he ended up in the streets,” Gulotta shared. Through the help of the shelter and a social worker the widower began the trek towards healing and getting his life back fully on track. “He got a job. He is now in New York in jacket and tie [employed],” Gulotta said, then pointed out that this was just one story. “What happened to the other 5,000, 10,000?” she said. “That’s why I want to work with the shelter. I know we can’t take in thousands, but I want to start the conversation and rescue those who are traumatized and become both mentally ill and homeless.” “Two months ago, thanks to a vocational center in Port Antonio, we sent three of them and two got a job, and now we are sending some more. So, the idea is not only charity, it is to work on inclusion. I am very proud of them,” Gulotta added. “I see that it is possible, and it is one of the reasons for the GoFundMe, because I want to increase the programmed, but I need funds and I want to buy more material for them to work. It is my pilot experiment with mental illness to show that another avenue is possible,” she said, noting that beneficiaries are kept occupied and productive. “We raise chickens, rabbits, and vegetables. So the idea is not only shelter, but to work on them so that at least some of them can go back to living their lives. It works, honestly it works. I am proud, I am determined to continue,” she said. In the GoFundMe appeal, launched on Friday, the centre outlined that many residents have endured abuse, mental health challenges, illness, and substance use disorders. “To help them heal and rebuild their lives we provide not only counselling and health care, but also creative and entrepreneurial activities that foster self-love and self-confidence. Our main goal is to rehabilitate most of them in order to, when possible, reintegrate them in their families and communities,” it said. The appeal also stated that maintaining those vital services carry significant costs for the shelter which has been operating for decades and suffered major damage in the recent hurricanes. As such, it urgently needs support to continue serving residents and offering quality services. “Your donation will directly fund our essential services, helping to pay our staff, including nurses and counsellors, providing food and shelter, and facilitating rehabilitative programmes. One-third of our budget is dedicated to food and bedding, another third to staff salaries, and the rest supports the programmes that empower our residents to rebuild their lives,” it said further. A donation of $25 will cover meals for residents and non-residents; $50 will cover a week’s basic necessities for one resident; $100 will help two residents; and $200 will directly fund entrepreneurial activities, such as raising chickens for residents to earn extra cash. The centre, in the meantime, said a total of US$35,000 will enable it to provide essential services to residents, but US$45,000 could expand its rehabilitation efforts, offer entrepreneurial courses, and, importantly, enrol more residents in remedial education or vocational training. The link can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-an-jamaican-homeless-shelter-stay-open for those wishing to assist. Some of the vegetables planted by residents of Portland Rehabilitation Management Homeless Shelter. Chickens being raised by Portland Rehabilitation Management Homeless Shelter for residents to earn extra cash.

Residents react after staircase collapse injures woman, displaces occupants AFTER the collapse of a staircase on Sunday afternoon that injured one woman, residents of a more than 30-year-old apartment building in Torrington Park housing scheme in St Andrew are breathing a collective sigh of relief that the situation was not worse, but are worried for the safety of themselves and their children. When the Jamaica Observer team arrived on the scene, the staircase leading from the second to the third floor at the front of the building was resting on the bottom step leading to the ground floor, surrounded by large chunks of rubble. The clearly shaken residents, some of whom had to be rescued from their apartments by firefighters, could be seen milling around outside the police caution tapes, speaking amongst themselves about the incident that left 50-year-old resident Althea McIntosh, injured. She had been sitting on the stairs when it collapsed. McIntosh was assisted to Kingston Public Hospital by the police. Residents said that some minutes after 2:00 pm yesterday, they heard a loud rumbling and at first thought it was an earthquake, but were shocked when they saw the stairs give way and crash below. No one could confirm the total number of people impacted but the Observer understands that more than 20 residents have been displaced. A resident who gave her name as Rosie said she was outside at the time of the incident and heard someone calling out to Althea — the injured woman — to get down as the building was collapsing, but she dismissed the warning, saying this was not the case. “By the time she fi seh so, the whole building came down with her. Mi think she dead! The children play on and underneath the staircase like everyday [so] God was in the midst today,” she said. Rosie, who also acts as a community liaison officer, said she is worried about the state of the other flights of stairs and the rest of the deteriorating building, fearing that one day the roof of her top-floor apartment, which has been breaking away, will cave in on her. “Can you imagine this building is here from 1988 and until now it [has] never [been] service[d] once?” she asked incredulously. She said the deplorable state of the building has been brought to the attention of the authorities, who were reportedly to have rectified the situation a year ago, but nothing yet. She said the rains the country has been experiencing in the past weeks, coupled with the recent earthquakes, have only worsened the situation. “A year now they came and have a community meeting with us…They came with engineers. That was last year September and they said the work would start by November last year, and this is November 2024 and this come happen — one year after. Nutten nuh fix,” she said. But Leader of the Opposition Mark Golding, who is also Member of Parliament for St Andrew Southern in which the Torrington Park property is located, told the Observer that he has been trying for four years to have the building addressed. “This is a long-standing problem… over time there’s been wear and tear and decay, and they’re not safe,” he said, adding that there are some other issues with the building as well. “I’ve been writing to the prime minister and his ministry about it, because housing comes under him. A year ago we had a community meeting because the work was supposed to have started. It never did start. They wrote to me last Wednesday to tell me that the procurement commission blocked it from going through as an emergency procurement and said the contract had to go to limited tender, and a few days after, this is what has happened with the staircase collapsing,” he later told the residents via a bullhorn. Golding also shared with residents that he had spoken to the prime minister regarding the incident and that he promised to mobilized the National Works Agency to see if something can be done immediately to address the staircase situation. “I spoke to Desmond McKenzie, minister of local government…and he is mobilising an officer to come and have a look at the situation as well,” he added. Residents are blaming the collapse on neglect. Some say they had observed the building rapidly deteriorating and on the brink of collapse, and had sought to get the relevant authorities to address the situation, including sending pictures and videos of the rotting stairs and cracked building. The injured woman’s niece, who gave her name as Akera, also decried the poor state of the aged building. She visits her family at the location often, from Toronto, Canada, where she resides, and said on that morning she had heard residents commenting that the steps “had seen its last days”. “It was already shaking and it was not stable, and residents have been making reports to the authorities. Big chunks of the building would fall down.” Her cousin, Shanice Dixon, concurred. Dixon, who is the daughter-in-law of the injured woman, said she knew the building would break down, but didn’t expect it would be the staircase. “I was lying down and heard the excitement…At first I thought it was the ceiling that collapsed….and I heard that [Althea] came down with the stairs, so I was shocked. I throw off the slide window, I went to the back and throw [my daughter] through the window for somebody to catch her,” she said, noting that she took the chance to come down the collapsed steps with other residents. In the meantime, Golding urged residents not to walk under the lower staircase, which now has the weight of the middle staircase resting on it. “The lower staircase is bearing a lot of extra load. Please don’t walk under there. I know it’s inconvenient not to be able to walk under there but every time you traverse under there where the yellow tape is, you’re taking a big risk because that lower

Dr Kevin Blake leads initiative; promotes bike safety MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Wearing his safety gear, Commissioner of Police Dr Kevin Blake led by example as he emphasized that motorcycling is a “wonderful sport” while also encouraging other bikers to “arrive alive in 2025”. Blake pointed out that although road fatalities are down by 13 per cent, the figure is still too high. “We have, so far, 320 deaths on our roads — which is 47 less deaths than it was last year. Notwithstanding the reductions, we have not met the target that we have set and so we are pushing very hard to stop the deaths,” he said on World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims on Sunday in Mandeville. He then compared Jamaica Constabulary Force’s success in reducing serious crimes to a similar effort by the force to decrease road fatalities through public education and enforcement. “We are seeing a significant reduction in major crimes — particularly murders and shootings — and so we are trying to save the lives of Jamaicans. And we are doing well with good cooperation from citizens and excellent support from the general public but [despite the] the lives that we are saving through [reduced] homicides, we are seeing too many lives being lost on our roadways,” he said. The commissioner, on a Honda VTX 1300 R cruiser on Sunday, led a convoy of motorcycle-driving police officers — including Assistant Commissioner of Police Gary McKenzie, Superintendent Raymond Wilson, and Deputy Superintendent Carey Duncan — from St Catherine to Mandeville to commemorate World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. Other motorcyclists from Federal International Automobile Association and Jamaica Motorcycle Association supported the initiative which was dubbed Ride Out. The initiative was organised by National Helmet Wearing Coalition, Jamaica National Foundation, and custos of Manchester Garfield Green. The custos, in addressing the commemoration ceremony across from Mandeville Regional Hospital, pointed out that Caledonia Road (in front of the hospital) is used for racing. “This stretch of road is used mainly at night for racing and stunt driving — and some persons end up across the road. I want to ask our motorcyclists not to use the roadway for that. We see a lot of drag racing happening on this stretch of road, and [this] will sometimes cause accidents,” said Green. Meanwhile, the police commissioner said motorcycling is an excellent sport that helps people to relax and develop agility. “But not only that, it is an excellent means of transportation. You notice how vibrant our food delivery services are with motorcyclists? And those are people who are honest, decent, working people trying to make an impact,” Blake said. But, unfortunately, motorcycles also feature prominently in crimes and reckless driving, the commissioner added. “[People] use motorcycles not only to commit crime, but sometimes are a nuisance on the road and so I am going to ask you: ‘Whilst you make bad decisions and endanger yourself, first and foremost you also endanger other road users. Sometimes the mere activity you are trying to avoid [because of] some ridiculous manoeuvre on the road, [you] met in an accident,’ ” he said. He implored road users to practise safety on the nation’s roads. “I want to encourage everyone to let us go into this festive season responsibly. Let us enjoy the season and let us arrive in 2025 alive,” he said. Scores of helmets were distributed to motorcyclists in Mandeville as part of yesterday’s initiative. “Let us wear our helmets. The data is showing that over 30 per cent of the road fatalities are motorcyclists, and over 90 per cent of those who have died driving a motorcycle were not wearing a helmet, and so we don’t know how many lives we would have saved had they been wearing their helmets. So, we encourage everyone [to wear helmets],” said Blake “It is a wonderful sport — that is what I heard,” he added, evoking laughter. Commissioner of Police Dr Kevin Blake on a Honda VTX 1300 R cruiser leading a convoy on World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, on Highway 2000 on Sunday. Commissioner of Police Dr Kevin Blake (second right) and (from right) Superintendent Raymond Wilson, JN Foundation General Manager Claudine Allen, custos of Manchester Garfield Green, president of the Jamaica Motorcyclists Association Marlon “Crazy Cutter” Fletcher, ACP Gary McKenzie, along with president of Upshifterz Motorcycle Club Christopher “Choppy” Atkinson, pose for a photo on World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims on Sunday in Mandeville, Manchester. (Kasey Williams)

