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NEWS IN BRIEF
FOR GENERAL DISTRIBUTION
Top News in the Print Media: The JIS, The Gleaner & The Observer
From the Overseas Department, Jamaica Information Service
Friday September 12, 2003
TOURISM DRIVING GROWTH – Davies
The Observer: Finance Minister Dr. Omar Davies says that the revival of Jamaica's tourism sector will drive economic growth for this fiscal year to upwards of three per cent.
At the same time, Davies projected that the Bank of Jamaica's net international reserve (NIR) would remain at US$1.3 billion, while projecting a return to single-digit inflation -- between five to six per cent -- in 2004/5 fiscal year.
"(Growth) has been spurred by record level of visitor arrivals," Davies told business leaders and journalists on Wednesday at a breakfast forum organised by Pan Caribbean Financial Group at the Terra Nova Hotel in Kingston.
He projected growth of 3.1 per cent for the third quarter to December 31, 2003, and 2.9 per cent in quarter four to March 31, 2004.
CLOSE EYE ON OPERATION PRIDE
The Gleaner: The Government has vowed to place more focused attention on matters relating to the controversial Operation PRIDE programme, as part of the reorganisation taking place at the National Housing Development Corporation (NHDC).
During a closed door meeting yesterday at Prime Minister P. J. Patterson's Devon Road-based office, the decision was taken to institute regular meetings between the NHDC and the leadership and general membership of the provident societies. Furthermore, an additional representative, nominated by the Federation of Provident Societies, is to be named to the NHDC board.
Last month, Minister of Water and Housing Donald Buchanan announced a major overhaul of the NHDC to improve the agency's ability to deliver quality housing at low prices to Operation PRIDE beneficiaries.
SPOT MARKET WEIGHTED AVERAGE RATE
CURRENCY___PURCHASES_____SALES
__US$_______59.4104_____59.7892
__CAN$______42.2364_____43.4813
__GB£_______92.8014_____94.8474
ROAD TOLL DELAYED
The Gleaner: History may well have to wait a few days as it is still un-clear as to whether the Toll Authority will meet its September 15 deadline to begin toll operations on the Old Harbour bypass.
This, as authorities scramble to secure additional cameras, reflectors and shore up security concerns for the toll plaza.
Kingsley Thomas, chairman of the National Road Operating and Construction Company (NROCC), promised that he will be making a public statement soon to announce a start-up date as to when Jamaicans will begin paying a toll for use of segment one of Highway 2000.
"The road is ready, the operations are ready to go, it is ready to roll, but there are just one or two things which the Toll Authority is dealing with, and which the Minister (Robert Pickersgill), being a perfectionist, is looking at," Mr. Thomas said during an official media tour of the bypass yesterday.
CALL CENTRE SECURES CONTRACT
The Observer: Westcom, a call centre in western Jamaica, has secured two contracts worth just under US$2 million, following its participation in the International Call Centre Management (ICCM) conference held in Chicago recently.
An executive of the firm, Norman Anderson, said that his company made four critical contacts while at the conference, two of which were yet to bear fruit.
"We were hoping to interface with potential partners," he said. "And to a large extent we have done so as we made four contacts, two of which were successful and the others are still being negotiated."
The contracts, valued US$1.2 million and US$600,000 per year, are for inbound contact centre services.
NEW INT’L TELE-SERVICE FIRM SOON
[ib]The Observer:[/i] Telecommunication company, N-5 is now testing the wireless network through which it will route international and domestic calls it says it will soon begin to offer the Jamaican public.
"We are currently testing the international calling services with our customers and we are finalising interconnection arrangements with C&W for the land line service," David Henry, N-5 spokesperson, told the Observer on Tuesday. "We have a special for international calls for less than $10 per minute."
N-5 is one of 60 companies that could offer international calling services in the recently liberalised telecommunications market. However it remains one of only a handful of telecommunications service providers to offer domestic calling service.
