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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
Thursday September 11, 2003
HOUSE APPROVES TOLL RULES
The Gleaner: The regulations governing the Toll Authority have been approved by the House of Representatives, following yesterday's debate on the document tabled last week.
The passing of the regulations clears the way for it to go before the Senate for the 10-member panel, comprising the Toll Authority, to officially begin work next week.
STRONG SHOWING AT WTO
The Gleaner: The Jamaican private sector and other non-governmental organisations have made their strongest showing at the fifth WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun in Mexico.
The private sector views this participation as an investment in defending the interest of the local business community within the multilateral trading system. Six individuals representing a cross-section of private sector organisations and NGOs are involved in the conference
The group met with Minister of Foreign Affairs K.D. Knight and his technocrats on arrival in Cancun where he outlined his strategy for the conference. He said that success at Cancun would be defined by Jamaica's and CARI-COM's ability to get consensus on some critical issues within agriculture, non-agriculture market access, smaller economies, special and differential treatment, and the continuation of the work programme on the Singapore issue.
SPOT MARKET WEIGHTED AVERAGE RATE
CURRENCY___PURCHASES_____SALES
__US$_______59.2548_____59.5522
__CAN$______42.5101_____43.3139
__GB£_______92.5737_____94.0925
GCT ROLL BACK
The Observer: The parliamentary committee on taxation has recommended that the government roll back the 15 per cent general consumption tax (GCT) on a raft of goods and services, including all books and the maintenance fees for residential strata, but voted to keep the tax on lottery winnings despite the robust lobbying of two operating companies.
However, the committee proposed that horse racing be spared the tax on winnings, essentially endorsing a decision that has already been quietly implemented by the finance minister, Dr Omar Davies, who chairs the House taxation committee.
But while the developments in the gambling sector were likely to draw immediate public attention, given the passion of the debate that has surrounded the effort to impose the tax in this area, it was the life insurance business which last night appeared to be emerging new battle ground in the effort by Davies to raise new additional revenues to finance his budget.
For life insurance companies, the GCT, it is recommended, should go on life premiums. At the same time, however, the income tax on premium income, the committee said, should be doubled to three per cent. The income tax on investment income should also double to 15 per cent, it was proposed. If the proposals go through, GCT would apply to health insurance premiums.
CHAMBER FOR PORTMORE
The Observer: Portmore’s business operators are to select two representatives to sit on the advisory committee of the town's municipal council, and will, by month-end, set up its own chamber of commerce, as part of its plans to increase the strength of its lobby.
"We will select the officials of the chamber of commerce by month end, with the treasurer, president, etc, and before the municipal office is ready and staffed in October we will choose the two representatives," said Ransford White, chairman of the Portmore Development Committee (PDC), while addressing yesterday's Social Development Commission (SDC) luncheon at the Dermason Restaurant in Portmore.
Portmore business leaders, at present, informally lobby through the PDC, but that committee is not exclusively business-focussed as its membership includes civic organisations and non-business interests.
JIS NEWS
Thursday September 11, 2003
KSAC IN TALKS WITH MEXICO
Mayor of Kingston, Councillor Desmond McKenzie recently met with authorities of the Guadalajara Town Council in Mexico, where he held talks on the development of the Kingston market district.
“If we can in any way do half of what they have done in Mexico, it is something that I believe would augur well for us here in Jamaica in terms of vending and how we design our markets,” Mayor McKenzie said.
He was speaking to journalist on September 9 at the KSAC’s Church Street offices, where he gave details of his recent visit to the Central American country to view market designs and operations.
The trip, which is the first of two to that country, saw a team comprised of the Mayor; Town Clerk Errol Greene; members of the political directorate; the vending community; and technocrats from the Ministry of Local Government, Youth and Community Development, visiting 11 markets in the City of Guadalajara which Mayor McKenzie said, had been ‘twinned’ with the city of Kingston.
JAMAICAN MOVIE ‘ONE LOVE’
One of the directors of the movie ‘One Love’, Rick Elgood, has said he hoped the film would redress the imbalance in the portrayal of Jamaica in movies as a violent place.
