A summary of news for the week March 3 – 8
Jamaica gets good marks for narco fight
The United States has given a relatively positive assessment of Jamaica’s efforts to battle drug running through the island, but says the authorities need to do more — with stepped-up international cooperation — to arrest and prosecute big drug dealers and shut down their operations.
But in its latest report on the international drug trade, the US State Department conceded that Jamaica’s efforts to fight narcotics smugglers were constrained by the island’s weak economy, although it stressed that corruption remained a significant issue and warned that Colombian drug cartels may have established “command and control” centres here to direct their operations.
Oil spill in Old Harbour Bay
FISHERMEN at the Old Harbour Bay fishing beach in St Catherine complained Sunday that an oil spill in the area, on Saturday, is threatening their livelihood.
One of the fishermen told the Observer that more than 3,900 pounds of fish caught in pots and nets were dumped as the oil had killed the fish. Fishing pots, he said, were stained with oil.
PM orders review of all consultants’ contracts
AMID growing howls of Opposition protest that the Government is providing jobs for its friends, Prime Minister P J Patterson on Monday ordered a review of all consultants’ contracts, including a full update of the systems in place and appointments already made.
Information Minister Burchell Whiteman told journalists of the prime minister’s instruction after Monday’s weekly meeting of the Cabinet.
Waterford residents say police killed two men in cold blood
POLICE say a “shoot-out” in Waterford, St Catherine, on February 28 left two men dead, but residents say the men were shot in cold blood.
“They took them from the house and killed them. They had no guns. It was cold-blooded murder,” a witness, who did not want to be named, told the Observer.
$1-m fire at UWI
FIRE on Monday destroyed a lecture room and four offices on the second floor of the Management Studies Department at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona. Damage has been estimated at $1 million.
The blaze, which started at about 6:30 am, was caused by an electrical short circuit, confirmed Lansford Williams, assistant superintendent in charge at the Half-Way-Tree Fire Station.
Health ministry wants to write off $290m
The health ministry has given up on collecting $290 million in unpaid hospital bills between April 1999 and June 2001, and is seeking permission from the finance ministry to write off the debt.
Grace Allen-Young, the permanent secretary in the health ministry, told Tuesday’s meeting of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that the request to allow the write-off was made last September, but there has not been a response.
US hands over 3 go-fast boats
THE efforts of the Jamaican Coast Guards in curbing narco-trafficking on Tuesday got a further boost when three fast patrol boats, commonly called go-fast boats, valued at nearly J$79 million, were handed over to the Government by the American Embassy.
United States Ambassador to Jamaica, Sue Cobb, said the boats were given to the local coast guards primarily to stem the “serious threat posed by go-fast boats in Jamaica’s territorial waters smuggling drugs, weapons, money and other contraband”.
Portmore issue need not delay local poll
Tuesday’s decision by the House to send the proposed municipality law to a joint parliamentary committee need not delay local government elections, but would likely mean that the people of Portmore would have to wait to vote for a separate council and mayor if the elections are held by month-end.
George Lee, the Portmore community activist who has led the campaign for the area to be declared a municipality, was disappointed by the potential setback. But according to Lee, an awareness by his group of the tight deadline caused them to press for the inclusion in the bill, the power for the local government minister to at any time name Portmore a municipality.
Reynolds defends Operation Pride
MANAGING director of the National Housing Development Corporation, Milverton Reynolds, has declared his full support for the Government’s controversial Operation Pride land distribution programme, stating that nothing or no one will “derail” it.
Addressing approximately 169 Pride beneficiaries who received certificates of possession for serviced lots at the Vineyard Community Centre, in St Elizabeth, Reynolds said the programme was firmly committed to changing the social and economic condition of the landless and would not be derailed or deterred.