MAYORS SETTLE ON TAX SHARE
The Gleaner: The Mayors of Portmore and Spanish Town have reached a consensus on a Memorandum of Understanding which will allow for revenues to start flowing into the coffers of the Portmore Municipal Council.
"Just this evening (Wednesday), I have spoken to Mayor Raymond Notice and we decided on the benefits of the parish," Mayor George Lee told the Portmore Municipal Council's third meeting, at the Dermason Restaurant Wednesday night.
This was confirmed by Spanish Town's Mayor, Dr. Raymoth Notice at yesterday's monthly meeting of the St. Catherine Parish Council. Mayor Notice said, "I must make it clear (that) myself and Mayor George Lee arrived at a consensus last night and all matters have been ironed out as, in the end, we both represent the same parish."
Mayor Lee pointed out, however, that the municipality was still waiting on Parliament to grant the power to collect revenues. Until then, the St. Catherine Parish Council will continue to do so.
FIRMS MAY BE DRIVEN AWAY
The Observer: Head of the umbrella body for life insurance companies here warned yesterday that their sector could be headed for "devastation" if the government implements the recommendation of a parliamentary committee to double the tax on premium and investment income.
In fact, Earl Moore, who heads the Jamaica operations of the Trinidadian-owned Guardian Life, warned that Caribbean firms which have been behind the resuscitation of the island's insurance sector may be driven away from the island if the tax hike is imposed.
"The major life insurance companies are Caribbean owned, not Jamaican owned," Moore told the Observer. "I cannot see the owners sitting down and accepting the fact that these companies are going to go belly-up after they have invested so much money in them.”
JIS NEWS
SHIPS FROM EUROPE & US TO CALL
A number of cruise ships from Europe and North America are scheduled to call at the Ken Wright Pier in Port Antonio over the next few months, as efforts continue to reposition the town as a major cruise shipping and tourist destination.
Ted Tatham, Vice President for Shipping and Marina Services at the Port Authority of Jamaica, told JIS News that the first of the vessels, the Swan Seas Navigator, is scheduled to call on Tuesday, November 11, to be followed by the Braemer on Friday, November 28. Calls are also expected from the Minerva 11 of Swan Helenic Cruises, along with ships from the Silver Seas Cruise Company.
Mr. Tatham said the Port Authority was also in discussions with three companies for calls to the resort town in 2004 and 2005, while executives from other cruise line companies have been invited to visit the marina complex with a view to having Port Antonio placed on their schedules.
JA AND UK CHURCH LEADERS MEET
Black church leaders in the United Kingdom (UK) and their Jamaican counterparts are working to forge closer ties and to develop a long-term strategy to deal with issues that affect Jamaica and the black community in the UK.
A forum, which brought together church leaders representing more than 40 denominations from across the UK, and four from Jamaica, was held at the Jamaican High Commission in London on Tuesday (Sept. 9). The Reverend Joel Edwards, General Director of the Evangelical Alliance (UK) organised the forum.
The Reverend Rennard White, President of the Jamaica Alliance of Evangelicals; Bishop Herro Blair of the Deliverance Ministries and Jamaica’s Political Ombudsman; Pastor Bobby Wilmot of the Covenant Ministries and The Reverend Devon Dick of the Boulevard Baptist Church, were the Jamaican church leaders who made up the special panel.
NY MEDICAL TEAM TO PROVIDE HEALTH CARE
A team comprising 75 medical professionals from Brooklyn in New York, United States, is slated to visit the town of Black River in St. Elizabeth from September 15 to 19.
The aim of the visit is to provide free medical care, including prescription drugs, to the sick and needy who live in the parish.
Local Co-ordinator of mission, Vincent Samuels, told JIS News that members of the visiting medical team were a part of Mullings Ministries Charitable Corporation, which has its base in New York.
“During the visit, we will also be distributing food and clothes to the needy, and persons who wish to access our patient care will be asked to make a contribution of only $50 towards the registration process, which will begin at 7:00 a.m. at the main pavilion at Independence Park in the town,” he said.
