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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
Monday September 29, 2003
FREE ARMY TO FIGHT CRIME
The Observer: Bishop Herro Blair, arguing that Jamaica was at war with gunmen and violent drug traffickers, on Saturday made a case for the independent deployment of soldiers by the army to help check spiralling crime in the island.
"We are at war," Blair told 116 Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) recruits at their passing out parade at the JDF training camp in Moneague, St Ann. "And if we are at war in the nation, then the army must be called upon, the military must be called upon to rescue us; and I look forward to the day when this will happen, that you will be given much more duties, so that you can help this nation in bringing back sanity and safety amongst us."
He said that unfortunately, the decision to deploy the security forces, especially soldiers, lay in the hands of the political directorate, but added: "I pray for the day when the chief-of-staff can take a determined decision that enough is enough and my men will go and be the solution."
SPOT MARKET WEIGHTED AVERAGE RATE
CURRENCY - PURCHASES - SALES
___US$______59.3860____59.6222
__CAN$______43.0023____44.1485
___GB£______96.2469____98.2719
US READIES NEW IMPORT REGULATIONS
The Gleaner: Some 200 local food exporters will have to seek Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) certification if they want to export to the United States after December 12, says Dr. Omer Thomas, executive director of the Jamaica Bureau of Standards.
Speaking to The Gleaner on Saturday, Dr. Thomas suggested that the US Government's move to implement new import regulations under its 2002 Bioterrorism Act, will cost the Jamaican manufacturing industry in the short term.
"There are going to be some logistical problems in the beginning, especially for processed foods," Dr. Thomas said. He explained that the soon-to-be implemented regulations under the Bioterrorism Act meant that local exporters would have to re-tool to ensure that their products conform with the 'stringent' requirements.
PRISON LOOPHOLE
The Gleaner: For several months now a loophole in the administration of the Department of Correctional Services has allowed foreign nationals, many of whom are serving sentences for drug offences, to be released from prisons on "compassionate grounds" on the pretext of being terminally ill.
Sources told The Gleaner that several prisoners have been released well ahead of the completion of their sentences on the pretext of being afflicted with such life-threatening diseases as renal failure, chronic diabetes and even HIV/AIDS. The prisons affected include the St. Catherine Adult Correctional Centre, Spanish Town, and the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre (formerly the General Penitentiary), central Kingston.
According to a well-placed source in the Correctional Department, as many as 10 foreign nationals have been released from prison, most having been convicted on drug trafficking charges in 2001 and 2002.
INFORMATION ACT ON HOLD
The Gleaner: The implementation of the Access to Information Act has once again been stalled, despite Government's assertion that the Ministries and state agencies earmarked for the first phase are ready to go.
Speaking during last Friday's sitting of the Senate at Gordon House, Senator Burchell Whiteman, Leader of Government Business, said the implementation would be delayed by about three weeks from the most recent October 1 deadline. This, he said, was because of "regrettable setbacks in meeting the legislative timetable."
"There are still refinements to be done to the regulations and the creation of the appropriate forms. As a result we are obliged to delay the implementation date for a few days to ensure that all the legislative requirements are met," Senator Whiteman said.
JIS NEWS
Monday September 29, 2003
JAMAICA SIGNS TOBACCO TREATY
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, K.D. Knight signed a Framework Convention on Tobacco Control at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York on Wednesday (Sept. 24), as part of a UN treaty event.
The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control was adopted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on May 21, and is designed to reduce the devastating health and economic impacts of tobacco.
This agreement also establishes guidelines whereby countries can pass legislation for the effective control of tobacco.
Minister Knight also deposited two instruments of ratification: Instrument of Accession for the Montreal Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and the Instrument of Accession for the Beijing Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.
JAMAICA AIDS SUPPORT GETS HELP
Donations amounting to US$1,500, which were collected at the annual Independence Church Service hosted by the Jamaican Consulate in New York on August 10, have been sent to Jamaica Aids Support.
“We are very pleased that we were able to use the occasion of the Independence Church Service to bring comfort and much needed relief to those deserving of support in our society,” Jamaica’s Consul General to New York, Dr. Basil K. Bryan, told JIS News.
YOUTH AUTOMOTIVE TRAINING CENTRE
The Embassy of Japan and the Board of Cornerstone Ministries have signed a US$76,483 contract to establish an automotive training centre at the Ministries’ Connolley Avenue training facility in Kingston.
The signing took place on September 25 at the Japanese Embassy on Oxford Road in Kingston.
