A look back at the 12 biggest local news stories of 2024
A Category 4 hurricane that wiped out economic growth, Prime Minister Andrew Holness being investigated for illicit enrichment; the Cherry Tree Lane Massacre; and dancehall entertainer Vybz Kartel being freed of a murder conviction are among Observer Online’s 12 biggest news stories of 2024.
A politician being charged with his wife’s murder and Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke being recruited by the IMF for a top job also make the list.
See below the biggest news stories in Jamaica this year:
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One of the many utility poles in St Elizabeth that were downed by Hurricane Beryl on July 3, 2024. (Photo: Karl Mclarty)
1. Hurricane Beryl leaves billions in damage, country in the dark
Category 4 Hurricane Beryl slammed into Jamaica on July 3 leaving at least three people dead, the agriculture sector in ruins and the housing and road infrastructure severely impacted.
Its impact on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was severe, costing $32 billion while sending the economy into decline. The Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) in its quarterly update in November reported that the economy contracted 2.8 per cent in the July-September 2024 quarter, with the outlook for the December quarter looking gloomy, with a possible further contraction of 1.5 per cent.
The 2.8 per cent contraction in the economy reversed 12 consecutive quarters of growth since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an update to the nation on July 9, Prime Minister Andrew Holness informed that the main road network had suffered an estimated $10.25 billion in damage. With 200 main roads and 500 parochial roads affected, many areas were inaccessible, complicating the Government’s relief effort. The destruction of infrastructure disrupted access to critical services including healthcare with health facilities suffering damage to the tune of $1.8 billion.
Many schools were impacted, with some still undergoing repairs at the end of the year. The housing stock in the worst affected parishes of St Elizabeth and Clarendon took a hit; some were completely destroyed.
The preliminary estimate of the loss suffered by farmers quickly jumped to $6.5 billion, immediately pushing up prices for ground provision and vegetables which remain high.
The biggest immediate headache for Jamaicans in the aftermath of the hurricane was the lack of electricity, the resultant heat as a result of being unable to run cooling devices such as air-conditioning units and household fans, and having to cope with a mosquito nuisance. National Water Commission facilities were also severely impacted, with the Government providing millions to procure portable generators to get pumping stations up and running in the absence of electricity.
A total of 257 light poles in St Elizabeth were toppled by the howling winds associated with Beryl, plunging the entire bread basket parish into darkness. This was shared by the prime minister in a statement in the House of Representatives. He informed that in addition to the flattened poles, the report from the JPS was that 225 insulators and cross arms were damaged, as well as 105 conductors and 13 transformers. It would not be until August 28 and after much verbal dressing down by Energy Minister Daryl Vaz before electricity was fully restored.
Overall, the Government responded with care packages in the hardest-hit areas and monetary grants were provided to households that suffered damage. Additionally, the Disaster Assistance and Recovery (DART) team of the Jamaica Defence Force was deployed and took the lead role in rebuilding houses that were destroyed by the hurricane.
CNN reported in the days before Jamaica was hit that the hurricance, which also impacted several islands in the Caribbean and parts of the United States, was the earliest Category 5 hurricane and only the second Atlantic storm of such strength to be recorded in July. It said its alarming strengthening was fed by abnormally warm ocean waters driven by planet-warming fossil fuel pollution.
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Prime Minister of Jamaica Andrew Holness takes part in a meeting on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, on Wednesday, June 8, 2022. (Photo: AP)
2. Prime Minister Andrew Holness investigated for illicit enrichment by Integrity Commission
An investigation report of the integrity Commission (IC) that was tabled in the House of Representatives on September 17 revealed that Prime Minister Andrew Holness was under probe for illicit enrichment.
The bombshell report highlighted that the IC was still not in a position to certify his statutory declarations for several years, and they remain uncertified. In fact, the IC recommended that both the Financial Investigation Division (FID) and Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) examine aspects of the financial affairs of the prime minister.