ART EXHIBITION IN WASHINGTON EMBASSY
The Embassy of Jamaica in Washington, DC continued its yearlong showcasing of contemporary Jamaican artists, with Tuesday’s (Sept. 9) hosting of a well-subscribed exhibition in the American capital.
Featuring the works of Paul Blackwood and Courtney Morgan, the exhibition comprised 30 pieces, rendered mainly on canvas, which included a range of semi-abstract images in mixed media. This was the second consecutive year that the artists have shown their work in Washington.
The exhibition follows on last month’s showing by Alphonso Blake at the Hall of the Americas of the Organisation of American States, which was sponsored by the Jamaican Permanent Mission to the OAS.
JIS STAGES BOOK FAIR
The Research Department of the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) will be staging a Book Fair on the grounds of the St. John’s Anglican Church at 4 Milford Road in Ocho Rios on Friday, September 19 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
This is the third rural book fair to be held by the JIS. The last fair was staged in Port Antonio on May 9.
Other book fairs are scheduled to be held at the Civic Centre, Sam Sharpe Square in Montego Bay on Thursday, September 25 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and on Friday, September 26 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; and at the JIS headquarters at 58a Half-Way-Tree Road on Friday, October 3 from 10:00 a.m. and Saturday, October 4 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Contact: Celia Lindsay
For further information about any of these news items,contact the Overseas Department at
[email protected]
The Jamaica Information Service web page address is
www.jis.gov.jm
Telephone: (876) 926-3740-8 / 926-3590-8, Fax: (876) 926-6715
COMMENTARY
Friday September 12, 2003
THE OBSERVER
PREPARING FOR DISASTERS
MR Paul Saunders, the acting director-general of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), has told us something the we all knew.
Jamaicans are, for the most part, not prepared for most disasters, not withstanding our high level of awareness of phenomena such as hurricanes, landslides and floods.
The damage caused by Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 is still fresh in many people's minds and recent episodes of flooding have kept in people's consciousness, the potential impact of such events. In that regard, the country has developed credible early warning systems for such disasters and people seem to pay attention when they are activated. There is a certain awareness.
The same cannot be said for most other potential hazards and disasters, such as earthquakes, fires, chemical spills and so on.
Part of the reason for this, we think, is that these events seem to be far removed from us. While there have been the occasional substantial earthquakes, such as the one of 1993, there has been nothing approaching the disaster that occurred at the turn of the last century.
Neither has Jamaica suffered from the devastating environmental mishaps that have occurred in other countries, some of them not too far from here. There is, in our country, that Jamaican sense of innate good fortune: that it won't happen here.
The fact though is that it can. And probably will.
Jamaica, after all, is in an earthquake zone. It is also on one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. It has industries that utilise potentially hazardous chemicals. And we have, over a long time, abused our natural environment, making it more vulnerable to natural and man-made disasters.
So around the corner lurks a potentially deadly cocktail.
The fact that Jamaicans are not fully prepared for any such eventuality is only partially the people's fault. A small part, too.
The real failure lies with the policymakers and institutional managers like Mr Saunders' ODPEM. Despite their efforts, sufficient has not been done, in our view, in the preparation, promulgation, and promotion and sale of a co-ordinated disaster preparedness, management and response capability.
We do not here suggest that the ODPEM has not, and is not doing good work. Quite to the contrary. Indeed, the fact that Mr Saunders has brought the issue to public attention is good.
What we sense as lacking is the consistent, unrelenting programme of information and education, supported by policy, legislative sanction and enforcement. We know that we will be reminded of a lack of resources to do all there is to be done. Indeed, we may not be able to afford all the paraphernalia to handle a major oil spill.
But it can't be beyond us to mobilise volunteer groups which would quickly fall in place to start the preparatory work in the event, God forbid, a major oil spill should take place off our shores.