Lee Jaffe immortalises Marley in new book For much of the six years he lived in Jamaica during the 1970s, Lee Jaffe was a member of Bob Marley’s inner circle. He was with the reggae legend during his rise to global stardom, and captured key moments of that surge on his cameras. Many of those photographs are in Hit Me With Music: Roots, Rock Reggae, a book released in September by Rizzoli International Publications. Like One Love: Life With Bob Marley and The Wailers, the American’s first book, it has intimate photos of Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer — his colleagues in The Wailers — as well as the era’s leading artistes, musicians and producers. In a recent interview with the Jamaica Observer Jaffe spoke about the difference between Hit Me With Music and Life With Bob Marley and The Wailers, which came out in 2003. “This book has many more photographs and extensive essays. I’ve learned so much technically in the 20-plus years that have passed that has enabled me to do a better job preparing the images for printing,” he explained. The most glaring similarity is Jaffe’s focus on Marley, who died in May 1981 at age 36. He first met Marley in New York City during the early 1970s and was struck by a cassette with a draft of Catch A Fire, which became The Wailers’ first album for Island Records. By the time Marley went solo, in early 1974, Jaffe was long aware he was in the presence of a genius. He captured the Rastafarian artiste’s recording sessions, live shows, and leisure time on film. “Having a camera, there was always a fine line not to be crossed of being intrusive, of avoiding self-consciousness, avoiding the sense of ‘capture’ inherent in the ‘snap’, the ‘shot’ of the camera machine — the device that can change mechanical motion into energy or contrarily stasis. And I was always aware of the historical significance of what I was witnessing daily — the creation of music at the highest level of art — and I was interminably grateful to be part of advancing something so enormously and transcendently important,” said Jaffe. There are a number of iconic photographs in Hit Me With Music; of Marley hanging out with friends in Trench Town; Tosh in a ganja field in his native Westmoreland; and of the 1975 visit by The Jackson 5 to Marley’s home (now the Marley Museum) at Hope Road. Jaffe played harmonica on Natty Dread, Marley’s 1974 solo album for Island Records. That year he joined Tosh’s camp and eventually helped him get a deal with Columbia Records, which distributed Legalize It and its 1977 follow-up Equal Rights. During the 1980s, Jaffe worked as a producer with acts such as Barrington Levy and Joe Higgs, mentor to The Wailers. He has also toured with Stephen Marley. Bob Marley (second centre) with friends in Trench Town. Michael Jackson (left) and brother Jermaine (centre) with Wailers percussionist Alvin “Seeco” Patterson (right) during The Jackson 5’s visit to Bob Marley’s Hope Road home in March 1975.

MONTEGO BAY, St James — Bahamasair commenced twice weekly flights between Nassau and Montego Bay on Sunday, and received a warm welcome from Jamaican tourism officials who praised the carrier for the direct air link between the two Caribbean states that Sandals Resorts International Executive Chairman Adam Stewart described as “superpower tourism destinations”. “As a sixth-generation Jamaican in the tourism business, having this connection between these two countries, first and foremost, unlocks the ability between our two economies for locals to do business; to trade; to visit family, friends; for school and education — which has been one of the main thoroughfares for us over the years,” Stewart, who chair’s Jamaica’s Tourism Linkages Network, said at the welcome ceremony at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay. “But, of course, for those of us in the tourism business it allows us to split sales and expand the reach of a single trip by connecting these two superpower tourism destinations,” added Stewart, who is also executive chairman of the Jamaica Observer. He commended the airline’s chair, Tanya Pratt, and Managing Director Tracy Cooper for their vision in establishing the route, saying, “You are going to be in great hands coming to Jamaica… We are going to make sure this is an incredibly successful route. “To my Bahamian family: ‘Welcome back to Jamaica!’ And, of course, to the Jamaican team: ‘We have to do everything possible to make this route successful and to continue to grow.’ To me, this is like a homecoming, a reunion of my two favorites places on the planet,” Stewart said. “Thank you so much, Bahamasair, for taking the gamble. And I can tell you, from the Air Jamaica days this was one of our most successful routes and I have no doubt it is going to grow and be amazing,” he added. Stewart’s reference was to the 1990s when Air Jamaica — at the time chaired by his father, tourism mogul Gordon “Butch” Stewart (now deceased) — in expansion mode, took over the Kingston to Bahamas route. On Sunday, Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett also welcomed the Bahamasair service which will move passengers between both destinations on Thursdays and Sundays, saying it will enhance multi-destination tourism in the Caribbean. “The fact that this flight inaugurated today in Jamaica signals a very important part of the link in that particular chain which will enable regional connectivity and the realisation of multi-destination tourism,” Bartlett said. Bahamas’ Minister of Immigration and National Insurance Alfred Sears — representing his country’s Deputy Prime Minister Isaac Chester Cooper, who is also minister of tourism, investment and aviation — said the inaugural flight is of great magnitude, even as The Bahamas recorded a historic 9.7 million visitor arrivals last year and is expected to top that this year. He also said the new service has “special significance for our Caribbean Community and the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO)”, as the airline continues to break barriers with new connectivity in the UK, the US, Canada, and other source markets. He said the flight represents an emerging chapter in Caribbean connectivity discussions advanced by The Bahamas’s Prime Minister Phillip Edward Davis during his chairmanship of Caricom, and supported by the deputy prime minister with responsibility for tourism in his many interventions at CTO. “The flight will undoubtedly bring us closer to these realities and have immense benefit for both of our countries,” he added. Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association President Robin Russell also hailed the potential boost to multi-destination tourism that the flights between the two destinations now provide. “With Bahamasair demonstrating that commitment, we know that this will make it happen. Now persons can come to Jamaica, they can go to The Bahamas, they can go to Dom Rep, they can go to St Lucia, because of the increased connectivity. So, we welcome it,” Russell said. “We know that this is the next phase in tourism, where persons will no longer just go to one island but experience different cultures — and that’s what this is all about,” he added. Shane Munroe, chief executive officer of MBJ Airports Limited, operators of Sangster International Airport, expressed pride in the relationship being built with Bahamasair which, he said, “aligns with our goals to increase regional air connectivity that is crucial for the continued growth of travel and tourism within the Caribbean”. “Today marks a historic moment as we launch this service between Nassau and Montego Bay. For too long connectivity between these two cities has been too complicated. Today we changed that with this non-stop flight between these two cities twice weekly, serving our tourism sector but also connecting families and friends,” Munroe said. Pratt described the establishment of the Nassau to Montego Bay route as a significant milestone. “We embrace the new relationships established with our family now here in Jamaica, and salute our counterparts dedicated to the development of air transport and tourism throughout the world,” she said. Shane Munroe (right), chief executive officer of MBJ Airports Limited, operators of Sangster International Airport, presents a welcome plaque to The Bahamas’s Minister of of Immigration and National Insurance Alfred Sears at Sangster International Airport on Sunday. The occasion was the inauguration of twice-weekly service between Nassau and Montego Bay by Bahamasair.

Adventist official chides State agencies for Saturday recruitment ASeventh-day Adventist (SDA) church official has taken issue with the practice of some State agencies staging recruitment drives on Saturdays, and has urged the Government to examine the possibility of including other days in the employment exercise. Nigel Coke, communication, public affairs, and religious liberty director of Jamaica Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, made the call on Sunday at the church’s Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Recognition and Awards Ceremony at Hotel Four Seasons in St Andrew, saying that he has been concerned about the issue for more than a year. “I have realised that the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), the Jamaica Fire Brigade, and the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) are involved. Just yesterday, November 16, the JCF had a recruitment drive at the Portmore Community College in Old Harbour,” Coke said in brief prepared remarks for the ceremony. While that was the only recruitment drive Coke referenced, JCF staged another on November 16 for agricultural wardens at Albert Town High School in Trelawny; DCS invited applicants to visit its recruitment booth at an expo it staged on November 2 at National Indoor Sports Centre; while on October 26 JDF staged a recruitment drive at Whitehorne Barracks in St Mary. According to Coke, the practice excludes Sabbath keepers who wish to apply to these agencies in person. He said that while he is aware that applications can be made online, “the recruitment drive would prove a better alternative for Sabbath observers who want a more physical and interactive experience”. “Through these agencies I urge the Government to examine the situation and extend recruitment drives to other days of the week to facilitate Sabbath observers… maybe Sunday would be another day that recruitment can be done,” he suggested. The SDA has, in the past, complained about employment difficulties being experienced by its members who observe Saturday as the Sabbath. In 2019, for instance, Coke chided business process outsourcing (BPO) companies for denying Adventists employment, describing it as discriminatory. “It has come to my attention that despite the significant growth in the BPO [sector], Adventist members are not benefiting. This, I am reliably informed, is because this sector does not employ Seventh-day Adventists because of the Sabbath. Once they disclose that they are Adventists, they are told that the hours of work are not flexible to accommodate their day of worship or rest,” Coke said in a sermon at Kencot SDA Church in St Andrew. Coke said although Adventists are employed in the sector, some comply with the work hours rules because of economic reasons. “I believe there are Adventist members employed in the sector, but because of the economic reasons they bow to the pressure and break the Sabbath from time to time, maybe not every week,” he said, adding that some of these individuals may have left the church because of the clash between their Sabbath and work obligations. He said that while he accepts the nature of the services provided by the BPO sector, which includes its obligations to clients worldwide, arrangements can be made under the sector’s shift system to accommodate Seventh-day Adventists.

UNITED NATIONS, (CMC) — The United Nations says this year has seen a staggering ten-fold surge in sexual violence against children in Haiti during an unprecedented crisis which has also seen armed gangs continue to terrorise communities amid a growing humanitarian disaster. “Children are being used by armed gangs in Haiti, and we are witnessing some recent troubling trends, notably the use of sexual violence, including rape and collective rape, as a weapon of war by gangs,” said Virginia Gamba, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. Highlighting the impact on children of the extreme levels of brutality and lawlessness across the French-speaking Caribbean country, she called on “all actors to ensure that children are protected from violence, including sexual violence and clashes, and that they are not involved in hostilities”. The UN said political instability continues to plague Haiti, as members of the transitional governing council, which was formed in April, removed interim Prime Minister Garry Conille from office amid reported in-fighting, replacing him with businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aime. UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged all Haitian stakeholders to work constructively together to advance the political transition, his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told journalists at the regular news briefing in New York on Monday. “Overcoming their differences and putting the country first remains critical to that end,” Dujarric said. Conille, a former UN official, was sworn in as interim Prime Minister in June and the UN said that the crisis in Haiti has also disrupted essential services, including education and healthcare, leaving over 300,000 children without access to schools. It said gangs have targeted hospitals and schools in the capital Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas, and schools have turned into temporary shelters for the thousands displaced by violence. The UN said this surge “reflects the stark vulnerability of minors in a country where approximately 2.7 million people, including 1.6 million women and children, live in areas under gang control. “Alarmingly, children under 18 are estimated to make up between a third and half of the gang members,” the UN said. Gamba called on all actors and those with influence “to do everything to prevent grave violations against children” and to immediately hand them over to civilian child protection officials. She underscored the urgent need for “safe and unobstructed humanitarian access to provide critical services” and renewed the call for enhanced voluntary contributions to the UN-administered trust fund, which supports the Multinational Security Support mission (MSS) to bolster Haiti’s security and respond to humanitarian needs.” The UN said the MSS mission, which was re-authorised by the UN Security Council in September for another year, is “seen as pivotal to stabilizing the country.” But the UN said it lacks sufficient police officers and funding, restricting its operations. The UN said the humanitarian impact of the violence extends far beyond immediate threats. In October, armed clashes in Port-au-Prince’s neighborhoods of Solino and Tabarre, and the adjoining district of Arcahaie led to mass displacements, “compounding existing aid challenges,” the UN said. It said estimates indicate that over 12,600 people were displaced in Solino and Tabarre alone, with many forced into makeshift shelters. The UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that 58 per cent of these displaced individuals found refuge in 14 sites, including newly-created shelters following the outbreaks of violence. The UN said Arcahaie witnessed a parallel wave of displacement, with over 21,000 people fleeing their homes.