The project is being funded under the Government of Japan’s Grant Assistance to Grassroots Project (GGP) programme.
This programme, which started some eight years ago, has funded over 40 projects in Jamaica.
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
Monday September 29, 2003
THE OBSERVER
MORE ADVICE FOR MAYOR MCKENZIE
MR Desmond McKenzie, the mayor of Kingston, ought to have no need to question what this newspaper's position is on the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Corporation (KSAC), as well as the local government authorities, and how they ought to be reformed.
In the event that Mr McKenzie has forgotten, or never concerned himself with our view while he was in Opposition, we remind him of the position we took on the parish councils: that they were incompetent and corrupt; they represented the worst of a malaised political culture; that they should be disbanded and replaced with city managers accountable to the local government ministry and a parliamentary oversight committee.
In the three months since he has assumed office after his party won the KSAC, and most of the other parish councils, Mr McKenzie has not done anything to fundamentally alter our position. However, he has displayed an energy that was previously lacking in the KSAC and, as we have indicated before, we are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
But he should know that physical agility, including the capacity to leap across gullies, and tours of city facilities do not equate to achievements. Mr McKenzie, if he is to win our confidence, as well as the confidence of the majority of the thinking people of the capital, has to actually get things done. He has to do things that make a difference -- positively ú to the quality of people's lives.
The mayor, we suggest, should start by outlining a list of priorities for his administration and give time lines for their achievement. He should make the process transparent and himself publicly accountable. We suggest that the mayor and key KSAC committee chairmen hold monthly town-hall style meetings at which people can discuss with them issues that are of concern to themselves and their communities.
Mr McKenzie, of course, would like to be a success in the job and is probably looking for the project or programme that will define his tenure. There is nothing wrong with such a strategy if, indeed, this is the tact being taken by Mr McKenzie.
The unfortunate thing in such circumstances is that the inclination is usually towards the big ticket item -- that big breakthrough that will be transformational and live as a monument to the person who made it happen. The redevelopment of downtown Kingston, perhaps.
We, however, would advise Mr McKenzie to concentrate on the little things, which will have immediate impact on the quality of people's lives and a community's sense of itself.
Indeed, Mr McKenzie would be surprised, pleasantly, at the gains that would be made if his administration succeeded in having the drains cleaned regularly, the verges kept neatly trimmed and the sidewalks maintained in decent condition. It would be a huge bonus if they succeeded in having the garbage cleared regularly.
These are not expensive things to achieve. What they require most is will and willingness, attention to detail and an insistence on value for money. Which is perhaps where the difficulty arises.
For local government has largely been about the old pork barrel, the area where the small contracts can be snuck to the party faithful and political hangers-on and musclemen. The issue is whether Mr McKenzie has the guts to break with tradition.
============================================
THE GLEANER
POPULATION AND POVERTY
MINISTER OF Information Burchell Whiteman is bemoaning the rate of population growth as reflected in his statement at a United Nations Population Fund seminar held in Kingston recently.
The Minister noted, apparently with alarm, that while contraceptive use was increasing there were some 115,000 women who were not being reached by the family planning programme.
Most disturbing however, is Minister Whiteman's admission of a 66 per cent rate of unplanned pregnancies. Rather than merely quoting statistics, the Minister needs to tell us why the women are not getting the help they need. What has happened to what was once a vigorous family planning campaign that appeared to have been enjoying some measure of success? Are we to assume that the programme has failed? We recall a dynamic campaign that incorporated press and radio advertising, plus an outreach programme that targeted even remote rural areas.
Minister Whiteman's lament that rapid population growth retards development and helps to perpetuate poverty gives greater urgency to the need for answers; and moreso, bearing in mind the recent claim about the inroads achieved in reducing poverty levels.
It is an acknowledged fact that the rate of population growth is reduced when there are high levels of employment among women. The demise of the garment industry, which was the largest single employer of women, should have sounded a warning that the family planning programme needed to be reinvigorated.
Armed as he is with the grim statistics, the Minister must now tell us what measures the government plans to take to reduce the rapid population growth, which by his own admission, will make it difficult to allocate the country's resources and plan for the future.
We hope Minister Whiteman is not following the lead of the Prime Minister who recently squealed about extortion, going so far as to threaten closure of a housing project, rather than meeting the challenge head-on and doing something to end this particular scourge of criminal activity.