Separately, the IC did not refer the prime minister for prosecution for failing to declare a number of banks accounts on which his name appeared when he filed his statutory declarations with the commission for the 2019-2022 period. The investigation report, an addendum, the commission’s ruling and a special report were all tabled in the House of Representatives marking the culmination of a two-year investigation.
The investigation sought to ascertain whether Holness owns assets disproportionate to his lawful earnings, and if he had in fact made false statements in his statutory declarations, by way of omissions, contrary to law. The FID and TAJ were asked to take a closer look at the transactions and dealings of several companies with which Holness and at least one of his sons are affiliated. The transactions amount to over $470 million.
Separately, the investigation report flagged the appointment of Norman Brown, a business associate of the prime minister, as chairman of the Urban Development Corporation and the Housing Agency of Jamaica, as posing significant conflict of interest concerns.
“These concerns emanate from the fact that both entities fall under Mr Holness’ portfolio as Minister of Economic Growth and Job Creation. As established above, Mr Brown who is a minority shareholder in Estatebridge, has made the single largest shareholder contribution (financial) to this company, since its incorporation. Notwithstanding the foregoing, there is no direct evidence to suggest that there were any improprieties on the part of Messrs Holness and Brown,” it said.
Immediately after the report was tabled Holness hit back at the IC, declaring that he had broken no law. In a statement delivered in the House, Holness “strongly rejected” the recommendations of the IC that the FID and TAJ examine his financial dealings.
“Let it be known that I have complied with any obligation placed on me within the law. The company with which I am the directly associated is compliant and up to date with its tax filings,” the prime minister said.
After declaring that he had worked hard, wisely and honestly to achieve whatever he possessed and had “never depended on the public purse,” Holness suggested that the IC was in “urgent need of revision”.
He would later take the matter to court seeking a judicial review of the IC’s findings. The Supreme Court in December granted his application for leave to apply for judicial review of the commission’s report on his statutory declarations.
Holness was also granted leave to seek an order to quash the August 30, 2024 IC report, as well as the commission’s special report, save for a paragraph which recommended development of a policy concerning ministers of Government and potential conflicts of interest.
The prime minister’s attorneys, in petitioning the Supreme Court to review the legality of the actions of the IC during its probe of his statutory declarations, had argued that the reports, which have been made public, “are tainted and ought to be struck down”.
The court, in its ruling, said the threshold test for leave to bring a judicial review claim had been met.
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Debbie-Ann Hamilton-Francis is supported by a member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force in this August 2024 file photo as she mourns the murder of her husband, daughter, and cousin in a mass murder at Cherry Tree Lane in Clarendon. Eight people were shot dead in the attack by gunmen. (Photo: Llewellyn Wynter)
3. The Cherry Tree Lane Massacre
Sunday, August 11 saw the worst mass shooting in Jamaica’s history at Cherry Tree Lane in Four Paths, Clarendon.
When the shooting stopped, 17 people attending a birthday celebration were found with gunshot wounds, eight of them, including a seven year-old boy, succumbed to their injuries. The shocking incident which the police quickly linked to gang activity involving players based overseas and in Jamaica, including some who were serving time in prison, was quickly picked up by the international media.
National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang would express his “deep sadness” over the incident while offering condolences to the affected families. For his part, Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced the Government’s offer of up to $25 million in reward money for information leading to the capture and conviction of the perpetrators including the facilitators and the triggermen.
Holness described the gun attack as “an act of terror” and directed the security forces to carry out an all-out assault on the criminals involved. The now retired Deputy Commissioner of Police, Fitz Bailey, disclosed that the mass shooting occurred during a birthday celebration and was gang-related. He also said it was in reprisal for someone who was killed.
On August 14, one of the prime suspects in the mass murder was cut down by law enforcers in what the police reported was a targeted operation in Osbourne Store, Clarendon. The dead man was identified as Steve Smith, otherwise called Thicka or Fly Brain. According to the police, he was suspected of being involved in numerous contract-related killings and other serious and illicit activities in Clarendon and other parishes.
