Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Apart from the effects the global economic recession is having on Jamaica, the country's gravest problem is not producing enough goods and services to ensure economic stability and viability, yet it wants to enjoy a high standard of living mainly through borrowing upon borrowing.
All the statistics on the economy released by Finance Minister Audley Shaw in his 2009-2010 budget presentation point to the need for Jamaica to produce far more goods and services in order to survive, especially in the current world economic environment. The Gross Domestic Product is the most important barometer for measuring economic stability, in that it measures the value of goods and services produced by a country. If a country is not producing sufficient goods and services to maintain a level of economic and social stability, it cannot be said to be doing well. Jamaica is not doing well and has been borrowing money to survive instead of producing to survive.
The debt ratio to the GDP is staggering. At the end of March this year the ratio stood at 108.9 per cent. In actual figures, we owed $1.2 trillion dollars and we are still borrowing. Of a budget of $555 billion, $309 billion had to be reserved for debt payments. Under law, the first charge on the budget is debt servicing.
The expected revenue for the fiscal year will be $321 billion. Government will have to borrow $215.8 billion and impose $18.131 billion in taxes or 1.5 per cent of GDP to close the fiscal gap. The major portion of the revenue will come from an increase of $8.75 per litre in the Special Consumption Tax on petrol which is estimated to yield $13.3 billion, and broadening the General Consumption Tax (GCT) estimated to yield $7.5 billion. It has been widely recognised that the government has no other option but to increase taxes although the level of the increase in petrol prices and some of the items added to the GCT basket is being questioned. For example, it includes computers and books. This is unacceptable.
Some economists wanted the government to cut its spending, but others argue to the contrary that, like President Obama's administration, government should increase spending, give the economy a stimulus injection, especially in infrastructure development and create better conditions for increasing goods and services to improve the GDP standing. Hence this year 20 per cent of the intake from the SCT on fuel will be used on road rehabilitation, 35 per cent next year and 50 per cent in year three. There is also money for capital development, but many more incentives will be needed to enhance production appreciably. When Prime Minister Bruce Golding speaks in the budget debate today he is expected to announce other incentives to raise the level of the production of goods and services.
In his landmark contribution to the debate last Tuesday, Opposition spokesman on finance, Dr Omar Davies, proposed an economic recovery programme for national growth which would see an additional $6 billion added to the budget for capital programmes, including infrastructural works like draining, river training, reforestation and building retaining walls.
The programme, he said, could be financed by withdrawing $3 billion from the Universal Acess Fund and the Tourism Enhancement Fund. He suggested a tax regime which could result in the rolling back of the tax increase on petrol. Many people are calling Dr Davies' contribution as the most statesmanlike speech he has ever made in a budget debate, including those he made during his 14 years as minister of finance.
But to return to the importance of having a strong GDP. The fiscal deficit this year is targeted at 5.5. per cent of the GDP or $65.4 billion. Such a deficit is much too high for a small economy and shows that the country is living well above its means and has to increase its income considerably. The internationally accepted safe point is 3 per cent of GDP. We cannot compare our position with that of a large country like the United States which has a large economy and can cope with the problem better than a small country like Jamaica. Their deficit is running at about 8 per cent of the GDP. Another figure we have to watch is the current account deficit which, for the financial year just ended, was 19.2 of GDP, a deterioration of 3.9 per cent over the previous year.
As usual, government gives "a little something" to soothe taxpayers whenever it imposes taxation. It was a good decision to take the tax burden off PAYE employees. There are 1.3 million workers in the labour force of whom 323,000 are PAYE workers. For the workers, the income tax threshold is to be doubled from $220,500 to $440,000 by January 1, 2010, which means that an additional 85,000 people will no longer pay income tax, bringing the total to 132,000. Some 191,000 workers will take home an additional $55,000 per year. But there are nearly a million other workers outside the loop who are going to feel the bite of the tax increase on petrol. So when journalists asked Finance Minister Audley Shaw at his press conference whether the government would be considering increasing the fares charged by taxi operators, Shaw seemed upset by the question and referred the journalists to Transport Minister Mike Henry. It was a perfectly legitimate question, because in the past price increases in petrol have caused unrest as taxi operators passed on the increase to commuters.The truth is that the government should have discussed the matter with taxi operators before the tax and established a position prior to the announcement.
Another matter of concern is that up to the time of writing this column the additional list of items to attract GCT had not been completed. It seems to me that the list was put together hurriedly. When GCT was introduced during the Seaga administration in the 1980s, as communication consultant to the Revenue Board which was compiling the list, I noted that it took the team several weeks working long hours to prepare the list of items, including those which were zero-rated.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/html/20090504T220000-0500_150776_OBS_PRODUCING_TO_SURVIVE_INSTEAD_OF_BORROWING.asp
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Sunday, May 3, 2009
SOLUTION -Lessons from the 70's by Esther Tyson
Lessons from the '70s - Now our fear is global recession. Esther Tyson
Jamaica Gleaner Online
Lessons from the '70s
Published: Sunday May 3, 2009
Rice wars, flour wars, empty supermarket shelves, scarcity of goods, five flights a day to Miami, mass migration, emptied houses and captured houses.