Apoliceman who was shot last Thursday outside his Portmore home has died at hospital, Observer Online has learned. The deceased is Sergeant Patrick Mahoney, who was assigned to the St Catherine North Division. It is reported that sometime after 9pm, the sergeant was called out of his home when explosions sounding like gunshots were heard. When the shooting subsided, it was discovered that the sergeant had been shot. He was rushed to hospital where he underwent emergency surgery. The Police Federation had issued an urgent appeal for blood donation for the injured cop.

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Breakthrough Communications on Monday introduced four new business communication services which it said are tailored to meet the evolving needs of the corporate sector. Corporate social media management, event management, video production and neuromarketing research were unveiled as the latest additions to the company’s portfolio at the launch event, ‘Breakthrough Reimagined’, held at the AC Hotel in St Andrew. “We are thrilled that our clients drove this change because it was their queries, their input, their feedback that led us to offer these services,” said the company’s managing director, Carlette DeLeon. Touting neuromarketing as a cutting-edge solution, the company used the platform of the launch to demonstrate how neuroscience technology can transform marketing by tapping directly into the consumer’s brain and help businesses to better understand customer behavior. Addressing questions about data protection, DeLeon revealed that this was something her team took into consideration. “There may be hesitation from candidates who think that it’s (the neuromarketing technology) reading their mind… it’s not reading your mind, it’s just feeding for the electro sensors in your head, so there is nothing to worry about and we are going to be having that communication with the candidates,” she said. Adrian Dunkley, chief data scientist at Breakthrough Communications, added: “We are using industry standards and beyond to ensure that you own your data and we are responsible to ensure that your data is used effectively.” DeLeon meanwhile said she is particularly excited about the event planning solution. “I am excited about the event planning; we’ve been involved in event planning for a long time but we’ve never offered it as a service. Now we are able to offer that service to people,” she said. Breakthrough Communications is among a number of medium-sized enterprises that have benefitted from the Development Bank of Jamaica’s (DBJ) Innovation Grant Fund. Christopher Brown, programme manager of DBJ’s Boosting Innovation, Growth and Entrepreneurship Ecosystems (BIGEE), expressed the bank’s desire to see Breakthrough expand internationally with its services. “This launch of the Reimagined Breakthrough is something that we at DBJ are very proud of. We work with companies for specifically this purpose to get them to be viewed or even reimagined in another way and to deliver services for their clients,” Brown said, adding “Ultimately we want to see them grow, serve a wider market … it is not limited to just Jamaica, the Caribbean is here as well as outside and that’s what we’re here to support.”

“We ‘bout to tear the rest of the Caribbean up, everybody’s waiting. And Jamaica, I’m sorry, I’m not there yet, but I’m coming your way. You’re gonna have something special too,” said Bajan billionaire Rihanna last Thursday during the launch party for Fenty Beauty, Fenty Skin and Fenty Eau de Parfum in her home town of Barbados. Her return to her homeland was not only a celebration of her global success, but also of her heritage, as she officially opened two Fenty Beauty stores, the flagship located on Broad Street and another at Sunset Mall on the island’s west coast. As we wait with bated breath for deets on the official drop, Tuesday Style Dryer (TSD) spotlights the Fenty Beauty products used to achieve her make-up look at the launch event. Make-up #ProFiltr Longwear Soft Matte foundation in ‘310’ applied with the 110 brush #We’re Even #FentyConcealer in ‘300N’ #MatchStix Contour Skinstick in ‘Mocha’ #CheeksOut Cream Blush in ‘Petal Poppin’ #Invisimatte Instant Setting + Blotting Powder #BrowMVP Brow Pencil + Styler in ‘Medium Blonde’ + ‘Ash Blonde’ #Flyliner Longwear Liquid Eyeliner in ‘Cuz I’m Black’ #HellaThicc Volumizing Mascara in ‘Cuz I’m Black’ #SnapShadow Palette in ‘Cool Neutrals’ topped with #Killawatt Highlighter in ‘Trophy Wife’ #TracedOut Lip Liner in ‘Extra Thigh’ + #GlossBombStix   Check fentybeauty.com for products and holidays faves.

Michael Johnson sees positives for country from Grand Slam Track series Grand Slam Track (GST) series founder Michael Johnson says Jamaica stands to benefit greatly from the first staging of the cash-rich event as millions of viewers from around the world will be tuning in when Kingston hosts its leg at the National Stadium from April 4-6. GST, a track-specific professional competition, will involve four race meets, each in a different city. The concept is inspired by tennis, which features four major tournaments in its seasonal schedule. Johnson says that with Kingston, Los Angeles will be one of the host cities, with the other two locations to be announced in the coming weeks. The event has already attracted some of the biggest names in international track and field, including American stars Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Fred Kerley, Kenny Bednarek, Alison Dos Santos of Brazil, and Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico, as well as Jamaicans Rushell Clayton, Roshawn Clarke, and Ackera Nugent. More athletes are expected to be added to the roster. The championships promise the largest cash prizes in the sport, with a total of US$12.5 million (just under $2 billion). Each winner receives US$100,000 (just under $16 million). “Track is the third most popular sport in the world, with 2.5 billion people interested in participating in and following it. Millions of eyes will be tuning into this event,” Johnson said after the media launch in Kingston on Monday. “We are committed to using this platform and this great global sport to highlight the work happening here, and we are dedicated to working with the track and field community for the betterment of all sports in Jamaica. “Jamaican athletes have represented this country in an amazing way around the world for years, and I think it’s time to bring it back here and highlight the sport, as well as the country’s excellence in track.” With the addition of Clarke, Clayton, and Nugent, Johnson, a four-time Olympic champion and former 200m world record holder, says they will continue to recruit more Jamaican and other international athletes for the event. “We have three Jamaican racers currently signed as Grand Slam Racers, who will compete in all four of our events,” he said. “We’re not done, and we will continue to sign athletes to our league. There will be more Jamaican athletes added to our roster as well. “The inspiration and the vision behind Grand Slam Track is to truly professionalise this sport. We are taking the sport to the next level. Track and field is recognised for its greatness, but it has not evolved and innovated with the times. At the heart of Grand Slam is a desire to revolutionise the sport and present it to a modern audience.” Sport Minister Olivia Grange says hosting the championships in Jamaica next year will boost sports tourism. “Grand Slam Track fits well into our Government’s sports development thrust, which aims to position Jamaica as the best country to participate in, watch, and talk about sports,” Grange said. “This event is an example of the outcome we have been working to achieve, and we want to thank Michael Johnson and his team for ensuring that Jamaica is part of it. “It is an ambition of mine, as minister of sport, and of the Government, to make Jamaica a premier venue for international sports competitions and to host meetings for international federations.”  

TTFA president delighted to land Yorke after JFF’s snub ALTHOUGH Dwight Yorke was unsuccessful in his bid to become the Reggae Boyz head coach earlier this summer, Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) President Kieron Edwards says getting him to sign on as coach of their national senior men’s team was a “steal”. The former Manchester United striker who helped lead T&T to the FIFA World Cup in 2006, was named manager of the Soca Warriors on November 1, replacing former international teammate Angus Eve. Yorke, 53, has only managed Macarthur FC in Australia’s A League between 2022 and 2023, and applied for Jamaica’s vacant head coach position in July after the resignation of Heimir Hallgrimsson when the Reggae Boyz exited the Copa America tournament in June. However, Yorke wasn’t a shortlisted candidate, with Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Technical Committee Chairman Rudolph Speid saying he wasn’t interviewed for the role. Former England manager and Manchester United assistant Steve McClaren was then named head coach at the end of July. Yorke was successful with his application to his home country, after being chosen out of five candidates shortlisted by the TTFA Technical Committee. He arrived in Trinidad on Friday and said, “I’m very excited, really honoured and privileged to be given such a prestigious position. I probably should say I thought it would be happening at some point in my career. I didn’t expect it to happen so quickly, but it’s something I embrace.” When asked by i95fm’s Andre Baptiste about why they didn’t select an overseas coach to potentially help in the recruitment of English-born players, TTFA President Kieron Edwards says they didn’t want to follow the JFF as they believed hiring a local coach was essential. “That’s not our pathway,” Edwards said. “Jamaica’s pathway is a bit different. They selected a coach based on their pathway to qualify for the World Cup. Our pathway is different; we need a coach that understands the culture we have, with players coming back in two, three days before a game. “Dwight was the ideal choice for us, and he understands the culture of teams in Concacaf as well that we will face. They’ve changed the format of World Cup qualifying so we need now to get those guys revved up and get their mindset right in terms of that professional approach to the game. I think Dwight really brings that to T&T football.” Edwards says TTFA is also getting value for money with Yorke’s appointment as it is spending significantly less than what the JFF is paying McClaren and his technical team. “I’m not going to state Dwight Yorke’s salary but it’s nowhere close to [McClaren’s] numbers,” he said. “What Dwight has done at this point for Trinidad and Tobago football, it’s not even about money for him at this point. Persons talking about McClaren’s salary and what not; persons in Jamaica will know the coach that we have and the salaries we have [available] for our coaches. [Yorke] is a steal of a deal, and it’s down to the management of the team and our executive to get this deal done.” Edwards says Yorke’s main goal is to qualify the team for the 2026 World Cup in USA, Mexico, and Canada. Trinidad is second with four points in Group B in the second round of qualifying, behind first-placed Costa Rica on six, and ahead of St Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, and The Bahamas. Only the top two will qualify for the third and final round where only three teams out of 12 are guaranteed a spot at the World Cup.