On October 11, another of the main suspects in the massacre was shot and killed in an alleged confrontation with police in Spanish Town, St Catherine. He was identified as Kendrick Campbell, also known as Wormy. He was reportedly a high-ranking member of a faction of the notorious Klansman gang and, in 2011, had featured in the grizzly beheading of beheading of Charmaine Cover-Rattray and her daughter Joeith Lynch in Lauriston, St Catherine; the two were accused of being informers.
There were several other multiple killings this year including at a bar on Waltham Park Road in Kingston on November 25 and at a football game in Pleasant Heights, Rockfort in East Kingston on October 21. On both occasions five men were killed.
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Vybz Kartel emerges from Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre (General Penitentiary) on Wednesday, July 31. (Photo: Karl Mclarty)
4. Vybz Kartel freed
After serving nearly 13 years behind bars, dancehall entertainer Vybz Kartel and two of his three co-accused were released from prison on July 31, after their murder convictions were quashed by the Court of Appeal.
The highly-anticipated decision was delivered by President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Marva McDonald-Bishop, who led a three judge panel that also included justices Paulette Williams and David Fraser.
The story of Kartel’s release was carried by BBC, Billboard and other foreign media outlets.
Kartel, real name Adidja Palmer, fellow entertainer Shawn ‘Shawn Storm’ Campbell, Kahira Jones and Andre St John were freed after the Court of Appeal ruled against retrying them for the September 2011 murder of their friend Clive “Lizard” Williams. Jones remains behind bars where he’s serving a gun-related sentence.
Lawyers representing the quartet made an appeal to the local Court of Appeal in 2020, but their convictions were upheld. Their appeal was then taken to the United Kingdom-based Privy Council, where, on March 14, 2024, their murder convictions were overturned on the grounds of juror misconduct. The Privy Council sent the case back to the Jamaica Court of Appeal to decide whether there should be a retrial; the local court ruled against it.
Kartel has become a social media star since his release with his fans seemingly unable to get enough of his latest purchases whether it’s a house or a high-end motor vehicle and for who such purchase is made. Fans are also glued to the almost daily developments in his love life.
The Romping Shop deejay is set to grace a stage in Jamaica for the first time in over 13 years when he headlines the Freedom Street concert at the National Stadium on New Year’s Eve. It is rumoured that he inked a multimillion US-dollar deal for his much-anticipated performances across the region.
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Jolyan and Melissa Silvera on their wedding day, Saturday, December 12, 2015, at St Andrew Parish Church in the Corporate Area
5. Former MP Joylan Silvera charged with wife’s murder
In a stunning fall from grace, former People’s National Party Member of Parliament for St Mary Western, Jolyan Silvera, was in January charged with the murder of his wife Melissa Silvera.
Melissa was found dead in the couple’s Stony Hill, St Andrew home on November 10, 2023. It was initially assumed that she had died from natural causes.
However, Jolyan Silvera was in January taken into custody as a suspect in the case.
Earlier reports stated that Melissa died in her sleep on November 10, but the police upgraded their probe after her post-mortem examination revealed she was shot at least three times.
“After the autopsy report, it was revealed that Mrs Silvera had not died from natural causes but as a result of possible gunshot wounds. As a consequence, the police elevated the investigation into a murder investigation,” said the now retired Deputy Commissioner of Police, Fitz Bailey during an interview.
The disgraced one-term politician has retained the services of prominent attorney Peter Champagnie. He has had his bail application put off or denied on several occasions.
6. Local Government Elections and the PNP’s ascendancy
The People’s National Party (PNP) under the leadership of its President Mark Golding saw a resurgence 2024.
This is evident by the party’s strong showing in the Local Government Elections in February and its widening lead over the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in public opinion polls.
