Jamaica Gleaner In Focus
Published: Monday Sunday | June 21, 2009
Not the same IMF
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has again become a hot-button issue in Jamaica but, like so many other issues in here, discourse on the matter is characterised by ignorance, gut feelings and anecdote. The fear of IMF "contamination" is akin to Jamaicans' fear of homosexual "contamination". Read More...
Jamaica first
When the Patterson administration made the welcome decision to change the oath of allegiance with which Jamaica's government is sworn into office, from swearing allegiance to The Queen to swearing to Jamaica, its constitution and people, I dared to hope that it would have marked a renewed commitment by government to pursuing the interest of the people of Jamaica, over all else. Read More...
Jamaica's domestic and external interests
The PetroCaribe energy agreement is a model of cooperation among developing countries. So said Bruce Golding at the end of the most recent ministerial meeting of the 17 members of the pact last weekend. Over that same weekend, CARICOM's trade ministers also ended their most recent meeting. Read More...
Making most of foreign direct investment
The concepts of economic growth and investment are inextricably linked. Over the years, Jamaica has benefited from high levels of foreign direct investment (FDI), an important injector of capital and foreign exchange into the economy. Read More...
Political déjà vu in reverse
Given the worldwide economic crisis and the Jamaican fallout of drastically shrinking remittances and bauxite collapsing to almost nothing, elections are the last thing on people's minds right now. So the general reaction to last week's North East St Catherine by-election was "Stewps. Me too busy trying to pay my bills to worry 'bout that foolishness!" Read More...
Cynical dualities of the Jamaican society
In the June 12 edition of The Gleaner, writer Petrina Francis carried remarks made by Andrew Holness, minister of education, about the real possibility that the GSAT is a tool of the perpetuation of the idea of two Jamaicas unequal and unjust - a kind of well-designed and questionable meritocracy. Read More...
Tourism: an export industry?
Much debate has been generated about tourism in the island over the last few decades. In fact, it has dominated a large part of the discussion surrounding the Jamaican economy. While many recognise its existence, and others move a step farther to attempt to quantify its contribution, the discourse has primarily been rooted in two areas. Read More...
Cancer of squatting spreads
Squatting in Jamaica has become a cancer that is sucking the blood out of the affected communities and will eventually cause those communities, and by extension the country, to implode. Read More...
Responsibility: the conversation
We have to keep a steady focus on the responsibility conversation that the prime minister desires. It must not be allowed to be forgotten or shelved. Under normal circumstances, this is a conversation that takes us into several areas of our everyday existence. Read More...