An eight-part series, titled World Boss: The Vybz Kartel Story, will premiere on December 16. The initiative — a collaboration between SALT, Big Wave More Fire, and Gulfstream Studios — was created by Tahir Garcia and Sam Griesemer, with Nick Panama and Max Musina serving as executive producers. The project’s management team also included local music and entertainment executives Cheraine Marshall and Abigail Rowe. “The story itself is objectively interesting. You don’t have to know Kartel to be deeply invested in his story to appreciate it. Somebody who’s brand new [and] fresh can hear about him, can hear his stories, and it still be just as impactful,” Garcia told the Jamaica Observer. With filming beginning in Jamaica in the summer of 2022, the production has taken the team across various landscapes and stories, building an in-depth portrait of Vybz Kartel that goes beyond the headlines. The episodes will be strategically released, with each ranging from 40 to 50 minutes. Meanwhile, Griesemer said that the project captures the essence of Vybz Kartel’s career. “It’s really like [an] audio documentary. There’s a lot of different voices and different interviews that are interwoven into each episode. But there’s also music and original scoring and archival pieces pulled from various important moments in Kartel’s career. We’re particularly proud of it because it’s ambitious,” he told the Observer. Griesemer, who hails from the US, noted that he was thrilled to undertake this initiative because Vybz Kartel is one of the most talented acts he has ever encountered. “I come from a music producer background, so I had worked with artistes here in the United States like Kanye West and I had been doing a lot of work with Burna Boy, and I found out that Tahir and Serani were friends, which led to us taking a trip to Kingston and working with a lot more artistes. Coming from a producer’s background, and having worked with and been around some great artistes, the more I learnt about Kartel, the more blown away I was,” he said. Garcia added that he hopes the podcast will create a trend for other creatives to help to highlight the untold aspects of Jamaica’s culture. “I think one of the things that is important to me is for our culture to be presented at a very high level. I think a lot of times we end up doing things that could be elevated so much more, and part of the reason why is that people don’t know how much further it can go… What we’re really looking forward to is being able to showcase the different ways we can tell our stories in a new, fresh kind of way and, hopefully, inspire the people to want to do the same,” he said.

A Ministry of Heath snapshot study of the current landscape of drug use among Jamaicans has revealed “clear indications of increases in substance use over the past seven years”, with alcohol prevalence rates for the individual parishes of Trelawny, St Ann and Kingston outstripping the national prevalence rate which now stands at 46.2 per cent. According to the data, which is contained in the 2023 Jamaica Drug Prevalence Statistics released by the Ministry of Health on Monday, “alcohol prevalence is significantly higher” in Trelawny (57.5 per cent), St Ann (54.3 per cent) and Kingston (52.2 per cent). Other parishes with high alcohol usage are Hanover (46.8 per cent), St Elizabeth (41.5 per cent), Clarendon (48.1 per cent), St Catherine (50.4 per cent), St Mary (43 per cent), and St Thomas (44.5 per cent). Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton, in unveiling the findings during a press briefing in the Corporate Area, said the surge was “most notable” in the four per cent increase last year in alcohol use (56 per cent to 60 per cent) as well as in the current year (42 per cent to 46 per cent) and the same level of increase last year in the use of cigarettes (12.7 per cent to 16.8 per cent). According to the health minister, harmful use of alcohol is most evident among the 25-35 age group while current ganja use is most prevalent among the 18-25 age group. Tufton said among those who smoke cigarettes, daily use increased from seven per cent in 2016 to 11.6 per cent at present. The health minister, in the meantime, said another concerning finding was the fact that among people who smoked ganja in the past year, approximately 66 per cent were deemed as high risk for dependence representing a 15 per cent increase from the 50 per cent seven years ago. “This is significant and we need to pay keen attention as it reflects what studies are showing in other countries that have changed their cannabis regulatory framework [legalisation/decriminalisation],” Tufton told the briefing. “What we are seeing is that the overall prevalence has not increased significantly, but the intensity of use among those who already use has increased. This is what other countries have also found,” he said further. Health officials have also found that the number of people driving under the influence of alcohol has increased since 2016, from 14.4 per cent to 17.5 per cent. “Approximately 18 per cent of drivers have driven on our roads under the influence of alcohol in the past year with significantly more males (23.9 per cent) than females (5.2 per cent) reporting this. This practice is the highest reported among the 25-34 age group — approximately one in three persons in this age group,” Tufton revealed. Conversely, he said, 10 per cent of drivers reported driving under the influence of other drugs (to include cannabis and other illegal drugs), down from 14 per cent in 2016. In the meantime, Tufton said the data revealed that the use of edibles (cannabis-infused food) has increased by seven per cent (from 6.6 per cent in 2016 to 13.3 per cent in 2023). According to the minister, health officials are “not surprised by this finding as the popularity of edibles is evident among youth and young adults, popular in parties and stage shows and easily accessible in a variety of places island wide”. Based on the data, 10 per cent of adolescents 15-17 years reported use of edibles. It said the highest level of use was reported among males in the 35-44 age group (which translates to 28 per cent, or almost three in 10) and females in the 25-34 age group (13 per cent). On Monday, Tufton said the audit tool used in the study, which determined the type of intervention needed depending on the alcohol use pattern, showed that “the majority of our population need education about alcohol (75.7 per cent) and approximately 20 per cent need simple advice”. “When broken down by parish, specialized treatment services are most needed in Clarendon, St James and KSA, while brief interventions are most needed in Trelawny, Westmoreland, Manchester, Clarendon and KSA. There is more to drill down with the data to tailor interventions according to the landscape of needs,” Tufton told the briefing. A National Drug Research Network, said the minister, is to be established. It will comprise academics and technical experts who will draft an agenda for drug research that goes beyond prevalence studies for a deeper dive into the issues. He said initiatives geared toward the high-risk areas and groups will also be informed by these findings. The data in the study were drawn from some 4,991 respondents island wide.

Morrison wants Mario Deane case transferred from St James MONTEGO BAY, St James — Pointing to the almost decade-long delay in determining whether three cops were culpable in the death of Mario Deane while he was in police lock-up in St James, Supreme Court Judge Justice Bertram Morrison on Monday made clear his preference for the stalled case to be transferred elsewhere. “The Crown must actively consider a change in venue because it is an embarrassing fact that we are celebrating 10 years. The accused has human rights and so do the victims’ relatives, [who have an] expectation that this matter should be tried and brought to closure. That can’t be achieved in this current scenario,” he said Monday when the case was called up in the St James Circuit Court. “I am making a decision, for this matter — in my view, and I expect it to be embraced — ought to be transferred and never to be tried in St James; never!” said a tough-talking Justice Morrison. His comments came after the court was told, yet again, that the trial could not proceed because there were no jurors available. The members of Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) on trial are Corporal Elaine Stewart, along with constables Juliana Clevon and Marlon Grant. They are facing charges of manslaughter, perverting the course of justice, and misconduct in a public office in connection with the 2014 beating that left Deane dead. As part of the trial, jurors must be empanelled. For that to happen, they must be served with notices to appear for jury duty. These notices are served by JCF members on citizens who are often reluctant to serve. On Monday, Justice Morrison pointed out the implications of the cops’ failure to fulfil their duty. “So, it is going to be the Crown’s application for an adjournment because of insufficient jurors, zero jurors. Three hundred summonses were sent out which were supposed to be served by the police. Read what you may into that now,” he said. He continued cryptically, “Who is on trial?” “The matter concerns police officers,” the Crown replied. “Good, so can’t you see what is happening? And, mind you, is the DPP [Director of Public Prosecutions] office impotent to remedy that situation?” Justice Morrison said. “It can’t be that these three defendants, who are presumed innocent until proven guilty, do not want this matter to be tried. It can’t be,” he said. Obviously displeased, he then indicated that he was “going to put everything on the record now”, and the Crown was asked to give a chronicle of the case. In addition to the issue raised on Monday, other reasons cited for the almost 10-year delay are general postponement of jury trials during the COVID-19 pandemic, a delay in Constable Clevon securing representation, challenges with witnesses, jurors being engaged in other matters, and a general insufficiency in the number of individuals willing to be jurors. The case has been postponed multiple times since it was first brought before the St James Circuit Court in 2018. On Monday, in response to Justice Morrison’s concerns about the JCF’s failure to serve summonses on jurors, the Crown suggested that the superintendent of police may be able to shed light on the matter. However, the judge dismissed the suggestion to have the senior cop take the stand. “Self-inflicting wounds,” he said curtly. “The matter is to move for a mention date on November 14. Bail extended for all three,” Justice Morrison later told the accused. Allegations are that Deane was arrested for possession of a ganja spliff and placed in custody where he was brutally beaten on August 3, 2014. He received severe injuries to his brain which left him in a coma. He died three days later at Cornwall Regional Hospital in St James. It is alleged that the three cops had been on duty at the police station at the time when Deane was beaten. It is further alleged that Corporal Stewart gave instructions for the cell in which the attack took place to be cleaned before the arrival of investigators from the Independent Commission of Investigations. Following Deane’s death the police charged Adrian Morgan and Marvin Orr, who were also in custody at the time. Both men, who suffer from schizophrenia, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to five years and six months. However, they had been in custody for six years so in July 2020 they were set free based on time served. A third man, Damion Cargill, was charged in 2015. However he was ruled unfit to answer the charges or stand trial. In July 2017 he was released into the care of his family. In May 2014 St James Parish Judge Sandria Wong Small ruled that the three cops should stand trial. At the time Stewart was 50, Clevon 32, and Grant 27 years old.

ST CATHERINE, Jamaica — Portmore United edged Humble Lion 1-0 at Effortville Community Centre on Sunday to maintain the lead in the points tables of the Jamaica Premier League. Rashaun Small’s 60th minute goal was all Portmore needed to win back-to-back games and extend their unbeaten run to seven games as they improved to 19 points from nine matches played. Montego Bay United came from a goal down to beat Dunbeholden United 2-1 at the Montego Bay Sports Complex, ending the St Catherine-based club’s three-game winning run. The win was the first for MBU in three games, after back-to-back draws and saw them stay in second place on 17 points from six games. Dunbeholden, who came into the game on the back of a good run that saw them score six of their then seven goals, took the lead in the 14th minute when Rojay Smith fired home from close range. After missing a handful of good scoring chances, in part to an outstanding display by Dunbeholden’s goalkeeper Romaine Hamilton, MBU managed to draw level when Owayne Gordon scored from the penalty, four minutes into stoppage time in the first half. Central defender Josiah Trimmingham scored the winner when he headed home a corner kick at the far left post in the 53rd minute. Mt Pleasant FA were also winners on Sunday, beating Harbour View 3-1 at Drax Hall to rebound from their loss to Dunbeholden last week. Kimoni Bailey got Mt Pleasant off to a fast start when he scored in the first minute but they had to wait until early in the second half for the second goal, scored by Daniel Green before Nicholas Nelson scored a third goal in the 55th minute. Oquassa Chong came off the bench to score a consolation goal for Harbour View in time added at the end of the second half.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia(AFP) — Kenya’s candidate for the top job at the African Union said Saturday that if US president-elect Donald Trump does not want to work with Africa, the continent has “other friends”. Raila Odinga, a veteran Kenyan politician, is one of four candidates vying to replace Moussa Faki Mahamat as African Union Commission chair next year. “I don’t want to prejudge him,” Odinga said of Trump in an interview with AFP in Addis Ababa following the Republican’s emphatic election win this week. “If he wants to work with Africa as a friend of Africa, we will welcome him and work with him,” the 79-year-old added. “If he does not want to work with Africa… Africa has got other friends.” The continent of around 1.5 billion people is often competed over for influence by the West as well as by China, Russia and Turkey. Many African leaders issued swift congratulations to Trump, even though during his first term from 2017-2021 he described African nations and Haiti as “shithole” countries. Asked about those remarks, Odinga said: “No, it doesn’t worry me at all because that was Trump then. This is now another new Trump. So we want to see the new Trump, the one we are going to deal with.” He reiterated: “I don’t want to prejudge him. I want him to first pronounce himself on Africa and how he wants to work with Africa.” Kenyan President William Ruto, who narrowly defeated Odinga in the country’s 2022 election but has gone on to back his rival’s campaign for the AU, spoke by phone with Trump on Friday. Ruto said they discussed “areas of mutual interest” including trade and investment, security and good governance, as well as Kenya’s role leading a UN-backed mission to try to quell rampant gang violence in Haiti. Odinga, who has failed in five bids to win the Kenyan presidency, also left the door open to another run for the job in 2027, but said he was currently focused on his AU candidacy. He faces a stiff challenge for the role from Djibouti’s long-serving Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, while two other candidates have also thrown their hats into the ring — Anil Gayan from Mauritius and Richard Randriamandrato of Madagascar. The election will take place by secret ballot during the February 2025 summit of the pan-African body.

