‘Sick minds’

13 new units among JUTC buses damaged by stone throwers

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Thirteen new Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) buses have been damaged, mostly by stoning, since the 50 new units were incorporated into the company’s fleet in mid-February, resulting in hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars being required for repairs and worsening the state-owned company’s cash flow problems.

Angered by the attacks, Transport Minister Mike Henry described them as reflective of the corruption of some minds among the citizenry, “including elements who seem always bent on using a cry of poverty and economic challenges to hide the actions of sick minds”.

The window of this JUTC Premium service bus was shattered by a stone Thursday night. The company says that many of its buses, including 13 of the new units introduced into the service in mid-February, have been damaged by stone throwers, resulting in taxpayers’ money being used to repair the damage. (Photos: Karl McLarty)

Added Henry: “The attacks seem to be motivated by interests in the transportation sector whose viability, based on their unacceptable operating standards and practices which are tantamount to an insult for a public service, have been finding it increasingly difficult to compete with the standards of comfort and security which the new JUTC buses and management have brought to the system. Now, if that proves to be true and this unacceptable spate of attacks continues, I am going to have to resort to some rather drastic but effective measures to contain the development.”

According to the transport ministry, six of the units were damaged by stones in Portmore, St Catherine, where 12 of the older JUTC buses were also stoned during the period under reference.

“The stoning took place in the East Mid Street area of Greater Portmore, in Cumberland, Christian Pen, Waterford, Naggo Head, Bridgeport, Southboro, and West Port. All the incidents in Portmore took place between the hours of 8:30 pm and 9:30 pm.”

Yesterday, Reginald Allen, the ministry’s communications spokesman, said that since Wednesday night when one of the new buses was stoned in Bridgeport, a 13th new bus was attacked and damaged, and one of the company’s premium buses, which has been in the fleet for some time now, was slightly damaged.

The Bridgeport attack resulted in damage to a main panel of glass, which, the ministry said, “will require hundreds of thousands of dollars to have it replaced”. There was also minor damage to the body of the unit.

Allen said that while most of the repairs have cost the company in the region of $80,000 to $150,000, there has been at least one instance when the cash-strapped JUTC had to fork out close to $300,000 to repair damage from stoning. He also said that in one of the cases, a driver got a bit of glass splinter in one of his eyes.

The ministry said that outside of Portmore, there have been three separate stoning incidents involving new JUTC buses on Washington Boulevard in the Corporate Area, with two taking place at the Duhaney Park/Cooreville Gardens intersection.

“Another new bus was damaged elsewhere in the Corporate Area, while a fire, believed to have been the work of arsonists, resulted in damage to a new unit in the Half-Way-Tree Transport Centre,” the ministry said. “There were 16 other stone-throwing incidents which affected the older buses in Kingston during the period under reference.”

Another new unit, the ministry added, was stoned in the Central Village area of St Catherine, where two older units also came under similar attacks since the introduction of the new buses.

The ministry said that in response to the spate of attacks, the police will be mounting a number of initiatives to address the situation.

Additionally, arrangements are being made to allow properly identified police personnel to travel on the JUTC buses free of cost as one of the measures to deter attacks on the buses.

Yesterday, Neville Francis, the manager of the JUTC’s Portmore depot, said that while he had no empirical evidence, the attacks appear to have their genesis in opposition to the standard of service being provided by the JUTC.

“I suppose part of the problem is that we have been offering some fierce competition and our strategies are working,” Francis told the Observer.

He said that since the introduction of the new buses, the JUTC’s passenger lift on the Portmore/Kingston route has increased from 41,000 to 47,000 daily on the regular service only.

Francis did not have data on the Premium service, but said “people seem to be gravitating towards our buses”.

He said that JUTC officials will be meeting with the police on Tuesday next week to work out response strategies.

Indian con artists flee with thousands - Portland residents left holding the bag

PORT ANTONIO, Portland:

The Portland police are seeking help from Cuban authorities to locate a group of Indian store operators, who allegedly fleeced local consumers of thousands of dollars last month.

A police report is suggesting that the Indian immigrants, who operated three furniture and appliance stores in Port Antonio, fled the island overnight some weeks ago with a substantial amount of money paid to them for furniture and electrical appliances in layaway and hire-purchase agreements.

The police said that their investigation has revealed that the immigrants have fled to Cuba after they allegedly collected money from more than 20 consumers.