After being wiped out by the JLP in a landslide in the September 2020 General Election, winning just 14 of the 63 constituencies, and crippled by persistent infighting, the PNP entered 2024 more united than it had been since 2019 when a bruising leadership battle between Dr Peter Phillips and Peter Bunting threatened to tear the party apart.
Under Golding’s leadership, and with its General Secretary Dr Dayton Campbell as the architect, the PNP entered the Local Government Elections in control of just five of the 14 local authorities. By the time the final vote was counted, the PNP was in charge of seven local authorities, including the Portmore Municipal Corporation where it also won the mayor’s race.
Campbell had promised a landslide that did not materialise. However, the PNP wrestled the St Mary Municipal Corporation away from the JLP and took charge of the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation after both parties won 20 divisions each. The PNP earned the right to appoint the mayor by virtue of winning the popular vote, the JLP appointed the deputy mayor.
Of note is that the PNP has threatened court action in its bid to seat the mayor in Clarendon which ended 12-10 in favour of the JLP in February. However, a November by-election for the Aenon Town division resulted in a PNP win, including the popular vote. The party leadership has argued that the same situation that applied to the KSAMC should prevail in Clarendon but Mayor Joel Williams has indicated that he is going nowhere.
The February elections saw the PNP winning all seven divisions in Hanover, all four divisions in Manchester Central, including in the JLP stronghold of Knockpatrick, and the Christiana division in Manchester North East, the once impregnable domain of outgoing Member of Parliament Audley Shaw. The JLP also lost the Mocho division in Clarendon North Central for the first time in 50 years.
The resurgence of the PNP is also seen in public opinion polls where Golding, for the first time since becoming PNP President in 2020, has a higher favourability rating than Prime Minister Andrew Holness. A Don Anderson poll conducted in October puts Golding’s favourability at 36 per cent, compared to 32.5 per cent for Holness.
The same poll shows the PNP with a 9.1 percentage point lead over the JLP, with 39.3 per cent of respondents indicating that they would vote for the PNP compared to 30.2 per cent who said they would back the JLP.
The strong showing by Golding and the PNP is despite an attempt by senior members of the governing party to discredit him over the fact that he held both Jamaican and British citizenship. He inherited his British citizenship from his father, the late Sir John Golding. The JLP argued that Golding was not fit to serve as prime minister even though the Constitution allows citizens of the Commonwealth to sit in the Jamaican Parliament. After declaring himself a “born Jamaican” Golding renounced his British citizenship but is now facing a sustained racial attack from some senior members of the JLP.
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Dr Nigel Clarke is about to close, for the final time, the door to the office he occupied as minister of finance and the public service for the past six years.Photo: Naphtali Junior
7. Dr Nigel Clarke recruited by the IMF
The recruitment of former Finance and Public Service Minister Dr Nigel Clarke by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a deputy managing director’s position was big news inside and outside Jamaica.
After all, Clarke, who managed the finance portfolio for six-and-a-half years from March 2018 until his resignation on October 29, is the first person from the Caribbean or Central American region to hold such a high office at the IMF.
Clarke, who has been lauded for turning around the country’s economic fortunes, was handpicked by the IMF’s managing director Kristalina Georgieva to join the multilateral.
“The position of deputy managing director is global in scope. No citizen of Jamaica, the Caribbean or Central America has ever before served at this level in the IMF in its 80-year history. It is to the benefit of Jamaica and the Caribbean region for one of our nationals to serve in such a consequential global position,” said Prime Minister Andrew Holness as he responded to the announcement in August. He added that “This development is, therefore, a tremendous net gain for Jamaica and the Caribbean. Furthermore, this elevation of Minister Clarke is demonstrative of the depth, strength and capacity of my administration”.
Holness highlighted that during his tenure as finance minister, Clarke has driven the substantial improvement in Jamaica’s macro-economic fundamentals, the abolition and reduction of distortionary taxes, central bank independence, the fiscal commission, multi-layered disaster risk financing, public body governance and public body rationalisation.