MONTEGO BAY, St James — Elated over police reports of a sharp decline in murders in St James since the start of this year, deputy mayor of Montego Bay Councillor Dwight “Debo” Crawford (Jamaica Labour Party) is heartened that the tourism resort city is becoming increasingly more friendly. In recent years the St James capital, dubbed the friendly city, has earned notoriety as the murder capital of the country. Between January 1 to November 9 St James recorded 113 murders, which is 57 or 33.5 per cent fewer than the 170 recorded over the corresponding period last year. However, the 113 murders is the most of the 972 murders recorded across the 19 police divisions in the island up to November 9 this year. “The city of Montego Bay is becoming friendlier and friendlier, more than ever. This month of November we have seen 54 fewer murders in St James,” said Crawford on Friday while addressing the World Town Planning Day celebrations at Montego Bay Convention Centre. “We must celebrate our victories; and if it is happening here in St James you can only imagine when you add up all the numbers from all the other parishes how we are doing,” he added. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security Dr Horace Chang, who was delivering the keynote address, also welcomed the reduction of murders in St James. “While you might have heard of the issue of crime, which we have to fight and I have a responsibility to do so… and I can report — and Mr Crawford gave us the initial outlet — that we are now moving back to our friendly city,” Chang said. In fact, he revealed that he was informed by Superintendent of Police Eron Samuels, commander of the St James Police Division, that no murders have been recorded in Norwood for a year. Zones of special operations are in place in the St James communities of Norwood and Mount Salem. “The commander [of the St James Police Division] assured me last night [Thursday] that we have not had a single murder in Norwood for a year, and one in Mount Salem, so you can drive through — and we have, in fact, put that in,” said the security minister who is also Member of Parliament for St James North Western. In an apparent swipe at members of the Opposition People’s National Party, who on occasion have argued that the Government does not have a crime plan, Crawford implied that the reduction in crime suggests otherwise. “I remember persons were asking, ‘What is the plan?’ It’s working. It is working minister, it is working,” Crawford said. The theme for the World Town Planning Day celebrations was ‘Unpacking the urban planning nexus with tourism and sustained environment’. Crawford, who argued that, “we are at a crucial moment in our journey as we prepare our sustainable development plan”, pointed out that St James Municipal Corporation in 2016 successfully tackled the issue of flooding in downtown, Montego Bay. “You notice rain is falling, and since we did that clean-up in 2016 and have continued to do the maintenance, downtown Montego Bay has not flooded again. Proof of the pudding! Work is being done. Everytime we would have a little drizzle in Montego Bay, the gas station downtown would be flooded — and it has not happened in seven years,” Crawford said.

MONTEGO BAY, St James — The Government is moving to purchase land on the periphery of the under-construction, 14.9-kilometre Montego Bay Perimeter Road, in an effort to keep squatters at bay. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security Dr Horace Chang referenced the initiative on Friday. “There are huge acreages of land on the border of the perimeter road which, unless planned now — and I am in fact in discussion with [National] Housing Trust about acquiring those properties, because unless there are plans from now for today and tomorrow — [I] guarantee that within the next five years another Member of Parliament will come here complaining about squatting and the challenge it poses in trying to find money to correct the problem,” he said. He was delivering the keynote address at the World Town Planning Day 2024 conference at Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James. Dr Chang is also Member of Parliament for St James North Western, and sections of the bypass run through that constituency. He blamed a lack of foresight in planning when the existing highway was conceived for traffic snarls that now plague Montego Bay. Latest News, News Kent Village residents concerned after being cut off by floods November 9, 2024 “I started discussing this idea with my good friend Kingsley Thomas some 20 years back,” Dr Chang said. “Had it been built then, we would not have the congestion we now experience in Montego Bay; the cost would have been half the price; and if it was done it would get Montego Bay traffic in some kind of order. So it comes back to the whole question of planning,” he added. Sports SOJ Coach Ellis speaks highly of Caribbean Beach Games November 10, 2024 Dr Chang urged stakeholders engaged in various aspects of urban planning to develop a system that is tailored to the needs of Jamaica. “One of the things I ask for is that our planners and those who are involved in planning — architects and civil engineers, et cetera — need to adopt a Jamaican philosophy,” he appealed. “Collectivism is something I detest, and therefore I don’t like copy. This is one of the things that we need to do, and I urge the planners to look at our environment, our physical layout, our people’s culture, the opportunities for development,” the politician added. He also stressed that there is a need to look at the legal framework as efforts are made to curb squatting, which has plagued the country for years. “We have to look at what legislation fits Jamaica’s situation today. It needs some thinking through. It needs some discussion with the planners, with the security forces, with all the stakeholders in society, the commerce individuals, but involves a framework of planning, of legislation that controls planning effectively,” Dr Chang said. “And if that philosophy is in place and you have the legal framework to operate, the day they [squatters] move there, they know they have to move,” he added. World Town Planning Day 2024 was held under the theme ‘Unpacking the urban planning nexus with tourism and sustainable development’. Work began on the Montego Bay Perimeter Road project in 2019, and despite initial delays caused by the relocation of people living on its route, the project is expected to be completed in 2026. The US$274.5-million project includes construction of the Montego Bay Bypass, accompanied by a comprehensive drainage study; the Barnett Street/West Green Avenue road rehabilitation; and the Long Hill Bypass. The project is being implemented by National Road Operating and Constructing Company. The project is now about 50 per cent complete. Earlier this year, $10.2 billion was allocated from the country’s budget for the project. As outlined in the 2024/25 Estimates of Expenditure, the funds went towards acquiring the remaining parcels of land needed for the Montego Bay and Long Hill bypass road construction, and completion of detailed designs for the Long Hill Bypass and Barnett Street/West Street intersection.

Michael Johnson salutes Jamaica ahead of Grand Slam Track spectacle AS Jamaica’s National Stadium was confirmed a host venue for the inaugural Grand Slam Track (GST), the league’s founder Michael Johnson says the Caribbean island’s rich racing tradition makes it “a perfect fit”. GST, a track-specific professional competition, is scheduled to roll out in 2025 with the staging of four race meets, each in a different city. The concept is derived from tennis, which has four majors in a seasonal schedule. The National Stadium is scheduled to open the GST season with a three-day meet from April 4-6, read the league’s latest press release. “Jamaica has such a strong history in this sport. The talent and love for the sport here make it a perfect fit for what we’re building,” said the legendary American and four-time Olympic Games champion Johnson, who is also the league commissioner. “It’s going to be an incredible event, and we’re proud to have Kingston [Jamaica’s capital] as one of our four slams in our inaugural season to kick this whole thing off,” added the former 200m and 400m world record holder. The conceptualisers of the made-for-television racing festival want to fuse high-quality displays on the track with cultural entertainment to showcase the uniqueness of each host city. A GST team, led by Venue Director Don Lockerbie, made recent site visits to the National Stadium. The stadium, built over 60 years ago, has long been earmarked for major renovation. In October the Jamaican Government announced that redevelopment work on the stadium is to begin in 2025. There is concern in some quarters about the condition of the running track and the lighting infrastructure. In March, overnight work on the track by the stadium’s operators, Independence Park Limited, during the staging of Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships forced a significant delay on the fourth and penultimate day. Many deemed the stadium lights to have been substandard during the high school championships. The venue was further placed under the microscope after lighting issues arose for World Cup-qualifying football and Concacaf men’s and women’s club matches. Jamaica’s Minister of Sport Olivia Grange said the country will be ready to host “track fans from across the globe” for the historic GST season opener. “This is a chance for us to be part of something huge, bringing top athletes to our track and helping the sport [to] grow in a new and exciting way,” she added in the release. Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association President Garth Gayle was said to have been instrumental in facilitating talks for the country to be a host venue. He said Jamaica’s athletics history was influential regarding the final decision. “As the local governing body for the sport we see this as a testament to our past and present athletes whose achievements and legacy have established Jamaica as the track capital of the world. “This event also marks an important milestone for the development of our future athletes who will benefit from the opportunity to see the world’s greatest track stars up close and personal on a local calendar,” said Jamaica’s athletics boss. The star-studded cast of athletes contracted to compete in Grand Slam Track’s 2025 campaign is highlighted by the otherworldly American Women’s 400m Hurdles world record holder and Olympic gold medallist Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. The global line-up comprises Jamaican flavour in the form of 400m Hurdles World Championships bronze medallist Rushell Clayton, national 100m Hurdles record holder Ackera Nugent, and world Under-20 Men’s 400m Hurdles record holder Roshawn Clarke. Other big-name signings to date include Marileidy Paulino, Fred Kerley, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn and Alison Dos Santos. GST organisers had long declared Los Angeles, United States, as one of the host cities, and stated in the press release that the other two stops are to be announced this week. The release said tickets for the Jamaica leg are to go on sale on December 6, 2024. It did not state the cost for entry. From left: Grand Slam Track Venue Director Don Lockerbie, Chief Technology Officer Rina Thakker, and President and Chief Operating Officer Steve Gera pause for a photo during a recent visit to Jamaica. JOHNSON … the talent and love for the sport here make it a perfect fit for what we’re building Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (Photo: AP)