FOR GENERAL DISTRIBUTION
Top News in the Print Media: The JIS, The Gleaner & The Observer
From the Overseas Department, Jamaica Information Service
Monday September 29, 2003
FREE ARMY TO FIGHT CRIME
The Observer: Bishop Herro Blair, arguing that Jamaica was at war with gunmen and violent drug traffickers, on Saturday made a case for the independent deployment of soldiers by the army to help check spiralling crime in the island.
"We are at war," Blair told 116 Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) recruits at their passing out parade at the JDF training camp in Moneague, St Ann. "And if we are at war in the nation, then the army must be called upon, the military must be called upon to rescue us; and I look forward to the day when this will happen, that you will be given much more duties, so that you can help this nation in bringing back sanity and safety amongst us."
He said that unfortunately, the decision to deploy the security forces, especially soldiers, lay in the hands of the political directorate, but added: "I pray for the day when the chief-of-staff can take a determined decision that enough is enough and my men will go and be the solution."
SPOT MARKET WEIGHTED AVERAGE RATE
CURRENCY - PURCHASES - SALES
___US$______59.3860____59.6222
__CAN$______43.0023____44.1485
___GB£______96.2469____98.2719
US READIES NEW IMPORT REGULATIONS
The Gleaner: Some 200 local food exporters will have to seek Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) certification if they want to export to the United States after December 12, says Dr. Omer Thomas, executive director of the Jamaica Bureau of Standards.
Speaking to The Gleaner on Saturday, Dr. Thomas suggested that the US Government's move to implement new import regulations under its 2002 Bioterrorism Act, will cost the Jamaican manufacturing industry in the short term.
"There are going to be some logistical problems in the beginning, especially for processed foods," Dr. Thomas said. He explained that the soon-to-be implemented regulations under the Bioterrorism Act meant that local exporters would have to re-tool to ensure that their products conform with the 'stringent' requirements.
PRISON LOOPHOLE
The Gleaner: For several months now a loophole in the administration of the Department of Correctional Services has allowed foreign nationals, many of whom are serving sentences for drug offences, to be released from prisons on "compassionate grounds" on the pretext of being terminally ill.
Sources told The Gleaner that several prisoners have been released well ahead of the completion of their sentences on the pretext of being afflicted with such life-threatening diseases as renal failure, chronic diabetes and even HIV/AIDS. The prisons affected include the St. Catherine Adult Correctional Centre, Spanish Town, and the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre (formerly the General Penitentiary), central Kingston.
According to a well-placed source in the Correctional Department, as many as 10 foreign nationals have been released from prison, most having been convicted on drug trafficking charges in 2001 and 2002.
INFORMATION ACT ON HOLD
The Gleaner: The implementation of the Access to Information Act has once again been stalled, despite Government's assertion that the Ministries and state agencies earmarked for the first phase are ready to go.
Speaking during last Friday's sitting of the Senate at Gordon House, Senator Burchell Whiteman, Leader of Government Business, said the implementation would be delayed by about three weeks from the most recent October 1 deadline. This, he said, was because of "regrettable setbacks in meeting the legislative timetable."
"There are still refinements to be done to the regulations and the creation of the appropriate forms. As a result we are obliged to delay the implementation date for a few days to ensure that all the legislative requirements are met," Senator Whiteman said.
JIS NEWS
Monday September 29, 2003
JAMAICA SIGNS TOBACCO TREATY
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, K.D. Knight signed a Framework Convention on Tobacco Control at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York on Wednesday (Sept. 24), as part of a UN treaty event.
The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control was adopted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on May 21, and is designed to reduce the devastating health and economic impacts of tobacco.
This agreement also establishes guidelines whereby countries can pass legislation for the effective control of tobacco.
Minister Knight also deposited two instruments of ratification: Instrument of Accession for the Montreal Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and the Instrument of Accession for the Beijing Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.
JAMAICA AIDS SUPPORT GETS HELP
Donations amounting to US$1,500, which were collected at the annual Independence Church Service hosted by the Jamaican Consulate in New York on August 10, have been sent to Jamaica Aids Support.
“We are very pleased that we were able to use the occasion of the Independence Church Service to bring comfort and much needed relief to those deserving of support in our society,” Jamaica’s Consul General to New York, Dr. Basil K. Bryan, told JIS News.
YOUTH AUTOMOTIVE TRAINING CENTRE
The Embassy of Japan and the Board of Cornerstone Ministries have signed a US$76,483 contract to establish an automotive training centre at the Ministries’ Connolley Avenue training facility in Kingston.