According to the police, consumers deposited as much as $10,000 as first-time deposits as part of layaway agreements on various items, including televisions, laptops, desk computers, fridges, sofas, component sets, beds, stoves and washing machines.

According to the lawmen, some consumers had already paid as much as $40,000 on some items, and were in the process of closing their accounts.

The police explained that layaway payment stipulates that all accounts are to be settled after three months following the first deposit, but some customers who turned up to make final payments found the doors to the stores padlocked and chained.

The authorities went on to explain that the matter was only reported to them after the store remained closed for more than a week, giving the operators time to escape.

The police say receipts received from consumers have indicated that approximately $750,000 was collected by the store operators, who also owed more than three months in rent to owners of the building.

- Gareth Davis Sr

Dear Mr PM - Tween tells Golding how it should be done; Port Maria Primary School girls cry for help

Prime Minister Bruce GoldingTyrone Reid, Staff Reporter

Primary school

students penned three heart-tugging letters to Prime Minister Bruce Golding, pleading for help, plus providing advice on how children can be better protected by the State.

The tear-jerking missives were penned by two third-grade students and a sixth grader. The letters were published in the latest edition of The Gleaner’s weekly publication, The Children’s Own, which is distributed to primary, all-age and preparatory schools across the country.

While two of the letters were appeals for help with their schools’ infrastructure, one offered advice on how to prevent children from being kidnapped and murdered.

Mario Millwood, a grade-six student at Alpha Primary, was quite frank with the prime minister regarding the insufficiency of what is widely known as the ‘Ananda Alert’ - a three-digit emergency number that children in crisis can call to report cases of abuse.

The emergency number was implemented after the brutal slaying of 11-year-old Ananda Dean. The 11-year-old was reported missing on September 17, 2008, after leaving school for home.

Her decomposing body, found in Belvedere, St Andrew, almost two weeks after she went missing, had to be hauled from a precipice by a fire brigade truck.

At the time of her death, Dean was a grade-six student of Swallowfield Primary and Junior High School.

“I have come to realise that Jamaica’s future (the children) are being brutalised by people in the country. They are being kidnapped and some murdered,” said Mario.

“I have heard in the news that you have made an alarm for when school is over, but that is not enough,” said the tough-talking tween.

He added: “I have a plan. You can set up a bus plan for each school in Jamaica. Although it will cost a lot, it is safe. Think about it, then you decide to tell the people of Jamaica. Have a good day, Mr Golding.”

In an interview with The Gleaner, Millwood said saving lives was priceless. The youngster was optimistic that Golding would accept his proposal that would see children carried from school and dropped off at their gates. The student said he penned the letter during an extra-lesson class.

Mature way

His teacher asked students to write to the prime minister explaining how to stop crimes against children.

Phyllis Anderson, principal of Alpha Primary School, was impressed by Millwood’s eloquence. “I am happy that a child is able to express himself like this in such a mature way,” she said.

The other two letters were written by two third-grade students from the Port Maria Primary School in St Mary.

“I am asking for help at my school. Whenever it rains my school yard and classes are flooded and I cannot go to school. If I am at school and it starts to rain, the fire department and soldiers have to be called in to help the children,” wrote Melissa Grant, as she petitioned the prime minister.

The child closed her letter with words that could melt the coldest of hearts. “Therefore, I am asking you in the love of Port Maria Primary School. Thank you, sir,” she said.

Grant’s schoolmate, Rannay Barnes, asked Golding for help with the same issue. “We need your help to make it better. The children need to go to school because they need to learn. The schoolyard is in a bad condition,” said Barnes.

Barnes also invited the prime minister to visit the school and reminded Golding about the importance of children. “Remember the children are the future. Please, please help us.”

Is the situation that bad at Port Maria Primary? Yes, it is.

Vivene Irvin, principal of the school, told The Gleaner that after the compound is flooded some students are forced to miss classes for almost an entire week. The start of the current school year was delayed by two weeks because of flooding that took place in late August.

“When it floods it is like a sea in the schoolyard and all the grade one classes are flooded,” Irvin confirmed.

Irvin, principal since 1995, said the school has been flooded more than a dozen times since she has been at the helm. The relevant authorities are aware of the situation.

tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com

Gov’t to take some agencies off budget

No retreat on free health, education subsidy

BY ALICIA DUNKLEY Observer staff reporter dunkleya@jamaicaobserver.com

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

A number of Government regulatory agencies and others engaged in commercial activities are to be made self-financing and taken off the national budget, as the administration struggles to keep its head above the raging financial waters.