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — A journalism professor and award-winning journalist believes, aside from issues with the economy, inflation and immigration, Democratic candidate Vice-President Kamala Harris’s stinging defeat in the US presidential election last week had a lot to do with her gender. “I think that she suffered from some of the vulgarities of American [culture]. She also suffered from the fact that she is a woman and there are a lot of people in America — a lot of men just can’t get the notion of having a woman as president,” said Linn Washington, a professor at Temple University. Washington, in responding to a question posed by the Jamaica Observer a day after Donald Trump, the Republican candidate and former president, won the election, pointed to the struggle of American politician Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to the US Congress in the late 1960s, to make his point. “During the campaign it was the talk of Shirley Chisholm, who ran in the early 70s as a candidate for the Democratic nomination and she was not successful,” Washington said, then argued that misogyny was a major factor in last Tuesday’s election which saw Trump getting just over 74.5 million votes while Harris polled almost 71 million. “The country has been in existence since 1791. She [Chisholm] said that the largest and most persistent impediment that she faced was the fact, not that she was black, but that she was a woman. I think that a lot of the vote that we saw in this election from some black and Latino men was related to misogyny,” he said. Washington believes Harris “ran an incredible campaign” within a short span of time. “… [It] was just 100 days between when she was selected to be the candidate and the election, so there was tremendous effort. I think she should be credited for running a very good campaign but the reality, too, is she was running an uphill campaign and it was difficult,” he explained. Trump made illegal immigration a major plank of his campaign, and Washington believes it worked in his favour while the Democrats handled it wrongly. “They allowed the Republicans to pretty much command a narrative on how there have been efforts over the years to address that issue. Earlier this year there was bipartisan agreement as to how to pass legislation that would have addressed some of the issues at the border, and the Republicans who were on board with this got a call from a guy named Donald Trump who said, ‘Don’t do this, because I am going to make it an election issue, a campaign issue,’ and they backed away from that,” the professor said. “I don’t think that move was highlighted enough by the Democrats. There were a few tactical errors there, but just understand that she was running from behind, and she did an incredible job. If she had more time I think she would have done better,” he added. Washington pointed to his personal experience interacting with illegal immigrants who came to the US as children. Noting Trump’s vow to start deporting illegal immigrants on day one of his presidency next January, Washington said, “I think he will try to do that, and I think a lot of people are a little naïve about it. I remember a [few] years ago I covered a press conference in City Hall and it was about dreamers — young people who were brought to this country as children and had grown up here, had roots here, but they are not legitimate citizens because they didn’t go through the immigration process. “…some folks from Jamaica are going to get caught up in this, and it is going to be a situation where you are guilty or you are presumed guilty until you prove yourself innocent — and that is going to cause utter chaos,” he said. He claimed that many illegal immigrants are pumping their energy into the American workforce. “People who are here working, if they get a pay cheque [then] social security payments are deducted from that, taxes are deducted from that, but they have no say in any of it. They can’t get social security — so they are putting more into the system than what they are getting out of it,” he said. “Let me be clear, there is a problem at the border. There was a time when, to get into the country you had to go through certain procedures, and if you wanted to claim asylum — that you were running away from something — it couldn’t be because you wanted a better life here; you had to have a legitimate [threat] from where you were. There is this notion that people come here, they automatically get jobs and support from the Government. Who is hiring those people?” he asked. “… Are they coming into America and going to an employer and putting a gun to their head and say, ‘Hire me’? No, it is Americans hiring them, so Americans are a part of this problem, but we don’t say that… it is crazy,” he said.

Dancehall artiste Malie Donn’s début EP, The Grand Rising, is scheduled to be released on November 15 via VP Records. The 10-track set, which features the bonus track Code Life with Skippa, sees Malie Donn working with a variety of producers, including Attomatic Records, Dan Sky Records, and DJ Mac. The first single released from the project, Don Julio, was released on November 1. “The track Don Julio has been in the pipeline for some time now. The massive and the audience been asking for that song, so it was highly anticipated. I believe this one is going to make an impact,” Malie Donn told the Jamaica Observer in a recent interview. He said the title of the EP represents his musical growth. “To me… it signifies growth in my career and, seeing that it’s my first project ever, this is me taking it to the next level. But I need to do some more work before I consider releasing an album. Me, personally, just put together a project to put out to the world and my supporters,” said Malie Donn. The deejay said he invested a lot into the project. “This one is personal… [I]t was my intention, my dream, to have this EP done,” he shared. Haiti, Uptown, Rich Forever, Energy, 7:00 featuring Armanii, Powaz, Cry featuring Squash and She Bad, are some of the tracks included on The Grand Rising. Malie Don said that some of the songs on the EP were recorded from as far back as last year. “I used to drop songs daily, but since the constant travelling have slowed things down a bit. I don’t have the time to voice songs as much as before. Majority of the songs on the EP were voiced from last year; you saw the uprising of me last year. Life just got busy and I had to put the EP on pause to focus on shows overseas,” Malie Donn, whose real name is Kimalie Hylton, disclosed. Last year was a big year for the deejay. He scored a massive hit with V6, which was produced by Ireland Records. With the song’s success major labels came calling. However, Malie Donn didn’t own the master for the song, and this prevented him from clinching a deal with a major record label. He said he has learnt from that experience: “I’ve learnt a lot since then. I don’t regret it, sometimes you have to learn the hard way. I have gotten more educated, I have a better understanding of the business…” Malie Donn is known for the hits Crook, Bank, Militancy, Cups Up, Rum Please, and Miss Grippy. Asked if he thought the impact of dancehall music influences children and how he balances that with his type of music, the deejay said: “Music is a very powerful influence on children. I saw it when I was growing up. I was listening to Vybz Kartel and, trust mi, it really influenced me and mi behaviour. Music is more powerful than people think… We, as artistes, a nuh like we nuh know that, but we haffi learn that this thing is a business and business has consumers, and how yuh product ago sell? Yaw fi gi dem what dem want. If yuh nah sell what dem want, then yuh ago lose. Music is just like any other business.” He added: “It’s not our job to protect the kids from listening, that is the parents’ job. That’s why when yuh get a TV, yuh see parental guidance on it, the remote, yuh set it so that its kids-friendly.” Malie Donn is originally from Spanish Town, but he grew up in Portmore. He also resided for a time with his grandparents in St Mary, when his mother decided to relocate overseas to better provide for the family. His father also lived overseas. On the point of whether his music, which targets primarily women, comes across as degrading, Malie Donn said: “To each his own. Everybody has their own opinion, and everybody haffi fend fi dem self. Their opinion naw put food pon my table… And why are we making money from this type of music? Obviously there is a market for it. It all comes down to the individual and how they look at it. My grandparents, dem don’t like the music weh mi sing. My madda, she a Christian but she understand. More while she say if mi cyaan mek a full clean song weh she can show har fren’ dem. She just pray to God that mi ago transition mi talent inna some more positive songs, a dat she tell mi.”

MORE than 19 boats filled with volunteers and fishermen took to the waters of Kingston Harbour on Saturday as they worked together to collect tonnes of waste, in a race to help clean up the country’s vital mangrove ecosystems. Despite their hard work, however, volunteers were struck by the overwhelming amount of waste surrounding the mangroves, and renewed their urgent plea to Jamaicans to properly dispose of their garbage so as to safeguard the nation’s marine life. The Kingston Harbour Clean-up Project (KHCP), in collaboration with GraceKennedy Foundation, The Ocean Clean-up, and Clean Harbours Jamaica, held The Great Mangrove Cleanup Trash Tournament at Royal Jamaica Yacht Club with the aim of removing legacy waste (waste that has been accumulated in the environment over time and not properly treated or disposed of) from Kingston Harbour’s mangrove forests and beaches. Volunteers were split into teams on different boats as they went to various sections of the mangroves on Kingston Harbour, removing garbage as quickly as possible while competing for prizes. However, some volunteers said they were surprised after seeing the high volume of garbage they collected. “I am shocked to see so much trash coming through, and I am very much disappointed to see so many refrigerators and other waste that were stuck in our mangroves,” said Alecia Beaufort, waste manager for Clean Harbours Jamaica Limited. She is urging Jamaicans to be more responsible with their garbage and to be more aware of the negative effects of bad garbage disposal habits. “Reuse, recycle and reduce your waste. We do have a lot of things in store, we have a lot of things currently in place, and I believe Jamaicans need to be very much more aware of how they use plastic, how they toss anything, and so if they could be more aware it will really, really make a great difference in the project that we’re doing and in Jamaica being cleaner,” she told the Jamaica Observer. Sharing a similar sentiment, CEO of GraceKennedy Foundation Caroline Mahfood explained that coming out of the hurricane season, it is important that more Jamaicans understand how the mangroves protect the country’s shoreline during natural disasters. She is pleading with Jamaicans to help put a stop to what she describes as “a never-ending cycle” of repeatedly having beach clean-ups, by being more aware of proper garbage disposal practices. “I do not want to do the never-ending clean-up. I feel like every beach clean-up, all of these kinds of clean-ups is never-ending because people are not disposing of their waste properly upstream. This is what is coming through the gullies, down into the harbour and floating across the harbour. We have got to have pride in our country and not be dumping into the gullies, and we need to be able to have a proper garbage collection system to be able to support people so they don’t feel the need to dump into the gullies,” she urged. Mahfood added that there is a lot more work to be done to protect the country’s marine life from pollution. In the meantime, co-founder of MDK Advisory and Consulting Limited Deika Morrison, consultants to Grace Kennedy Foundation on the project, said that more work is being done to improve awareness across the country, informing more Jamaicans of what happens to their garbage when they dispose of it. She said it is important to involve children in these awareness activities if there is going to be a drastic change in attitudes towards the protection of marine life. “I think when we have awareness activities like this, people get the connection. We have school tours [on which] we take the children, they stand up on the gully side and they see it coming right down into the barrier. We are trying to make sure that awareness is there, and I would really encourage everyone just to be involved; you’ll see that we will have other events and other activities. We have an offloading site, [and] it is set up so that people can come and see what we’re doing so please, just engage with us,” she said. Additionally, environmental education officer at GraceKennedy Foundation Elizabeth Goodleigh emphasised the importance of the project, explaining that certain areas of the mangroves are already dying as a result of pollution. “A lot of people I talked to today were saying that they knew that there was a pollution problem but they did not know the extent of it until they actually had to physically go out and were looking at it for the first time from the point of view of the boats,” said Goodleigh. She is suggesting that greater effort be placed into creating more sustainable solutions regarding keeping the mangroves clean. “I want us as a country to start thinking about more sustainable options. It is not a sustainable effort for us to keep cleaning [as] nobody wants to keep cleaning forever. We eventually want to get to a point where this kind of activity is unnecessary so we need to rethink sustainability and waste management in Jamaica,” she said. “If you look around you will see a lot of fridges and stoves; the reasons these end up in the gully is that NSWMA [National Solid Waste Management Authority] is not mandated to take up this trash from domestic households. It’s actually a category of waste called bulky waste, and while they do try to have drives to remove bulky waste it is actually legally upon the individual to pay a truck to carry this away to Riverton — and that is too expensive for some people. So, I think we need to just rethink that category of waste, and how it’s collected, and how we manage it here locally,” she suggested. Volunteers return to shore with garbage collected during The Great Mangrove Clean-up Trash Tournament. Volunteer Raheem Thomas takes in garbage collected from The Great Mangrove Clean-up Trash Tournament held Saturday at Royal Jamaica Yacht Club. Co-founder of MDK Advisory and Consulting

