Prime Minister Bruce Golding and other government officials are scheduled to travel to Mandeville this evening for the first in a series of town-hall meetings that the Government says are designed to encourage direct dialogue with members of the public.

Golding will be joined by Minister of Finance and the Public Service Audley Shaw; James Robertson, minister of energy and mining; Education Minister Andrew Holness and Daryl Vaz, the minister with responsibility for information and telecommunications.

Vaz said the town-hall meetings will give members of the public a chance to hear the Government's position on current national issues, including those related to the recent Budget Debate.

Members of the public will also be given the opportunity to air their views, ask questions and make recommendations on matters that affect them, Vaz added.

Sonia Christie dies

Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Olivia Grange, has expressed regret at the passing of Sonia Christie, the former acting executive director of the Social Development Commission (SDC).

Christie, who was widely believed to be a key figure in the unveiling of the Trafigura scandal in 2006, died yesterday morning.

Christie was appointed acting executive director of the SDC in May 2008, but was forced to demit office in December 2008 because of ill health.

Grange said tha in her all-too brief stay at the SDC, Christie was instrumental in strengthening the organisational efficiency of the commission.

Bartlett opens Sectoral Debate

Under intense pressure from the effects of the global economic meltdown, Jamaica's tourism sector will today come into sharp focus when portfolio minister Edmund Bartlett opens the Sectoral Debate in Gordon House.

Data from the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) yesterday showed that the tourism sector declined by 0.2 per cent for the January to March quarter.

Total arrivals for the period dipped by 11.8 per cent, cruise visitor arrivals plunged by 25.7 per cent, while stopover arrivals grew by two per cent.

Bartlett, at a Jamaica Product Exchange media luncheon in Montego Bay, St James, last week, was at pains to point out that despite a downturn in tourist arrivals in some countries, Jamaica recorded a four per cent growth at the end of 2008 over the previous year.

Meanwhile, Opposition Spokesman on Energy and Telecommunications, Phillip Paulwell, will also make his contribution to the debate.

BARTLETT