The fact is everything does not require big bucks. Relentless energy often helps. Hopefully, now that Mr Saunders has brought this matter into the public domain, it will stay there. It is a matter for more than the ODPEM.
===========================================
THE GLEANER
RAMPANT EXTORTION
LAST WEEK'S Financial Gleaner carried a revealing account of the extent of criminal extortion as it affects road construction. The scenario is the more frightening as the article was written by the Chief Executive Officer of the National Works Agency, Mr. Ivan Anderson. So there can be little doubt about the authenticity of the practices described.
If criminal dons can prevail with apparent impunity over operations of a vital government agency how can private sector projects be expected to survive in other construction or manufacturing activity? Extortion in the commercial sector of merchandising has long flourished with impunity, having spread from downtown Kingston to other areas of the capital city. A wide variety of small businesses have become victims. While some, big and small, have paid the dues under pressure, others have fled to less hazardous occupations. The startling account by Mr. Anderson paints an ugly portrait of "contracts become feeding trees" for criminals who direct the hiring and firing of manual labour for exorbitant fees.
We get the impression that road construction, for one, is now beyond the control of legitimate channels. Mr Anderson writes:
"In many communities work can only be done with the permission of the community don. He determines who works ... how much they are to be paid and in turn how much they are to pay him..." He wrote about two recent projects in which the dons requested $100,000 per fortnight and $400,000 for the contract period in order for work to go on in the areas. In short the costs of such projects are not determined by market forces but by the naked imperative of "pay up, or else"!
One inference from the involvement of community dons is that their traditional ties with politics must raise grave suspicions about more sinister connections. We and other observers have long denounced the ties that have stained political organisation. Indeed we have made the point that the dons represent the failure of political representation in the formal sense of acting and speaking for the people.
If extortion is the ultimate expression of that failure there can be little wonder about the state of crime and the crisis it spells for the nation. Equally alarming is the fact that this level of extortion affecting a government agency appears to have escaped strong police action.
FOR GENERAL DISTRIBUTION
Top News in the Print Media: The JIS, The Gleaner & The Observer
From the Overseas Department, Jamaica Information Service
Friday September 12, 2003
TOURISM DRIVING GROWTH – Davies
The Observer: Finance Minister Dr. Omar Davies says that the revival of Jamaica's tourism sector will drive economic growth for this fiscal year to upwards of three per cent.
At the same time, Davies projected that the Bank of Jamaica's net international reserve (NIR) would remain at US$1.3 billion, while projecting a return to single-digit inflation -- between five to six per cent -- in 2004/5 fiscal year.
"(Growth) has been spurred by record level of visitor arrivals," Davies told business leaders and journalists on Wednesday at a breakfast forum organised by Pan Caribbean Financial Group at the Terra Nova Hotel in Kingston.
He projected growth of 3.1 per cent for the third quarter to December 31, 2003, and 2.9 per cent in quarter four to March 31, 2004.
CLOSE EYE ON OPERATION PRIDE
The Gleaner: The Government has vowed to place more focused attention on matters relating to the controversial Operation PRIDE programme, as part of the reorganisation taking place at the National Housing Development Corporation (NHDC).
During a closed door meeting yesterday at Prime Minister P. J. Patterson's Devon Road-based office, the decision was taken to institute regular meetings between the NHDC and the leadership and general membership of the provident societies. Furthermore, an additional representative, nominated by the Federation of Provident Societies, is to be named to the NHDC board.
Last month, Minister of Water and Housing Donald Buchanan announced a major overhaul of the NHDC to improve the agency's ability to deliver quality housing at low prices to Operation PRIDE beneficiaries.
SPOT MARKET WEIGHTED AVERAGE RATE
CURRENCY___PURCHASES_____SALES
__US$_______59.4104_____59.7892
__CAN$______42.2364_____43.4813
__GB£_______92.8014_____94.8474
ROAD TOLL DELAYED
The Gleaner: History may well have to wait a few days as it is still un-clear as to whether the Toll Authority will meet its September 15 deadline to begin toll operations on the Old Harbour bypass.