JAMAICANS with unpaid student loans who migrate to the United States (US) will face significant challenges when they seek to update or renew their immigration status. Manager of the Loan Servicing Department at the Students’ Loan Bureau (SLB) Cheryl Surjue said the Government of Jamaica and their US counterparts have forged a partnership to identify Jamaican immigrants with outstanding student loan debts. She cited cases of several categories of professionals who she said have migrated to the US, among other countries, leaving unpaid student loans, pointing out that, “when they leave we are not able to fully track their whereabouts, [and] those loans tend to go bad”. “People who may have migrated on the J1 visa and want to renew their status in the US, before they can actually do that, there’s an arrangement where the US Government needs to find out from us [Jamaica] if this person is indebted to the Government,” Surjue said. This, she said, is to determine whether an individual has an outstanding loan balance before their immigration status is changed. Surjue emphasised that clearing the loan would not only involve bringing the account up to date, but also fully settling the debt. “It is at this point that you’ll find most of these beneficiaries will actually start servicing their loans because we did not know and they didn’t communicate with us that they migrated,” she explained. Surjue said the arrangement with the US Government has assisted the agency in collecting outstanding loans. She, however, cautioned that it is best if persons notify the bureau prior to migrating and arrange to service their debt. “Before you get to that point, we want persons to be responsible borrowers. This is why we’ve actually launched our financial literacy programme, to know how we can assist and how the beneficiaries may go about repaying their loan — and not wait until it gets to that point of the loan being bad or we have to solicit debt collectors to try and locate you,” Surjue said.

Men believed linked to robbery ring in area THE police in east Kingston have put a dent in a suspected robbery ring in the area after officers on patrol shot and killed three men on Windward Road early on Sunday morning. All three — two of whom were teenagers — were from east Kingston addresses. A police corporal was reportedly shot in the leg during a shoot-out with the men, while two firearms, including a Sig Sauer and a Ruger 9mm pistol with several rounds of ammunition, were seized following the encounter. A 48-hour curfew was in effect in the area at the time of the shooting. The curfew began at 6:00 pm Friday and ended 6:00 pm Sunday. Superintendent of Police Tomilee Chambers, who heads the Kingston East Police Division, told the Jamaica Observer on Sunday that the men were specifically from the Rockfort and Rollington Town areas within her division. The young men have been identified as 17-year-old labourer Oshane Stubbs, otherwise known as Moon Head; 20-year-old delivery man Kayshawn Smith, otherwise known as Bimmax; and 19-year-old car wash attendant Abando Campbell. “My team was travelling on Windward Road when men aroused their suspicion and the police team stopped, and alighted from their unit, and gave verbal instructions to the men. After doing that, the men pulled their firearms and opened gunfire at the police team,” Chambers recounted. “The police took evasive action and returned fire. After the gunfire subsided all three men were observed with gunshot wounds. Two firearms were seen beside them.” Chambers said, based on feedback, the men have been terrorising residents and wreaking havoc for a period of time in the Jackson Road, Rollington Town, and Windward Road space. “I can’t say if they were affiliated with any gang in particular; they were not on our wanted list. However, a series of events have been taking place on the Windward Road strip for a period of time; people have been reporting that they have been robbed coming from the automated teller machine [ATM]. Based on intelligence we have been picking up, they might be persons who would watch people who use the machine,” Chambers said. Police statistics show that robberies have increased in the division by 19.2 per cent this year, compared to the corresponding period in 2023. From January 1 to November 9 a total of 31 robberies were recorded in the division, compared to 26 robberies from January to November 2023.

LIVERPOOL, United Kingdom (AFP)— Arne Slot said he is not shocked by a stunning start to life in charge of Liverpool as the Reds have stormed to the top of the Premier League and Champions League. The Dutch coach has won 14 and drawn one of his 16 matches in charge in all competitions as th Slot appeared to have a tough ask to follow Jurgen Klopp. But he has built on the solid foundations left by the German after Liverpool finished third in the Premier League behind Manchester City and Arsenal last season. “Surprise isn’t the right word I’d use because I knew the quality of our team. But quality is one thing, to be consistent is a second thing,” said Slot at his pre-match press conference ahead of hosting Aston Villa on Saturday. “From the moment I started working with them I saw how much energy they put in on a daily basis and that is I think the reason you can be consistent.” Liverpool were inspired by the power of the Anfield crowd to come from behind to beat Brighton 2-1 last weekend to move two points ahead of City at the top of the Premier League. A similar atmosphere helped blow Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen away 4-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday. Slot is keen to keep his players’ feet on the ground but is happy for the fans to get excited about the possibility of just a second league title in 35 years. “If the end result of them being excited is to bring the atmosphere of the second half against Brighton and the whole game against Leverkusen, I am hoping they will keep being excited because that atmosphere helped us a lot,” added the former Feyenoord boss. Diogo Jota remains sidelined but should return after November’s international break.

Rain couldn’t stop the shine on Kia’s latest model launch on Saturday, November 2, at the Sky Deck, AC Hotel Kingston, as the brand revealed its first electric vehicle to Jamaica — the EV5. “A fun fact, we actually have the Kia EV5 before the US. We have it before most markets, so we’re one of the first countries to be launching the EV5. It’s an impressive vehicle, nice size, very attractive, and we think it’s going to do well,” Kevin Jackson, senior sales manager, Kia Jamaica, told the Jamaica Observer’s weekly Auto magazine. The EV5 is not the first electrified Kia model, but it is the first to hit Jamaican shores. The five-seater SUV will be sold in two trim levels, and two battery types on the highest trim. The technical specifications begin with front-wheel drive and a 64.2 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery under the floor giving 214bhp and a rated 400km of range, all on a 400-v architecture. It can handle up to 11kWh of AC charging and up to 350kWh of DC fast charging. Eighty per cent of battery charge can be regained in as little as 36 minutes dependent on the charging station. The EV5 will be later available in a long-range version using a larger 88.1 kWh battery for a rated 555km of range. An all-wheel drive drivetrain, with two electric motors for a combined output of 308bhp, is a further drivetrain options. Jackson explained that Kia customers have been asking for EV options. “So far the customer base checking for EVs has been our regular customers thinking about transitioning to electric, but what we have found is that there is a niche market of people who are looking just for electric cars,” he shared. Jackson said these people have a lot to look forward to from Kia: “Our customers have been asking for EVs, and another anticipated model coming out next is the EV9. We should get that Q1 next year. The EV9 is a huge vehicle, about the size of a Land Cruiser. And then following that is the EV3, which is the size of the Seltos.” Since it was acquired by the ATL Automotive Group in 2017, and officially opened its doors in 2018, Kia has found its way to sit currently second in the market, with the Seltos its most popular model. “Kia is #2 in the market right now, a strong #2. Toyota is a worthy competitor, but we’ve overtaken every other brand and we’re a far #2,” he said. Jackson revealed the next step for Kia, which is to move into the very competitive pickup segment with the recently announced Tasman. “I’m in the process of choosing the specification for the new Kia Tasman. That’s very exciting for us.” Jackson expects the body-on-frame turbo-diesel pickup by summer 2026.

Champions Mona face rivals JC in Manning Cup feature Defending champions Mona and Jamaica College (JC) will clash in today’s highly anticipated opening round quarter-final match of the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup competition at the Stadium East field, starting at 2:00 pm. In the second match of the double-header, Kingston College (KC) will face Tivoli Gardens at 4:15 pm. The Craig Butler-coached Mona, who are firm favourites to retain their title, have been in excellent form this season, topping their second-round group with a perfect nine points from three matches. Butler, a past student of JC, has led his team to an impressive 11 goals scored and just one conceded in the second round. Keven Jones, principal of Mona, said his team is feeling confident ahead of today’s game. “The coaching staff and boys are ready. I was at training yesterday [Wednesday], and I spoke to them, and everybody seems to be beaming with confidence,” said Jones. “I don’t think that they have any fear and I don’t think that they are worried, but what they are focusing on is going there and executing according to the plan and we will see what the results will be on Friday.” On the other hand, the Davion Ferguson-coached JC have had an up-and-down season. Despite finishing unbeaten in their second-round group with five points, JC had to settle for second place behind St Catherine, who topped the group with seven points. JC scored nine goals in their three second-round games but conceded four. “We are at the quarter-finals stage of the competition and once you reach this stage, every game is a big game, and we will treat it as such,” said Ferguson. “We know what our objectives are this season, and at this stage of the competition, we take nobody lightly. No matter the name or the school, we take every game at this stage very seriously.” “I think that every game in this phase of the competition is going to be tough because there are no easy teams left in the tournament,” Ferguson continued. “No matter who it is, we have prepared for it and we are going there to do our best.” He also acknowledged that Mona is a very strong all-around team but stated that his team is ready to fight for the three points. “Every game that we play, we play to win and to give our best, and once we give our best, that is good enough. We can’t ask for anything else,” Ferguson underscored. Butler has been very bullish ahead of the match and both sets of supporters are eager to lock horns given recent bad blood between both football groups, following Mona’s title celebration last season, which saw several students storm the JC campus in a move that was been widely condemned. Friday’s Matches •Mona vs Jamaica College at Stadium East field at 2:00 pm •Kingston College vs Tivoli Gardens at Stadium East field at 4:15 pm •Excelsior vs Hydel at Jamaica College at Jamaica College at 3:00 pm •St Catherine vs Campion College at Spanish Town Prison Oval at 3:00 pm  