He was speaking to moviegoers on September 8, following the North American premiere of ‘One Love’ at the 28th Annual Toronto International Film Festival, now underway in Toronto, Canada. In attendance were Jamaica’s Consul General to Toronto Vivia Betton and Trade Commissioner Cherita Girvan-Campbell.
Starring Ky-Mani Marley and Cherine Anderson, the Jamaica/United Kingdom/Norway production tells the story of the forbidden love between Kassa (Marley), a Reggae musician of the Rastafarian faith, struggling to make a name for himself and his band ‘Freedom City’ and Serena Johnson (Anderson), lead singer of her church choir and the pastor’s daughter. How love eventually overcomes the differences of the two worlds – Christian and Rastafarian – is the premise of the movie.
NATIONAL REGISTRY OF VOLUNTEERS
The Council of Voluntary Social Services (CVSS) and the University of the West Indies (UWI) have collaborated to develop a National Registry of Volunteers, which is an electronic database of persons involved in giving voluntary service.
Funded by the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ), at a cost of $5 million, the project involves the establishment and maintenance of a web-based inventory of thousands of volunteers nationally.
At the launch yesterday at the Hilton Kingston Hotel, Maureen Allgrove, Chairman of Programmes and Technical Assistance at the CVSS, explained that the Registry contained profiles of all registered volunteers to include their names, address, skills, age group and level of expertise; profiles of tasks and activities requested by organizations; profiles of the various volunteers who are willing to undertake specific projects; a history of voluntary services requested within the last five to seven years, and a list of those services provided.
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
Thursday September 11, 2003
THE OBSERVER
A LESSON FROM HOMESTEAD
WE are deeply saddened by Tuesday's incident in Homestead, St Catherine, in which Superintendent Clifford Blake of the North St Catherine Police was knocked unconscious by missile-throwers.
That a senior police officer could have been attacked in the first place is worrying. But the fashion and circumstance of the attack are reasons for great concern. For they suggest a debasement of spirit, a coarsened humanity and badly misplaced values.
Recall that Superintendent Blake went to Homestead at the request of the member of parliament for Central St Catherine, Ms Olivia "Babsy" Grange, to assure the community of police protection in the face of an upsurge of gang violence and intimidation. People have been killed in the community.
Mr Blake was in the midst of addressing a crowd of Homestead residents, urging, among other things, the removal of roadblocks when he came under attack from partisans. Not only was he knocked out, but the stones and other missiles continued to rain even though the police officer was down. A Jamaica Labour Party councillor tried in vain to end the barbaric action.
It is curious that no one in Homestead appears to be able to give a coherent explanation for the attack. Nothing happened that should have provoked anyone to violence.
It was, on the face of it, a conditioned reflex -- part of a hostility to the police and other symbols of law and order. It speaks to a deterioration of societal values to a point where nothing -- people, institutions, ideals -- is sacred.
But worse, those of us of who believe that there is a better way too often meekly acquiesce to the social nihilists. So, for instance, little happened while the nihilists rained their missiles on Superintendent Blake. The apologies came afterwards. And were shrouded by a fog of fear.
It seems to us, though, that it makes good sense for us to shed this fear and to stand up. The prize is not only our self-respect but our society.
The incidents that caused Mr Blake to head for Homestead involved, it is claimed, attempts by certain bad men, with their stronghold in nearby Tawes Pen, to impose a certain type of authority over the entire area. The aim, it seems, is a single dominance in a specified territory for criminal activity, including extortion.
But as is so often the case with community strong-arming in Jamaica, there appears to be a political undertone to this issue. For the fact is that violence remains on the periphery of Jamaican politics, and gangs or young hardcases loosely attach themselves to political parties or their representatives.
Politics also provides a cover for other forms of criminal activity, but political leaders also find it useful to have these thugs assist in a process of enforcement and political exclusion during electoral contests. So while politicians are sometimes embarrassed by the violent muscle-flexing and territorial grabs by the gangs, they are afraid to make more than the occasional murmur lest they lose the support of the gang leader and the impact of his influence in the community.
The Homestead incident is not the worst to have happened in Jamaica. Not by a long way. But it is one more warning for us to act. Before it is too late. And before the option is no longer available.