This was one of several efforts the Bruce Golding-led Government indicated that it would be pursuing during this fiscal year to keep costs at a bare minimum.

Governor General Dr Patrick Allen (right) delivers his maiden Throne Speech to mark the beginning of the new session of Parliament at Gordon House yesterday. Also pictured is his aide-de-camp, Captain Delando Coriah. (Photo: Michael Gordon)

Governor General Dr Patrick Allen, making his maiden Throne Speech marking the beginning of the new session of Parliament, yesterday outlined the Government’s programme for the 2009/10 legislative year.

Dr Allen said the Government would also continue to offload loss-making entities which have been placeing a burden on its coffers.

“We must relieve the budget of loss-making enterprises and the cost of Government agencies which ought to be self-financing,” the governor general said. This, he said, was essential to attaining a balanced budget over time and to allow the administration to redirect scarce resources to key areas such as education, health and security, among others.

“Other Government-owned assets to be divested have been identified and an aggressive divestment programme will be developed to take advantage of the renewed appetite for investment which is anticipated after the recession has ended,” Dr Allen said.

The governor general, noting that the failure to divest Air Jamaica and five sugar factories within the originally specified time frame was more the result of the challenging economic climate, said the Government would be continuing and concluding those efforts this financial year.

The governor general also said the administration had no intention of backtracking on its decision to abolish tuition fees in secondary schools and user fees in hospitals and health centres.

“Even in these tough economic times, this initiative to help the poor cannot be rolled back,” he said. “More resources will be provided to increase the availability of drugs and creative measures introduced to provide other access points; it must not be rolled back.”

And the country’s social safety net is to be further strengthened through the expansion of the Programme for Advancement Through Health and Education. Dr Allen said other programmes to assist the poor and those at risk were also to be strengthened.

In the meantime, the Government indicated that a new energy strategy is to be presented this year in the interest of efficient production and competitiveness.

The governor general said while investments in new solutions will take three to four years to mature, the process must begin this year. “It is one of the highest priorities of the Government,” he said.

Huge debt

Creditors, police, teachers primary beneficiaries as $12b yanked from other sectors

BY CAMILO THAME Business co-ordinator thamec@jamaicaobserver.com

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Most ministries and government offices will have to work with less or the same amount of funds that they spent last year, while a huge jump in debt servicing costs and key civil servants - police and teachers - pay have eaten away $12 billion from other areas of government.

The Government tabled the estimates of expenditure for the 2009/2010 fiscal year in Parliament yesterday and revealed a total expenditure package of $548 billion, up from the $508 billion that was estimated to have been spent during the previous fiscal year that ran to March 31, 2009.

Interest payments are expected to run the Government $159 billion, $35 billion higher than the previous year, while debt repayment is expected to cost $150 billion, up $6 billion.

This means that the total debt package increased by $41 billion - already more than the increase in expenditure over last year - and at a total of $309 billion, represents 56 cents out of every dollar the Government plans to spend this year.

The police department has been allocated $24.5 billion in the recurrent budget, which is nearly $3 billion more than was spent in the previous year. Nearly half of the increase is associated with higher compensation to employees which, according to the estimates, will be $18.5 billion during the fiscal year that began April 1.

The allocation for the purchase of goods and services for the police was increased from the $2.3-billion spent last year to nearly $4 billion.

The increase in police compensation would represent an eight per cent hike in salaries, but it pales in comparison to the 18 per cent increase in teachers’ salaries alluded to in the budget. Grants for instruction at primary, secondary and all-age schools will total $34 billion this year, or $5.3 billion more than what was spent last year and which reflects a portion of the increase in teachers’ salaries.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Bruce Golding announced a public sector wage freeze and it appears that the current budget reflects constant salaries for most and cuts to other expenses, given that the total increase of $10.8 billion on the police department and the education ministry (including other expenses such as cost of goods and services) and the $41-billion increase in debt service charges, means a $12-billion cut to other areas.

Fifteen of the 22 offices of government do not show an increase in estimated recurrent expenditure over last year.

One big loser is the tourism ministry, which saw $745 million axed from its promotions budget and which will have $2.78 billion to spend this year.

The Government also lowered its allocation to the National Solid Waste Management Authority by $300 million.