This, as authorities scramble to secure additional cameras, reflectors and shore up security concerns for the toll plaza.
Kingsley Thomas, chairman of the National Road Operating and Construction Company (NROCC), promised that he will be making a public statement soon to announce a start-up date as to when Jamaicans will begin paying a toll for use of segment one of Highway 2000.
"The road is ready, the operations are ready to go, it is ready to roll, but there are just one or two things which the Toll Authority is dealing with, and which the Minister (Robert Pickersgill), being a perfectionist, is looking at," Mr. Thomas said during an official media tour of the bypass yesterday.
CALL CENTRE SECURES CONTRACT
The Observer: Westcom, a call centre in western Jamaica, has secured two contracts worth just under US$2 million, following its participation in the International Call Centre Management (ICCM) conference held in Chicago recently.
An executive of the firm, Norman Anderson, said that his company made four critical contacts while at the conference, two of which were yet to bear fruit.
"We were hoping to interface with potential partners," he said. "And to a large extent we have done so as we made four contacts, two of which were successful and the others are still being negotiated."
The contracts, valued US$1.2 million and US$600,000 per year, are for inbound contact centre services.
NEW INT’L TELE-SERVICE FIRM SOON
[ib]The Observer:[/i] Telecommunication company, N-5 is now testing the wireless network through which it will route international and domestic calls it says it will soon begin to offer the Jamaican public.
"We are currently testing the international calling services with our customers and we are finalising interconnection arrangements with C&W for the land line service," David Henry, N-5 spokesperson, told the Observer on Tuesday. "We have a special for international calls for less than $10 per minute."
N-5 is one of 60 companies that could offer international calling services in the recently liberalised telecommunications market. However it remains one of only a handful of telecommunications service providers to offer domestic calling service.
MAYORS SETTLE ON TAX SHARE
The Gleaner: The Mayors of Portmore and Spanish Town have reached a consensus on a Memorandum of Understanding which will allow for revenues to start flowing into the coffers of the Portmore Municipal Council.
"Just this evening (Wednesday), I have spoken to Mayor Raymond Notice and we decided on the benefits of the parish," Mayor George Lee told the Portmore Municipal Council's third meeting, at the Dermason Restaurant Wednesday night.
This was confirmed by Spanish Town's Mayor, Dr. Raymoth Notice at yesterday's monthly meeting of the St. Catherine Parish Council. Mayor Notice said, "I must make it clear (that) myself and Mayor George Lee arrived at a consensus last night and all matters have been ironed out as, in the end, we both represent the same parish."
Mayor Lee pointed out, however, that the municipality was still waiting on Parliament to grant the power to collect revenues. Until then, the St. Catherine Parish Council will continue to do so.
FIRMS MAY BE DRIVEN AWAY
The Observer: Head of the umbrella body for life insurance companies here warned yesterday that their sector could be headed for "devastation" if the government implements the recommendation of a parliamentary committee to double the tax on premium and investment income.
In fact, Earl Moore, who heads the Jamaica operations of the Trinidadian-owned Guardian Life, warned that Caribbean firms which have been behind the resuscitation of the island's insurance sector may be driven away from the island if the tax hike is imposed.
"The major life insurance companies are Caribbean owned, not Jamaican owned," Moore told the Observer. "I cannot see the owners sitting down and accepting the fact that these companies are going to go belly-up after they have invested so much money in them.”
JIS NEWS
SHIPS FROM EUROPE & US TO CALL
A number of cruise ships from Europe and North America are scheduled to call at the Ken Wright Pier in Port Antonio over the next few months, as efforts continue to reposition the town as a major cruise shipping and tourist destination.