Jamaican businesses seek answers as climate change disrupt operations Local businesses are faced with mounting operational challenges as erratic weather patterns drive up costs, hinder logistics, and strain productivity across sectors. In a year marked by increased storms and persistent rain, industry leaders and business groups have raised alarms about the toll on productivity, logistics, and infrastructure, and have intensified calls for resilience measures and climate adaptation to minimize disruptions to business activities. “It’s far more than issues like people staying home when there is a storm threat, because the safety of staff is our priority even though it disrupts production. We have major challenges with things like the road conditions and the challenges of getting deliveries into some of these communities where now there are no roads or road is in a terrible state,” William Mahfood, chairman of Wisynco, one of Jamaica’s leading manufacturers, told the Jamaica Observer in referencing the impact of recurrent rain and flooding. “The congestion on the roads has been extreme, adding significant expenses to our business.” Since Hurricane Beryl struck in July, Jamaica has continued to experience severe weather events. The Atlantic hurricane season, which peaks between August and October, has intensified these issues, with Tropical Storm Rafael prompting another storm watch just this week. As a result numerous companies temporarily closed operations, while others, like Wisynco, have had to arrange special transport for essential staff to keep critical functions running. Despite these efforts, he acknowledged that operating below full capacity amid rising demand is not sustainable. Metry Seaga, president of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, told the BusinessWeek that constant disruptions from extreme weather are making it difficult for businesses to maintain operational consistency. “There’s no doubt this weather is affecting productivity, people get out of their work rhythm; but there is nothing that we can really do about that part because staff safety is our priority ” he said. But the ongoing disruptions are pushing business leaders to consider more robust resilience and continuity strategies. Wayne Chen, president of the Jamaica Employers Federation, emphasised that every crisis brings an opportunity. He is encouraging more private companies to take more seriously resilience planning, including cloud-based data storage and contingency staffing arrangements. However, he stressed that resilient infrastructure is foundational to any long-term strategy. “We need dependable roads, reliable telecom services, and a stable power grid,” he asserted, while calling for public investment in critical infrastructure to enable businesses to operate sustainably amid climate uncertainties. As the challenges intensify, digital transformation is emerging as a crucial strategy for maintaining productivity. Automation and remote work capabilities are becoming more common, allowing businesses to mitigate some losses during severe weather while safeguarding employees. “Automation is part of the solution, but it won’t replace human workers,” Seaga reasoned, adding that for these solutions to be fully effective, improvements to Jamaica’s digital infrastructure are essential. Energy independence is another key area Chen wants business leaders and the Government to focus on. “With global supply chains increasingly vulnerable, Jamaica must consider the potential impact of disruptions,” he noted. “Transitioning towards renewable energy and energy independence not only mitigates this risk but also creates new opportunities for growth and long-term employment.” Chen is urging leaders to consider resilience and adaptability from both a national and business perspective, asking, “How do we make our businesses more resilient and adaptable? How do we make our countries more resilient and adaptable?” He added that Jamaica’s vulnerability is compounded by the economy’s heavy reliance on tourism and trade. “We are highly susceptible to climate shocks, and that dependency increases our exposure,” Chen said.  

…says he’s proud to see children’s growth, ready to devote time Admitting that he missed a huge portion of his children’s life while he was imprisoned, Adidja Palmer, stage name Vybz Kartel, beamed with pride as he spoke about the young adults he came home to. Speaking with Jamaica Observer’s Splash following the conclusion of his Freedom Street press launch at Janga’s Soundbar on Wednesday, he said his heart is full each moment he gets to now spend in the presence of his children. He shared that he is particularly proud of the musical path his sons have chosen. Vybz Kartel, also known as The Teacha, shared that with so many artistes having emerged as dancehall stars under his tutelage, he is beyond ecstatic to see his bloodline following in his footsteps. “I am so proud, especially wid Likkle Addi, because one thing wid him, him have the Kartel-ism. Him hungry fi it. Don’t get me wrong ennu, Jaheim (Likkle Vybz), him have it too ennu, but you know he’s got his fiancée, and he got two kids, gave me two grandchildren, and with him being the older one I think he’s just kinda wants to be a family man and build a family life. But Likkle Addi hungry for it; so I am very proud,” said Palmer. But, even while doting on his sons, Kartel also jumped on the chance to also publicly acknowledge his daughter Adi’ Anna, who received eight passes in the May/June sitting of the regional Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate exams, six of which were grade ones. As he spontaneously burst into the song written in her honour ( Adianna), Kartel smiled brightly as he spoke of his “Prinny”. To celebrate her achievements, Vybz Kartel, who shared a picture of the results, took his daughter on a father/daughter date which included a shopping spree. “Mi haffi big up mi daughter Adi’Ann, mi swear to God a she me rather. Big up, Prinny,” he said. The entertainer also used the opportunity to express gratitude to the mothers of his children. He shares that each of them, in his absence, did well in raising the kids. But now that he’s out, the Comet deejay said there’s nothing that gives him more joy than being a present and active father and soon-to-be husband. “Mi come out, me and Sidem, we engaged and mi and mi kids dem reunite. Mi a behave mi self, show back love and support to mi fans and give back to mi fans, because mi blessed. Mi just a live mi best life,” he said. The artiste said he’s looking forward to delivering a high-energy, world-class performance at Freedom Street on December 31. It will be the deejay’s first live performance in 13 years.

Florida finally elects Jamaican as first black woman mayor NEW YORK, USA — Jamaican American Denise Grant was elected Tuesday as the first black woman mayor of Lauderhill, the bustling Florida city nicknamed “Jamaica Hill” because it is home to a large number of her compatriots. Two other Jamaicans, Richard Campbell and John T Hodgson, were elected to serve as city commissioners in the city government in Lauderhill, located in Broward County, in Tuesday’s election. Mayor-elect Grant survived a bitter campaign — during which she was forced to defend allegations of misuse of an official vehicle while she served as commissioner in the final days of the campaign — to defeat Vice-Mayor Lawrence “Jabbow” Martin. Preliminary results posted on the Broward County website show Grant polling 16,117 or 62.55 per cent of the votes cast to 9,648 or 37.45 per cent for Martin. Campbell and Hodgson both prevailed in four-way contests in their respective triumphs. Campbell took commissioner seat number four, polling 13,020 or 52.13 per cent to defeat Mae Smith, his nearest rival who garnered 8,046 or 33.66 per cent of the votes cast. Hodgson prevailed over three other candidates in commissioner seat one with 8,335 votes, representing 33.75 per cent of the votes against Tracey Roach with 7,953 or 32.20 per cent. Speaking with the Jamaica Observer after her victory, Grant listed public safety, programmes for young people and seniors as well as support for small businesses among her top priorities. “I will also seek to undertake an independent audit of the city’s affairs to understand where things stand and especially to make an informed determination on the way forward where taxes and other critical issues are concerned,” she said. Grant has given clear indications that she would like to lower taxes. She added that with Lauderhill being seen as one of those cities with a high crime rate, she “plans to be laser focused on the public safety issue, along with providing a business-friendly atmosphere to lure business to the area”. “I decided to seek the office of mayor as I believe I will have more leverage, more capital, and more resources than a commissioner,” Grant said in a June 2024 interview. “These are important to improve conditions and move the city of Lauderhill forward.” The Christiana, Manchester, native seemed to imply that having two of her compatriots as commissioners should help to advance her agenda for the city. Not a stranger to controversy, Grant also survived a 2023 investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement regarding the code of ethics for public officials as well as a complaint about her behaviour towards a commission aide, according to published reports. Her backers noted that she had been cleared of all the allegations against her after full and detailed investigations, which spanned more than a year in some instances. Hodgson and Campbell, in the meantime, seem aligned with Grant with some of their priorities. On his website, Hodgson, a past student of William Knibb Memorial High School in Trelawny, said, “My focus will be on youth development, public safety, business and community development as well as fiscal responsibility.” Hodgson, who is also a former member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB), hosts the folksy John T On The Morning Ride show on WAVS 1170 AM Radio in south Florida. “To be an elected official is a feeling of trust, respect and acceptance. The campaign was long and challenging with three other candidates, two Americans and a Haitian. My objectives as commissioner are public safety, property taxes, senior residence, youth development, fiscal responsibility and accountability,” he told the Jamaica Observer. For his part, Campbell said he “will be aiming to make Lauderhill the number one city in the United States”. He, too, listed economic development and security as two areas on which he will be heavily focused. Jamaicans make up a large portion of the more than 73,000 population and are the largest number of blacks in Lauderhill. In the nearby city of Tamarac, Marlon Bolton was also returned as commissioner, while Clarendon-born Mark A Douglas lost to incumbent Michael J Ryan in the election for mayor of Sunrise.   — Additional reporting by Howard Campbell

Newly appointed Minister of Finance Fayval Williams has hit back at Opposition spokesman on finance Julian Robinson’s claim about Jamaica’s debt-to-GDP (gross domestic product) ratio when the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration came into office in 2016. Robinson, in a statement to the media on Wednesday, had challenged a claim by Prime Minister Andrew Holness in Parliament the day before that the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio was 145 per cent when the JLP administration took office. He said, in fact, the debt-to-GDP ratio stood at 115 per cent when his People’s National Party (PNP) left office in 2016, “after a period of careful fiscal management”. Accusing the prime minister of making a “false statement”, Robinson added: “In 2012, the PNP inherited a challenging economic situation with the debt-to-GDP ratio at 145 per cent. By 2016, through determined efforts, we had reduced this to 115 per cent, achieving a substantial improvement that averaged an annual reduction of 7.5 per cent.” However, the newly minted finance minister, Williams sought to remind the Opposition spokesperson and the public of what she said were pertinent dates and figures. “On December 29, 2011, the PNP won the General Election and by the time the second fiscal year ended on March 31, 2013, Jamaica’s Debt-to-GDP ratio had risen to 145.3 per cent from 138.8 per cent at end of March 31, 2012.” In addition, Williams made reference to the International Monetary Fund’s Country Report No 16/181 dated June 2016, following the conclusion of the IMF’s Article IV consultations, that she said shows that the debt-to-GDP ratio at the end of March 2016, when the PNP left office, was 128.7 per cent and not 115 per cent as the spokesman indicated. She said it was “regrettable” that the issue has been politicized, noting that the prime minister in referencing the debt-to-GDP, said “no single administration has done it.” Recently, in its reviews under the Precautionary and Liquidity Line and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility, the IMF reported a debt-to-GDP ratio of 71.8 per cent for the recent fiscal year which ended March 31, 2024. She argued that the debt-to-GDP reduction between 2016 and 2024 under the Holness Administration “has been far more significant”, moving from 128.7 per cent to 71.8 per cent as at the end of the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024. “This amounts to a reduction of 56.9 percentage points over the period or 7.1 percentage points reduction per year (on average) in the face of extreme global health and natural disaster shocks,” Williams continued. “Contrast this with only a 16.6 percentage point reduction achieved by the PNP government during 2013-2016 despite there being no significant external shocks to the economy.” She also noted that during 2016-2024, some of the significant gains achieved were reversed by the impact of COVID-19, the worst global health crisis in a century, as well as the overlapping global crises associated with the war in Ukraine and major global supply chain disruptions. “Collectively, the impact of these resulted in the largest external shock that the Jamaican economy has experienced since the country’s independence,” said Williams, who on Wednesday replaced IMF-bound Dr Nigel Clarke as finance minister. She added that it is worth noting that during 2013-2016, Jamaicans were burdened with two significant tax increases. “The 2012/2013 tax package announced was budgeted to raise $19.38 billion and this was followed by another raft of tax measures in 2013/14 totalling $15.9 billion. This period saw the most massive tax packages in our independent history,” Williams said. “For contrast, the debt-to-GDP reductions during 2016-2024 have been achieved alongside nine consecutive budgets with no net new taxes. In fact, several taxes have been reduced over that period,” Williams said, outlining among them the income tax threshold being increased from $592,800 to J$1,700,088 and GCT being reduced from 16.5 per cent to 15 per cent. Williams added that, “The spokesman is entitled to his own opinions but not to his own facts. The data and the facts on the country’s debt-to-GDP reductions are clear and unequivocal. I welcome the opportunity to really set the record straight and to inform the public accordingly.”