Yesterday, in his Throne Speech, Governor General Dr Patrick Allen spoke to plans to make a number of Government regulatory agencies and others engaged in commercial activities self-financing and taken off the national budget.

Alluding to this was the near $200-million that was taken off last year’s budget for post and telecommunication for utility services and expenditure on goods and services.

Even within the prime minister’s corporate offices the budget for human resource management was lowered from last year’s figure by $70 million. Interestingly, the office of the leader of the opposition will also see its budget cut by more than half, from $33 million to $14 million.

The total non-debt capital expenditure is budgeted to be $2 billion lower than the year before, or $34 billion.

With the Northern Jamaica Coastal Highway being 88 per cent complete, and with hurricane repairs slowing down, road infrastructure projects have been cut by nearly $3 billion. However, the Office of the Prime Minister’s (OPM’s) budget for area development projects, including the construction of sports facilities across the island, has been upped by $1 billion.

The OPM also tacked over $1 billion to its capital spending to accommodate technical and vocational training.

Volunteers help ’sow’ Mustard Seed

SCORES of volunteers yesterday turned out to assist with clean-up efforts at Martha’s House, the children’s home operated by the Mustard Seed Communities which was gutted by fire last month.

Founder of the Mustard Seed Communities Father Gregory Ramkissoon said the volunteers were from various organisations and nearby communities.

Founder of the Mustard Seed Communities Father Gregory Ramkissoon (left) makes his way past a group of volunteers, who yesterday cleaned up the recently gutted Mustard Seed home on North Street in Kingston. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

“We have representatives from the University of the West Indies, Mico Teachers’ College, the Kiwanis Group, persons from the Mustard Seed Communities in Atlanta, and residents from surrounding communities,” Ramkissoon said.

“We are trying to clean it (the building) up in order to start the rebuilding; so they organised a labour day to help us to do that,” he said, raising his voice above the din.

People were hammering away, clearing debris and carting off twisted metal and charred items from the North Street facility in Kingston.

Ramkissoon told the Sunday Observer that the organisation was urgently seeking donations to rebuild and equip the new structure at a cost of $19 million. He said only $7 million of that figure had been raised to date.

“The thing is that we have to move very quickly because the children are squeezed up all over. We are calling on anyone to assist in cash or kind, and to provide lumber, steel or any other building material they can,” he said.

Yesterday, one volunteer who gave her name as Donna, described the clean-up efforts as “heart fulfilling”.

“This is really good. I am happy to see so many persons out here helping ’cause these are sick children who need the help,” added Donna, who lives next door to the home.

The mostly wooden building caught fire about 7:30 pm on March 16, while many of the children were asleep.

Only one of the 30 children was seriously injured in the blaze, which is said to have been started by an electrical short-circuit. Neither the building nor its contents were insured.

Most ex-MPs destitute

A majority of the 122 retired Jamaican parliamentarians still alive are facing destitution, some ravaged by health problems and dependent on alms to survive.

Their numbers include former ministers of government who have either retired from elective politics or have lost recent elections and seem unlikely to return to Gordon House.
The Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) has 77 former members of parliament who have joined the ranks of retired legislators, while the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has 45, counting Col Leslie Lloyd who also represented the PNP.

Eking out a living based on paltry pensions, many can barely manage to pay for the medication which are keeping them just inches away from death’s door.
Because of the sensitive and personal nature of some of the cases, and to avoid embarrassment, most have asked the Sunday Observer not to name them.

But outspoken former construction minister, O D ‘The Ram’ Ramtallie, was fearless in speaking for those who were shy.

“It’s tough on us retired parliamentarians,” said Ramtallie, the former PNP minister who competes only with Anthony Spaulding as the minister under whose tenure the most houses were built.

“Everybody believes that you have the ministry’s cheque book and you sign the cheques for you and your friends. When you tell some people that you don’t see the ministry’s cheque book they say you are lying. Some will even tell you that politicians don’t need a salary, because they can get money from all over the place,” he said.

“A lot of us are suffering. I must be in the best health among a large group of former politicians. Some of my colleagues, like Horace Clarke, O T Williams, David Coore, Douglas Manley and Ben Clare are not doing so well, health wise,” said Ramtallie.

JLP veteran Enid Bennett, who turns 78 in May and lives in Linstead, St Catherine, is still bright, bubbly and sprightly, but joined the chorus of those citing economic challenges.

“I am not coping so well economically at all,” Bennett told the Sunday Observer. “Physically I am well, God has blessed me. I am still strong, but the pension is so small. It is very challenging.”