Ted Tatham, Vice President for Shipping and Marina Services at the Port Authority of Jamaica, told JIS News that the first of the vessels, the Swan Seas Navigator, is scheduled to call on Tuesday, November 11, to be followed by the Braemer on Friday, November 28. Calls are also expected from the Minerva 11 of Swan Helenic Cruises, along with ships from the Silver Seas Cruise Company.
Mr. Tatham said the Port Authority was also in discussions with three companies for calls to the resort town in 2004 and 2005, while executives from other cruise line companies have been invited to visit the marina complex with a view to having Port Antonio placed on their schedules.
JA AND UK CHURCH LEADERS MEET
Black church leaders in the United Kingdom (UK) and their Jamaican counterparts are working to forge closer ties and to develop a long-term strategy to deal with issues that affect Jamaica and the black community in the UK.
A forum, which brought together church leaders representing more than 40 denominations from across the UK, and four from Jamaica, was held at the Jamaican High Commission in London on Tuesday (Sept. 9). The Reverend Joel Edwards, General Director of the Evangelical Alliance (UK) organised the forum.
The Reverend Rennard White, President of the Jamaica Alliance of Evangelicals; Bishop Herro Blair of the Deliverance Ministries and Jamaica’s Political Ombudsman; Pastor Bobby Wilmot of the Covenant Ministries and The Reverend Devon Dick of the Boulevard Baptist Church, were the Jamaican church leaders who made up the special panel.
NY MEDICAL TEAM TO PROVIDE HEALTH CARE
A team comprising 75 medical professionals from Brooklyn in New York, United States, is slated to visit the town of Black River in St. Elizabeth from September 15 to 19.
The aim of the visit is to provide free medical care, including prescription drugs, to the sick and needy who live in the parish.
Local Co-ordinator of mission, Vincent Samuels, told JIS News that members of the visiting medical team were a part of Mullings Ministries Charitable Corporation, which has its base in New York.
“During the visit, we will also be distributing food and clothes to the needy, and persons who wish to access our patient care will be asked to make a contribution of only $50 towards the registration process, which will begin at 7:00 a.m. at the main pavilion at Independence Park in the town,” he said.
ART EXHIBITION IN WASHINGTON EMBASSY
The Embassy of Jamaica in Washington, DC continued its yearlong showcasing of contemporary Jamaican artists, with Tuesday’s (Sept. 9) hosting of a well-subscribed exhibition in the American capital.
Featuring the works of Paul Blackwood and Courtney Morgan, the exhibition comprised 30 pieces, rendered mainly on canvas, which included a range of semi-abstract images in mixed media. This was the second consecutive year that the artists have shown their work in Washington.
The exhibition follows on last month’s showing by Alphonso Blake at the Hall of the Americas of the Organisation of American States, which was sponsored by the Jamaican Permanent Mission to the OAS.
JIS STAGES BOOK FAIR
The Research Department of the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) will be staging a Book Fair on the grounds of the St. John’s Anglican Church at 4 Milford Road in Ocho Rios on Friday, September 19 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
This is the third rural book fair to be held by the JIS. The last fair was staged in Port Antonio on May 9.
Other book fairs are scheduled to be held at the Civic Centre, Sam Sharpe Square in Montego Bay on Thursday, September 25 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and on Friday, September 26 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; and at the JIS headquarters at 58a Half-Way-Tree Road on Friday, October 3 from 10:00 a.m. and Saturday, October 4 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Contact: Celia Lindsay
For further information about any of these news items,contact the Overseas Department at
[email protected]
The Jamaica Information Service web page address is
www.jis.gov.jm
Telephone: (876) 926-3740-8 / 926-3590-8, Fax: (876) 926-6715
COMMENTARY
Friday September 12, 2003
THE OBSERVER
PREPARING FOR DISASTERS
MR Paul Saunders, the acting director-general of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), has told us something the we all knew.
Jamaicans are, for the most part, not prepared for most disasters, not withstanding our high level of awareness of phenomena such as hurricanes, landslides and floods.
