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In 1972, after Michael Manley had handsomely won the February 29 general elections, I spent the next two days celebrating with 'like-minded' friends. Eight years later on October 30, 1980, the JLP trounced the Manley-led PNP in what is still to date the largest margin of victory of any election ever held.
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The 'warning' Mr Golding |
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Sunday, October 07, 2007
ON the eve of hosting last week's special two-day meeting of CARIFORUM leaders and top officials of the European Union (EU) on a proposed Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Europe, Jamaica's new prime minister, Bruce Golding, gave a surprisingly insensitive warning to this country's Caribbean partners.
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A cure worse than the disease |
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Sunday, October 07, 2007
Watching American television has made me aware that there are several new diseases previously unknown to me that are serious threats to human complacency.
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Transforming the political culture |
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Sunday, October 07, 2007
Next to plantation slavery, politics is the most corrosive influence in Jamaican society. It is also the force behind the negative culture polarising the society. The recent elections and the shambolic transfer of power is just the latest symptom.
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Concluding a meaningful Caribbean-EU trade agreement |
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Friday, October 05, 2007
The Caribbean and the European Union (EU) are locked in negotiations for a new trade agreement to supersede the trade aspects of the current Cotonou Agreement. In line with the objectives and scope of the projected new agreement and the commitment of support to the ACP countries in the Cotonou Agreement there is a commitment to complete negotiations of these Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAS) by the end of 2007.
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Recognising 'A from Bull-foot' |
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Friday, October 05, 2007
THE IMAGES on the front pages of both our morning papers on Wednesday were graphic... hundreds of men (and some women, it is said) storming the Ministry of Labour in the hope of being recruited for jobs in the Canadian construction industry. Jobs, jobs and more jobs. The people are rarin' to go.
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Everybody wins |
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Friday, October 05, 2007
Galatians 6:1: "Dear brothers and sisters, if another is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back into the right path, and be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself."
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Economic partnership talks: the Carib media has dropped the ball |
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Thursday, October 04, 2007
Since April 2004, the small developing economies of the ACP Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM), made up of the countries of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), and the Dominican Republic, have been negotiating a reciprocal, WTO-compatible Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union (EU). For the CARIFORUM states, the negotiators come from the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) led by Ambassador Richard Bernal, while the negotiators for the EU are from the European Commission (EC) and are led by Mr Karl Falkenberg, deputy director of the Directorate for Trade.
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Instrument of peace |
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Thursday, October 04, 2007
Once again, there are cries for an end to killings as the bloodletting is on the rise again. In the first of the three debates before the general elections, a question about gun-related crimes was posed to Dr Peter Phillips. He replied that whenever there are wars in the world, illegal guns are on the rise. Dr Phillips is correct. There are many instances when the guns being used in wars in whatever part of the world are sold illegally by some soldiers. It does seem as if Jamaica has taken precautions, as we do for hurricanes.
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Productivity is the key |
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Thursday, October 04, 2007
Which word beginning with the letter "P" most occupies the thoughts and actions of the Jamaican worker? Depending on the audience to which the question is put, one may get laughter and some blushes. When this happens, it does not take a genius to figure out the particular "P" that the collective mind of the audience has conjured up. Writing in a recent newspaper article on the topic of why Jamaican men feel they can get by without having to work as hard as women, Mr Edward Seaga referred to that same "P" as the essential tool that serves as the great social leveller.
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Energy plans key to economic growth |
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Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Jamaicans should take note of the stark reality that oil prices have reached record levels in the past fortnight, exceeding US$80 per barrel, even as the USA, by far the largest consumer of oil, has been experiencing a slowdown in its economy.
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Golding makes golden start as prime minister |
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Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Detractors of new prime minister Bruce Golding say that he has made a shaky start in governance. But the contrary is true. He has made a strong start, perhaps the strongest by any government since independence.
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The political post-mortem of the PNP |
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Monday, October 01, 2007
Inevitably, there will be endless political post-mortems about the happenings of September 3, 2007, which caused the People's National Party to lose the election.
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God, Mammon and Uncle Sam |
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Sunday, September 30, 2007
A generation ago, in October 1980, the then leader of the opposition, Edward Seaga, announced that he was holding a news conference at the Terra Nova Hotel. It was to be solely for foreign journalists.
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Openness, accountability and the public trust |
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Sunday, September 30, 2007
Fresh from his swift and commendable move to correct two early missteps of the new administration, Prime Minister Bruce Golding has been giving other indications of seriousness about his much repeated commitment to a new style of governance.
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Firmly stands the CCJ |
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Sunday, September 30, 2007
A West Indian jurist of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has made a strong plea for the region's legal fraternity to help in maintaining "the integrity" of the Port-of-Spain- based institution.
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New hope for agriculture |
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Saturday, September 29, 2007
The appointment of Dr Christopher Tufton as the new minister of agriculture has signalled new hopes and challenges for that sector in the economy. Some have questioned the relative youthfulness of the new minister. A former teacher of his remarked to me that she was disappointed with the ministry he was assigned. "They could give him something better than that," was her concern.
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Portia must change course |
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Saturday, September 29, 2007
Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller has embarrassed many Jamaicans at home and abroad with her speech on the night of the September 3 election and in her address to the September 16 conference of the People's National Party. There are three fronts on which these must be analysed, and in every instance Jamaica's first woman prime minister seemed unladylike.
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