Bennett served as minister of state in the Ministry of Local Government and as minister of state in the Ministry of Social Security, acting as minister of social security from June 1988 to the end of 1989. She had the record as the longest serving MP in the Caribbean.

Retired MP and former housing and the environment minister, Easton Douglas, said that retirees were facing grief.

“There are some 122 retired MPs who are still alive, the majority of whom are still residing in Jamaica,” said Douglas. “Some of them, probably the majority, are in a perilous financial state. Some are not enjoying the best of health. Those who worked in business before entering politics or were professionals have gone back into their practices, because they really cannot live comfortably on the pension they are receiving.

“Some who were businessmen and professionals are in such a poor state of health that they have to depend on families and friends. If a survey was done on the pensions that these former legislators receive, from which they still have to pay income tax if they are above the threshold, maybe the country would be astonished,” he added.

The parlous state of some former parliamentarians was recently addressed by Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart, chairman of the ATL/Sandals Group, which includes this newspaper, in a speech accepting an honorary doctorate from the University of Technology.

Stewart envisioned a Jamaica that, among other things, “takes better care of former government members”.

“If I have one recommendation, it would be that when people try their best and hardest in government, after they have served their time, that they are not thrown out and sometimes criticised and left to the wolves so that some of them who were honest die in poverty,” said Stewart.

“I would like to see rules, policies and organisations that create funds for ex-politicians so that they don’t end up being thrown on the wood pile and left to struggle for their reputation in retirement,” he added to rousing applause from the audience which included present and past members of parliament. “I have never seen or heard of a poor American ex-president.”

Douglas advocated the establishment of an Association of Retired Parliamentarians to address their needs.

“I have suggested that in the past, but nothing has happened,” Douglas said. “Whenever I approached the retired parliamentarians, one of the questions is whether it should be a partisan association. It would be an example of unity after service if we were to get one started that covered everybody. I don’t think that it should be partisan. I would help to set it up, if others see fit.”

Douglas added: “If a way could be found for the income tax that they pay to be used to purchase medication or doctor’s fees that would be good. A few are still able to contribute to (the former) Blue Cross health insurance, but it is far below what is required to keep some of them in good health,” Douglas said.

Golding mulls organ bank, junk-food tax

Prime Minister Bruce Golding says he has taken steps that could see the establishment an organ bank in Jamaica, where organs such as the liver and kidney of persons who have died may be transplanted.

Delivering the fourth annual Hugh Lawson Shearer Memorial Lecture at the 15th International Diabetes Conference Saturday night at the Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort in Ocho Rios, Golding also said he was considering the implementation of a junk (food) tax to encourage Jamaicans to consume more nutritiously.

“I would want to be guided by the medical practitioners, I want to be guided by the Church but I want us to explore the possibility of establishing, with appropriate legislation, an organ bank so that people who don’t have to die do not,” Golding said.

He said he has asked for a paper to be prepared so that he can see the issues involved in such a scheme, including how other countries do it, the regulatory arrangements that are put in place, and how to avoid exploitation and commercialisation of body parts.

The prime minister admitted to trespassing on issues that involve medical, ethical and moral considerations but said the country was being done a disservice when it continues to be “enslaved” by a culture and a system that allows the interment of many good, vital organs.

Diet control

On the matter of junk food, the prime minister said more ought to be done to control and influence the diet of Jamaicans.

He says while being mindful of World Trade Organisation obligations, he has asked the Ministry of Health to examine and recommend measures that could be instituted to seek to influence the kind of foods that are allowed into the island and available to consumers.

“I said to the minister of health that I’m prepared to consider, for example, tariff measures so that if you want to eat junk food, pay some more for it, let me see if I can discourage you from consuming it,” Golding stated.

“If we are importing junk then we need to consider whether there ought to be a junk tax, to at least derive some funds to finance the hospitals which have to deal with the consequences of consuming so much junk,” he added.

He said the Government was hoping that the insistence on certain labelling standards would have been sufficient to cause people to eat properly, but the necessary self-discipline was lacking in this regard.

Golding says a alot of money is spent each year to provide treatment for conditions that could have been avoided.

Turning to the matter of HIV/AIDS, Golding said he was concerned about a recent survey that indicates that 47 per cent of persons between 15 and 25 years old who are sexually active have admitted to having more than one sex partner.

North Trelawny making good use of the CDF