Jamaican Till I Die!

At around 2007-2008, the rate of police shootings in Jamaica was high. Jamaicans expressed outrage and demanded police accountability and oversight to protect the poor ghetto youths. As a result, the Government of the day created INDECOM by 2010. However, every time there is a police shooting and INDECOM declared they will investigate that shooting, Jamaicans went ballistic calling for an end to INDECOM, who they accused of loving criminals. With questions asked why INDECOM never say anything when ghetto youths shoot up innocent people. Even though INDECOM was not created for that purpose, only to investigate police shootings. At a time when political corruption was running rampant, and the public started losing faith in their elected officials. The Government created an oversight commission called The Integrity Commission (IC) to make sure our elected officials keep their hands out of the public’s purse and are not using their position of power to enrich themselves. Everything was fi...

Election Map 2020 I am not a diehard supporter of any political party. What I am is a diehard supporter of progressive ideology, but Progressive ideology does not exist in Jamaica today. As such, the party that gets my vote is based on a formula that only takes into consideration certain social and economic indicators. These indicators were investigated and evaluated by me. +3 points will be awarded for any indicator that improved. -3 points will be deducted from any indicator that declined and +1 point awarded for any indicator that stayed the same. I was thinking of weighted points (+-4) for indicators I consider more important, like crime, employment and environment but decided to stick with the original formula. The use of a formula frees me from partisan feelings and emotions. Liking the person or party is no longer relevant and only the performance of the social and economic indicators matter, kind of like the DOW. I can cuss out that person or the party they belong to because of...

Even before the 2008 recession Jamaica struggled to finance it oil imports bill. During 2008 recession oil prices peaked at US$147 per barrel and if it was not for the PetroCaribe Agreement Jamaica would have suffered more than we did. The PetroCaribe agreement allowed Jamaica to buy crude oil from Venezuela by paying only a part of the cost upfront. The PetroCaribe agreement allowed Jamaica to pay 50% down payment for oil shipments and the other 50% paid back over 25 years at 1% interest rate. This deferred 50% was invested directly into the PetroCaribe Development Fund thus converting sovereign debt into a receivable asset used for Infrastructure development. The fund is the largest domestic investor in renewable energy and independently financed a 45-megawatt wind energy project in south-central Jamaica. Written into the PetroCaribe agreement is an objective that member states should gradually reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. Since 2005, the amount of Venezuel...

I have been on this earth for a while now and lived through a lot of cabinet reshuffles but I have never seen a cabinet reshuffle with such fanfare and spectacle as this one, it was like all of jamaica won the lottery. The JLP have a far superior PR machine than the PNP where everything have a positive spin. All those years in opposition was not wasted because it allowed them to developed superior political skills. I am happy like a pig in slop that Audley “village idiot” Shaw is no longer finance minister because he was a fraud. He should have been forced out completely and not given any more responsibility. Since becoming finance minister I am happy to say he has been a script reader and not a script writer. Delivering policies like a glove puppet dictated to him by Clark and the Growth council/ministry who has been running things behind. I am eager to see what Nigel Clark the young foreign educated intellectual Technocrat will bring to the table. What will he do diff...

2018/2019 Budget The problem the JLP Government is having at the moment is that they are becoming victims of their own Delusional and “Illusional” Public Relation Campaign. I am sorry but you cannot walk around screaming Prosperity while still trying to implement Austerity. It is Irresponsible and disingenuous to sell people a false sense of security. The Government must get back to reality and paint that picture of reality to the people of this country and encourage them to get on board with all hands on deck. The work is not over but just beginning. The last PNP government had to face fiscal reality right out of the box after taking office in 2012, they had no choice. By the time they took office Jamaica had failed all of the previous IMF test and talks had broken down completely. As a result the IMF, World Bank and OAS circled the wagon and told Jamaica we were out of the Global financing business until we get our shit together and return to the path we agreed upon durin...

2010: Stand-By Arrangement,  US$1.25 billion 2013: Extended Fund Facility,  US$932.3 million 2016: Stand-By Arrangement, US$1.64 billion Jamaica and the International Monetary Fund reached an agreement to make $1.64 billion in funding available over the next three years as the government seeks to further cut one of the world’s highest debt loads while jump-starting a sluggish economy. The stand-by agreement, announced Thursday, would make $430 million available immediately after the IMF board approves it next month. It replaces a four-year IMF loan that Jamaica took on after it restructured debt in 2013. Andrew Holness said: “Our request to move to a precautionary arrangement is a sign of strength and reflects the policy credibility and strong macroeconomic management of the Jamaican government,” “Jamaica has made commendable progress in its economic adjustment program over the past three and a half years,” said Alejandro Werner, IMF’s director for the W...

The 2008 Global Recession In 2008, The International Monetary Fund stated that the drying up of global credit after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the ensuing Global recession would lead to serious concerns for Jamaica’s economic prospect and the sustainability. They declared that the country’s 1.5 trillion debt would put pressure on the country’s economy and exchange rates. However the then Minister of Finance the Honorable Audley Shaw dismissed the IMF concerns and declared that the Global financial crisis would not have any impact on the Jamaican economy. In fact the Minister of Finance the Honorable Audley Shaw stated that the Global recession would be opportunistic for Jamaica. He declared that, as a result of the recession, the Jamaican economy will grow +2.0% to +3.0% in the next fiscal year, as he moved to downplay concerns of the effects of a global economic slowdown. And in particular, any effects the looming recession in the United States will have on the Jamai...