===========================================
THE GLEANER
AMERICA’S DILEMMA
TODAY IS the second anniversary of September 11, 2001 when two hijacked commercial aircraft hurtled into the twin towers of the World Trade Center and brought them crashing down in a cloud of dust, a cloud that still seem to be hanging over America's precipitate reaction to the attack.
Between a procrastinating United Nations reluctant to enforce its own resolutions and an American President champing at the bit to take retaliatory action, truth got lost in rhetoric and propaganda and there is still no clear solution to the problem of international terrorism.
America did what America does best, that is, the use of its military with skill and panache to oust Saddam Hussein from power. What America does not know how to do, and never has, is to deal with cultural, religious and political realities different from its own which leave it as an occupying force bewildered as to why the Iraqis have not welcomed them with open arms.
Continuing American casualties after the formal declaration that the war was over is causing anxiety at home and prompting calls for American forces to withdraw and leave the Iraqis to straighten out their own priorities. As wrong as America's pre-emptive strike may have been, withdrawal now would make the last state of affairs worse than the first, akin to the debacle of Vietnam.
Recognising this dilemma, a subdued and humbled President Bush has addressed the American nation about the situation in Iraq and indirectly admitted that American needs military, financial and political help from the international community to save Iraq from spiralling totally out of control.
This is to be facilitated by a draft resolution to be adopted by the UN, but France and Germany, who had opposed the war, have threatened to veto it. Contrast this with the reaction of Mr. Bush's Democratic political opponents, hoping to unseat him in next year's Presidential election.
Far from making overt political mileage out of his embarrassment, they realise the importance of America staying in Iraq until law and order has been restored; and it appears that they will support Mr. Bush's request for a further US$87 billion to fund ongoing operations in Iraq.
Perhaps the most telling point he made in his national broadcast is that what America is trying to do in rebuilding Iraq is what it did so admirably after World War II in rebuilding Germany through the Marshall Plan. We join Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, in hoping that a reasonable consensus can be arrived at this time around
FOR GENERAL DISTRIBUTION
Top News in the Print Media: The JIS, The Gleaner & The Observer
From the Overseas Department, Jamaica Information Service
Thursday September 11, 2003
HOUSE APPROVES TOLL RULES
The Gleaner: The regulations governing the Toll Authority have been approved by the House of Representatives, following yesterday's debate on the document tabled last week.
The passing of the regulations clears the way for it to go before the Senate for the 10-member panel, comprising the Toll Authority, to officially begin work next week.
STRONG SHOWING AT WTO
The Gleaner: The Jamaican private sector and other non-governmental organisations have made their strongest showing at the fifth WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun in Mexico.
The private sector views this participation as an investment in defending the interest of the local business community within the multilateral trading system. Six individuals representing a cross-section of private sector organisations and NGOs are involved in the conference
The group met with Minister of Foreign Affairs K.D. Knight and his technocrats on arrival in Cancun where he outlined his strategy for the conference. He said that success at Cancun would be defined by Jamaica's and CARI-COM's ability to get consensus on some critical issues within agriculture, non-agriculture market access, smaller economies, special and differential treatment, and the continuation of the work programme on the Singapore issue.
SPOT MARKET WEIGHTED AVERAGE RATE
CURRENCY___PURCHASES_____SALES
__US$_______59.2548_____59.5522
__CAN$______42.5101_____43.3139
__GB£_______92.5737_____94.0925
GCT ROLL BACK
The Observer: The parliamentary committee on taxation has recommended that the government roll back the 15 per cent general consumption tax (GCT) on a raft of goods and services, including all books and the maintenance fees for residential strata, but voted to keep the tax on lottery winnings despite the robust lobbying of two operating companies.
However, the committee proposed that horse racing be spared the tax on winnings, essentially endorsing a decision that has already been quietly implemented by the finance minister, Dr Omar Davies, who chairs the House taxation committee.
But while the developments in the gambling sector were likely to draw immediate public attention, given the passion of the debate that has surrounded the effort to impose the tax in this area, it was the life insurance business which last night appeared to be emerging new battle ground in the effort by Davies to raise new additional revenues to finance his budget.