The damage caused by Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 is still fresh in many people's minds and recent episodes of flooding have kept in people's consciousness, the potential impact of such events. In that regard, the country has developed credible early warning systems for such disasters and people seem to pay attention when they are activated. There is a certain awareness.
The same cannot be said for most other potential hazards and disasters, such as earthquakes, fires, chemical spills and so on.
Part of the reason for this, we think, is that these events seem to be far removed from us. While there have been the occasional substantial earthquakes, such as the one of 1993, there has been nothing approaching the disaster that occurred at the turn of the last century.
Neither has Jamaica suffered from the devastating environmental mishaps that have occurred in other countries, some of them not too far from here. There is, in our country, that Jamaican sense of innate good fortune: that it won't happen here.
The fact though is that it can. And probably will.
Jamaica, after all, is in an earthquake zone. It is also on one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. It has industries that utilise potentially hazardous chemicals. And we have, over a long time, abused our natural environment, making it more vulnerable to natural and man-made disasters.
So around the corner lurks a potentially deadly cocktail.
The fact that Jamaicans are not fully prepared for any such eventuality is only partially the people's fault. A small part, too.
The real failure lies with the policymakers and institutional managers like Mr Saunders' ODPEM. Despite their efforts, sufficient has not been done, in our view, in the preparation, promulgation, and promotion and sale of a co-ordinated disaster preparedness, management and response capability.
We do not here suggest that the ODPEM has not, and is not doing good work. Quite to the contrary. Indeed, the fact that Mr Saunders has brought the issue to public attention is good.
What we sense as lacking is the consistent, unrelenting programme of information and education, supported by policy, legislative sanction and enforcement. We know that we will be reminded of a lack of resources to do all there is to be done. Indeed, we may not be able to afford all the paraphernalia to handle a major oil spill.
But it can't be beyond us to mobilise volunteer groups which would quickly fall in place to start the preparatory work in the event, God forbid, a major oil spill should take place off our shores.
The fact is everything does not require big bucks. Relentless energy often helps. Hopefully, now that Mr Saunders has brought this matter into the public domain, it will stay there. It is a matter for more than the ODPEM.
===========================================
THE GLEANER
RAMPANT EXTORTION
LAST WEEK'S Financial Gleaner carried a revealing account of the extent of criminal extortion as it affects road construction. The scenario is the more frightening as the article was written by the Chief Executive Officer of the National Works Agency, Mr. Ivan Anderson. So there can be little doubt about the authenticity of the practices described.
If criminal dons can prevail with apparent impunity over operations of a vital government agency how can private sector projects be expected to survive in other construction or manufacturing activity? Extortion in the commercial sector of merchandising has long flourished with impunity, having spread from downtown Kingston to other areas of the capital city. A wide variety of small businesses have become victims. While some, big and small, have paid the dues under pressure, others have fled to less hazardous occupations. The startling account by Mr. Anderson paints an ugly portrait of "contracts become feeding trees" for criminals who direct the hiring and firing of manual labour for exorbitant fees.
We get the impression that road construction, for one, is now beyond the control of legitimate channels. Mr Anderson writes:
"In many communities work can only be done with the permission of the community don. He determines who works ... how much they are to be paid and in turn how much they are to pay him..." He wrote about two recent projects in which the dons requested $100,000 per fortnight and $400,000 for the contract period in order for work to go on in the areas. In short the costs of such projects are not determined by market forces but by the naked imperative of "pay up, or else"!
One inference from the involvement of community dons is that their traditional ties with politics must raise grave suspicions about more sinister connections. We and other observers have long denounced the ties that have stained political organisation. Indeed we have made the point that the dons represent the failure of political representation in the formal sense of acting and speaking for the people.
If extortion is the ultimate expression of that failure there can be little wonder about the state of crime and the crisis it spells for the nation. Equally alarming is the fact that this level of extortion affecting a government agency appears to have escaped strong police action.