The prime minister also noted that Clarke presided over nine budget cycles without the imposition of any new taxes, the highest net international reserves in decades, and the halving of the national debt from 144 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 74 per cent of GDP.
“These are real things that have happened to transform our economy under the direction of Minister Clarke as the Minister of Finance,” Holness said as the House of Representatives paid tribute to the former minister.
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Barbara Gayle
8. Veteran journalist Barbara Gayle murdered
The shocking, brutal murder of veteran journalist Barbara Gayle inside her house at Caymanas Country Club Estate in December was widely condemned by Jamaicans.
The news of her murder which was shocking even by Jamaica’s standard where over 1,000 homicides are committed every year, was also picked up by news outlets in Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados.
Police have since charged a man in relation to her murder. He is 24-year-old Travis Ellis of Gulf, Gregory Park in the parish. Ellis is charged with murder and robbery with aggravation.
Gayle’s killing was widely condemned, including by Prime Minister Andrew Holness, former Prime Minister PJ Patterson, Justice Minister Delroy Chuck, the Opposition People’s National Party, members of the judiciary and her colleagues in media.
Reports are that about 11:00 am on Tuesday, December 17, Gayle’s body was found with multiple stab wounds inside her house. The 77-year-old woman’s car was found in bushes off the Dyke Road in the parish the following day.
Ellis was arrested on December 18 in Grange Lane, St Catherine, not far from the crime scene after he was reportedly found hiding in bushes.
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Paula Llewellyn
9. Paula Llewelyn remains as DPP after appeal court victory
On Monday, April 22, Claudette A Thompson, the senior deputy Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions was appointed the acting DPP.
Her appointment was based on the recommendation of the Public Service Commission.
She had replaced Paula Llewellyn who took leave from the position following the Supreme Court’s ruling on April 19 that the second extension of her tenure in office was unconstitutional, which the government said it would appeal.
On December 20, the Court of Appeal ruled that the Constitutional Court erred in April when it struck down the second bar of the 2023 constitutional amendment extending Llewelyn’s tenure as DPP.
In the summary judgment, the Court said it had determined that upon the promulgation of the Amendment Act, the incumbent DPP “automatically benefited” from the extension it granted. Furthermore the panel disagreed with the stance of the Constitutional Court that such an extension would require agreement between the prime minister and the Opposition leader.
The Appeal Court said the 2023 amendments to the new section, 2(1), which increased the age of retirement of the DPP from 60 to 65 and section 2(2), which gave the right to the DPP to elect to remain in office despite the role of the prime minister and Opposition leader assigned by the Constitution regarding an extension of tenure, were valid.
In 2023, the Government, through a majority vote of both Houses of Parliament, pushed through amendments to sections 96(1) and 121(1) of the constitution. The amendments, through a new section, 2(1), increased the age of retirement of the DPP from 60 to 65, and added a new section, 2(2), giving the right to the DPP to elect to remain in office despite the role of the prime minister and Opposition leader assigned by the constitution regarding an extension of tenure.
The Opposition filed a lawsuit challenging the extension, arguing that the amendment was unconstitutional and should be struck down on the basis that the DPP had already received an extension in office in 2020 when she turned 60 and so should not benefit from a second.
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Roje Stona of Jamaica displays the discus gold medal during a presentation ceremony of the Olympic Games at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis on August 8, 2024. (Naphtali Junior)
10. Big Stona throw, Kishane’s narrow miss and plethora of injuries threw up a mixed bag for Jamaica at Paris Olympics
On Wednesday, August 7, Roje Stona stunned a powerful field to win the gold medal in the men’s discus throw at the Olympic Games at Stade de France in Paris, setting a new Olympic record of 70.00m in the process.
It was Jamaica’s only gold medal of the Games and first-ever gold medal in any throwing event at a major global championships at the senior level. It was also the second throwing medal at the Games after Rajindra Campbell earlier won bronze in the shot put.