For life insurance companies, the GCT, it is recommended, should go on life premiums. At the same time, however, the income tax on premium income, the committee said, should be doubled to three per cent. The income tax on investment income should also double to 15 per cent, it was proposed. If the proposals go through, GCT would apply to health insurance premiums.
CHAMBER FOR PORTMORE
The Observer: Portmore’s business operators are to select two representatives to sit on the advisory committee of the town's municipal council, and will, by month-end, set up its own chamber of commerce, as part of its plans to increase the strength of its lobby.
"We will select the officials of the chamber of commerce by month end, with the treasurer, president, etc, and before the municipal office is ready and staffed in October we will choose the two representatives," said Ransford White, chairman of the Portmore Development Committee (PDC), while addressing yesterday's Social Development Commission (SDC) luncheon at the Dermason Restaurant in Portmore.
Portmore business leaders, at present, informally lobby through the PDC, but that committee is not exclusively business-focussed as its membership includes civic organisations and non-business interests.
JIS NEWS
Thursday September 11, 2003
KSAC IN TALKS WITH MEXICO
Mayor of Kingston, Councillor Desmond McKenzie recently met with authorities of the Guadalajara Town Council in Mexico, where he held talks on the development of the Kingston market district.
“If we can in any way do half of what they have done in Mexico, it is something that I believe would augur well for us here in Jamaica in terms of vending and how we design our markets,” Mayor McKenzie said.
He was speaking to journalist on September 9 at the KSAC’s Church Street offices, where he gave details of his recent visit to the Central American country to view market designs and operations.
The trip, which is the first of two to that country, saw a team comprised of the Mayor; Town Clerk Errol Greene; members of the political directorate; the vending community; and technocrats from the Ministry of Local Government, Youth and Community Development, visiting 11 markets in the City of Guadalajara which Mayor McKenzie said, had been ‘twinned’ with the city of Kingston.
JAMAICAN MOVIE ‘ONE LOVE’
One of the directors of the movie ‘One Love’, Rick Elgood, has said he hoped the film would redress the imbalance in the portrayal of Jamaica in movies as a violent place.
He was speaking to moviegoers on September 8, following the North American premiere of ‘One Love’ at the 28th Annual Toronto International Film Festival, now underway in Toronto, Canada. In attendance were Jamaica’s Consul General to Toronto Vivia Betton and Trade Commissioner Cherita Girvan-Campbell.
Starring Ky-Mani Marley and Cherine Anderson, the Jamaica/United Kingdom/Norway production tells the story of the forbidden love between Kassa (Marley), a Reggae musician of the Rastafarian faith, struggling to make a name for himself and his band ‘Freedom City’ and Serena Johnson (Anderson), lead singer of her church choir and the pastor’s daughter. How love eventually overcomes the differences of the two worlds – Christian and Rastafarian – is the premise of the movie.
NATIONAL REGISTRY OF VOLUNTEERS
The Council of Voluntary Social Services (CVSS) and the University of the West Indies (UWI) have collaborated to develop a National Registry of Volunteers, which is an electronic database of persons involved in giving voluntary service.
Funded by the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ), at a cost of $5 million, the project involves the establishment and maintenance of a web-based inventory of thousands of volunteers nationally.
At the launch yesterday at the Hilton Kingston Hotel, Maureen Allgrove, Chairman of Programmes and Technical Assistance at the CVSS, explained that the Registry contained profiles of all registered volunteers to include their names, address, skills, age group and level of expertise; profiles of tasks and activities requested by organizations; profiles of the various volunteers who are willing to undertake specific projects; a history of voluntary services requested within the last five to seven years, and a list of those services provided.
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
Thursday September 11, 2003
THE OBSERVER
A LESSON FROM HOMESTEAD
WE are deeply saddened by Tuesday's incident in Homestead, St Catherine, in which Superintendent Clifford Blake of the North St Catherine Police was knocked unconscious by missile-throwers.
That a senior police officer could have been attacked in the first place is worrying. But the fashion and circumstance of the attack are reasons for great concern. For they suggest a debasement of spirit, a coarsened humanity and badly misplaced values.