The signing took place on September 25 at the Japanese Embassy on Oxford Road in Kingston.
The project is being funded under the Government of Japan’s Grant Assistance to Grassroots Project (GGP) programme.
This programme, which started some eight years ago, has funded over 40 projects in Jamaica.
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
Monday September 29, 2003
THE OBSERVER
MORE ADVICE FOR MAYOR MCKENZIE
MR Desmond McKenzie, the mayor of Kingston, ought to have no need to question what this newspaper's position is on the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Corporation (KSAC), as well as the local government authorities, and how they ought to be reformed.
In the event that Mr McKenzie has forgotten, or never concerned himself with our view while he was in Opposition, we remind him of the position we took on the parish councils: that they were incompetent and corrupt; they represented the worst of a malaised political culture; that they should be disbanded and replaced with city managers accountable to the local government ministry and a parliamentary oversight committee.
In the three months since he has assumed office after his party won the KSAC, and most of the other parish councils, Mr McKenzie has not done anything to fundamentally alter our position. However, he has displayed an energy that was previously lacking in the KSAC and, as we have indicated before, we are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
But he should know that physical agility, including the capacity to leap across gullies, and tours of city facilities do not equate to achievements. Mr McKenzie, if he is to win our confidence, as well as the confidence of the majority of the thinking people of the capital, has to actually get things done. He has to do things that make a difference -- positively ú to the quality of people's lives.
The mayor, we suggest, should start by outlining a list of priorities for his administration and give time lines for their achievement. He should make the process transparent and himself publicly accountable. We suggest that the mayor and key KSAC committee chairmen hold monthly town-hall style meetings at which people can discuss with them issues that are of concern to themselves and their communities.
Mr McKenzie, of course, would like to be a success in the job and is probably looking for the project or programme that will define his tenure. There is nothing wrong with such a strategy if, indeed, this is the tact being taken by Mr McKenzie.
The unfortunate thing in such circumstances is that the inclination is usually towards the big ticket item -- that big breakthrough that will be transformational and live as a monument to the person who made it happen. The redevelopment of downtown Kingston, perhaps.
We, however, would advise Mr McKenzie to concentrate on the little things, which will have immediate impact on the quality of people's lives and a community's sense of itself.
Indeed, Mr McKenzie would be surprised, pleasantly, at the gains that would be made if his administration succeeded in having the drains cleaned regularly, the verges kept neatly trimmed and the sidewalks maintained in decent condition. It would be a huge bonus if they succeeded in having the garbage cleared regularly.
These are not expensive things to achieve. What they require most is will and willingness, attention to detail and an insistence on value for money. Which is perhaps where the difficulty arises.
For local government has largely been about the old pork barrel, the area where the small contracts can be snuck to the party faithful and political hangers-on and musclemen. The issue is whether Mr McKenzie has the guts to break with tradition.
============================================
THE GLEANER
POPULATION AND POVERTY
MINISTER OF Information Burchell Whiteman is bemoaning the rate of population growth as reflected in his statement at a United Nations Population Fund seminar held in Kingston recently.
The Minister noted, apparently with alarm, that while contraceptive use was increasing there were some 115,000 women who were not being reached by the family planning programme.
Most disturbing however, is Minister Whiteman's admission of a 66 per cent rate of unplanned pregnancies. Rather than merely quoting statistics, the Minister needs to tell us why the women are not getting the help they need. What has happened to what was once a vigorous family planning campaign that appeared to have been enjoying some measure of success? Are we to assume that the programme has failed? We recall a dynamic campaign that incorporated press and radio advertising, plus an outreach programme that targeted even remote rural areas.
Minister Whiteman's lament that rapid population growth retards development and helps to perpetuate poverty gives greater urgency to the need for answers; and moreso, bearing in mind the recent claim about the inroads achieved in reducing poverty levels.
It is an acknowledged fact that the rate of population growth is reduced when there are high levels of employment among women. The demise of the garment industry, which was the largest single employer of women, should have sounded a warning that the family planning programme needed to be reinvigorated.
Armed as he is with the grim statistics, the Minister must now tell us what measures the government plans to take to reduce the rapid population growth, which by his own admission, will make it difficult to allocate the country's resources and plan for the future.
We hope Minister Whiteman is not following the lead of the Prime Minister who recently squealed about extortion, going so far as to threaten closure of a housing project, rather than meeting the challenge head-on and doing something to end this particular scourge of criminal activity.