Stona’s throw was the highlight of what, by Jamaica’s standard, was a disappointing Olympics; the country won six medals – one gold, three silver and two bronze medals to finish 42nd overall and seventh on the track and field table.
It was heartbreak for Jamaicans around the globe when the MVP-conditioned Kishane Thompson was pipped on the line by the United States’ Noah Lyles in the 100m final. It was the closest finish ever in the blue riband event. Thompson appeared to have won the race but both men were credited with the same time of 9.79 seconds, with Lyles getting the win by 4-thousandth of a second.
Thompson had gone into the final with the fastest time of 9.80 seconds; the other Jamaican, Oblique Seville, who entered the final with 9.81 seconds, the second fastest time, finished in eighth place in 9.91 seconds.
Jamaicans were disappointed throughout the Games. Shericka Jackson, having earlier pulled out of the 100m was later forced to withdraw from the 200m, her pet event, having not fully recovered from an injury. She was expected to challenge for the gold medal in both events. And Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce pulled out of the 100m, she too citing injury.
There was also reported friction between the Jamaica Olympic Association and the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association.
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A screen grab from CVM Television shows child killer Kayodi Satchell being escorted by a female cop from the Supreme Court in handcuffs on a previous appearence.Photo: CVM Television
11. Danielle Rowe’s killer gets life in prison for ‘evil deed’
Dental assistant Kayodi Satchell was on December 20 sentenced to life in prison for the horrific murder of eight-year-old Danielle Rowe. She will be eligible for parole after serving 27 years and four months.
The decision was handed down by Supreme Court Judge Justice Carolyn Tie-Powell.
Satchell was also sentenced to six years and three months for child stealing, the sentences are to run concurrently.
During the sentencing, Justice Tie-Powell described what Satchell did to Danielle as “sheer evil” and said that with Danielle’s death, her family has been deprived of so much, noting Danielle’s brother who asks for her every day and her sister who is always angry and wants to die.
Satchell admitted that she snatched Rowe from Braeton Primary and Infant School in Portmore, Catherine on June 8, 2023 and took her to a location in St Andrew where she fed her a meal before slashing her throat. The mortally wounded child was found by a member of the Jamaica Defence Force on Roosevelt Avenue in St Andrew. She succumbed to her injuries in hospital two days later on June 10.
In September, Satchell pleaded guilty to the acts which caused widespread horror and outrage. She claimed she was driven to commit the crime out of “bitterness and frustration” at being jilted by the child’s father who she said infected her with HIV.
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Everton “Beachy Stout” McDonald and his now deceased second wife, Tonia McDonald. He and his co-convict Oscar Barnes were last Thursday sentenced to life in prison for her murder.
12. Wife killer Beachcy Stout gets life sentence
On September 26, 70-year-old Portland businessman Everton “Beachy Stout” McDonald and co-convict Oscar Barnes were sentenced to life in prison for the gruesome 2020 murder of McDonald’s second wife Tonia in 2020.
The two were in March found guilty of murder and conspiracy to murder in the death of the 32-year-old woman. The sentences were handed down in the Supreme Court by Justice Chester Stamp. Both convicts will be eligible for parole after serving 28 years and 11 months behind bars.
On the conspiracy to murder charge, Beachy Stout was sentenced to four years and six months while Barnes received six and a half years. Both sentences are to run concurrently.
Tonia was gruesomely murdered on July 20, 2020 on the main road in Sherwood Forest in Portland. She was stabbed repeatedly, her throat slashed, and the Toyota Axio motor car she was driving, along with her body, burned.
Both men were arrested after the police were tipped off that Denvalyn “Bubbla” Minott could assist them greatly in their investigations into the murder. After they arrested him at his house in Portland, he confessed to his involvement, claiming that he had been contracted by McDonald for $3 million to kill his wife. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison for his part in Tonia’s murder and testified against the other men.