Recall that Superintendent Blake went to Homestead at the request of the member of parliament for Central St Catherine, Ms Olivia "Babsy" Grange, to assure the community of police protection in the face of an upsurge of gang violence and intimidation. People have been killed in the community.
Mr Blake was in the midst of addressing a crowd of Homestead residents, urging, among other things, the removal of roadblocks when he came under attack from partisans. Not only was he knocked out, but the stones and other missiles continued to rain even though the police officer was down. A Jamaica Labour Party councillor tried in vain to end the barbaric action.
It is curious that no one in Homestead appears to be able to give a coherent explanation for the attack. Nothing happened that should have provoked anyone to violence.
It was, on the face of it, a conditioned reflex -- part of a hostility to the police and other symbols of law and order. It speaks to a deterioration of societal values to a point where nothing -- people, institutions, ideals -- is sacred.
But worse, those of us of who believe that there is a better way too often meekly acquiesce to the social nihilists. So, for instance, little happened while the nihilists rained their missiles on Superintendent Blake. The apologies came afterwards. And were shrouded by a fog of fear.
It seems to us, though, that it makes good sense for us to shed this fear and to stand up. The prize is not only our self-respect but our society.
The incidents that caused Mr Blake to head for Homestead involved, it is claimed, attempts by certain bad men, with their stronghold in nearby Tawes Pen, to impose a certain type of authority over the entire area. The aim, it seems, is a single dominance in a specified territory for criminal activity, including extortion.
But as is so often the case with community strong-arming in Jamaica, there appears to be a political undertone to this issue. For the fact is that violence remains on the periphery of Jamaican politics, and gangs or young hardcases loosely attach themselves to political parties or their representatives.
Politics also provides a cover for other forms of criminal activity, but political leaders also find it useful to have these thugs assist in a process of enforcement and political exclusion during electoral contests. So while politicians are sometimes embarrassed by the violent muscle-flexing and territorial grabs by the gangs, they are afraid to make more than the occasional murmur lest they lose the support of the gang leader and the impact of his influence in the community.
The Homestead incident is not the worst to have happened in Jamaica. Not by a long way. But it is one more warning for us to act. Before it is too late. And before the option is no longer available.
===========================================
THE GLEANER
AMERICA’S DILEMMA
TODAY IS the second anniversary of September 11, 2001 when two hijacked commercial aircraft hurtled into the twin towers of the World Trade Center and brought them crashing down in a cloud of dust, a cloud that still seem to be hanging over America's precipitate reaction to the attack.
Between a procrastinating United Nations reluctant to enforce its own resolutions and an American President champing at the bit to take retaliatory action, truth got lost in rhetoric and propaganda and there is still no clear solution to the problem of international terrorism.
America did what America does best, that is, the use of its military with skill and panache to oust Saddam Hussein from power. What America does not know how to do, and never has, is to deal with cultural, religious and political realities different from its own which leave it as an occupying force bewildered as to why the Iraqis have not welcomed them with open arms.
Continuing American casualties after the formal declaration that the war was over is causing anxiety at home and prompting calls for American forces to withdraw and leave the Iraqis to straighten out their own priorities. As wrong as America's pre-emptive strike may have been, withdrawal now would make the last state of affairs worse than the first, akin to the debacle of Vietnam.
Recognising this dilemma, a subdued and humbled President Bush has addressed the American nation about the situation in Iraq and indirectly admitted that American needs military, financial and political help from the international community to save Iraq from spiralling totally out of control.
This is to be facilitated by a draft resolution to be adopted by the UN, but France and Germany, who had opposed the war, have threatened to veto it. Contrast this with the reaction of Mr. Bush's Democratic political opponents, hoping to unseat him in next year's Presidential election.
Far from making overt political mileage out of his embarrassment, they realise the importance of America staying in Iraq until law and order has been restored; and it appears that they will support Mr. Bush's request for a further US$87 billion to fund ongoing operations in Iraq.
Perhaps the most telling point he made in his national broadcast is that what America is trying to do in rebuilding Iraq is what it did so admirably after World War II in rebuilding Germany through the Marshall Plan. We join Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, in hoping that a reasonable consensus can be arrived at this time around