This picture describes Jamaica in the period of the 1970s. We have lessons to learn from this time. Those among us who were not yet born need to learn from those of us who were here. These times with which we are faced are similar yet different. In the 1970s, the USA became the land of hope and promise for many Jamaicans. Stories are told of many Jamaicans who left their good jobs here to go abroad to serve at a gas station; some who left their comfortable homes to live in substandard housing in order to escape the fear they had of living in Jamaica.
This time, escaping Jamaica will not find us leaving our fears behind, because it is no longer an isolated situation belonging to Jamaica - it is worldwide. In the 1970s, the fear for many was that Jamaica was being transformed into a communist nation. Now our fear is global recession. Therefore, it makes no sense to run elsewhere to escape this fear; instead, we have some lessons to learn from that period on how to survive this recession.
Feeding ourselves
We need to find a way to feed ourselves. We need to teach our children how to grow their own food. Backyard gardening needs to become a way of life for those of us who have backyards. Those of us without backyards need to do container gardening.
At our school, we used to have a number of students doing agricultural science up to the CXC-CSEC level, but then the interest in the subject declined. Over the last few years, however, the students' interest in the subject has been revived. Students are transferring the knowledge learnt about gardening at school to their homes. More of our schools need to engage our students in the rudiments of knowing how to grow their own food.
In addition, we need to find ways to share the excess that we reap with others. We can do this by organising in our communities, or at work or at church, to determine who will be growing what at each growing period and then do an exchange with each other, so that nothing goes to waste.
Accessing reasonably priced dry goods
With regard to accessing reasonably priced dry goods, we need to find the wholesalers who are offering good prices for their products. We could again, in our groups, buy these goods wholesale and divide them among ourselves.
Instead of buying high-priced meats at the supermarkets, we need to find a source, possibly the market, or else a butcher where we can get it at a price more reasonable than is offered in the supermarkets. If we have to travel to a rural area to do so, this could be done even once a month, and again the group would cover the cost of the transportation. This could work out, even with the cost of gas, to be cheaper than buying in the supermarkets. In addition, we need to eat less meat and add more vegetables to our diets. In any regard, it is a healthier option.
With the price of petrol being hiked by the new tax, persons need to again use the strength of community to assist each other. We need to look at carpooling. If your neighbour's children go to the same school as yours, or if you work in the same area, arrange that you share the job of transportation. Half of the week you drive, the other half the neighbour drives. In the '70s, the gas guzzlers on the roads became a thing of the past. Those of us who are now purchasing vehicles need to look at the mileage that the vehicles offer per litre of gas as a criterion for buying them.
Furthermore, we need to learn to be satisfied with less and we need to 'tun our han mek fashion'. In an effort to conserve, we need to seriously look at recycling. Containers bought with one item can be reused to store other dry goods, etc. With regards to our clothing, we would save money if we remove worn collars and sew them back on the reverse side instead of discarding the item of clothing.
There are many other such ways that we can cut back on expenditure. The Jamaica Public Service gives tips to the country as to how to conserve on the use of electricity. Let us implement these in our daily lives.
A sense of community
What I am saying is that in these difficult times we need to develop a sense of community. We need to learn to depend on each other and support each other. That community can be geographical or it can be an organisation or your workplace. If you are one of the fortunate ones who are not affected negatively by this global meltdown, then you can help others in your community who are less fortunate.
Those of us who were here in the 1970s, and who survived in spite of the economic difficulties that the country experienced, need to share with others how we did this.
As the well-known song says, "No man is an island, no man stands alone, each man's joy is joy to me, each man's grief is my own. We need one another, so I will defend, each man as my brother, each man as my friend."
Esther Tyson is principal of Ardenne High School, St. Andrew. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com. Copyright Jamaica-Gleaner.com
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090503/cleisure/cleisure5.html
Jamaica Gleaner Online
Lessons from the '70s
Published: Sunday May 3, 2009
Rice wars, flour wars, empty supermarket shelves, scarcity of goods, five flights a day to Miami, mass migration, emptied houses and captured houses.
This picture describes Jamaica in the period of the 1970s. We have lessons to learn from this time. Those among us who were not yet born need to learn from those of us who were here. These times with which we are faced are similar yet different. In the 1970s, the USA became the land of hope and promise for many Jamaicans. Stories are told of many Jamaicans who left their good jobs here to go abroad to serve at a gas station; some who left their comfortable homes to live in substandard housing in order to escape the fear they had of living in Jamaica.
This time, escaping Jamaica will not find us leaving our fears behind, because it is no longer an isolated situation belonging to Jamaica - it is worldwide. In the 1970s, the fear for many was that Jamaica was being transformed into a communist nation. Now our fear is global recession. Therefore, it makes no sense to run elsewhere to escape this fear; instead, we have some lessons to learn from that period on how to survive this recession.
Feeding ourselves
We need to find a way to feed ourselves. We need to teach our children how to grow their own food. Backyard gardening needs to become a way of life for those of us who have backyards. Those of us without backyards need to do container gardening.
At our school, we used to have a number of students doing agricultural science up to the CXC-CSEC level, but then the interest in the subject declined. Over the last few years, however, the students' interest in the subject has been revived. Students are transferring the knowledge learnt about gardening at school to their homes. More of our schools need to engage our students in the rudiments of knowing how to grow their own food.
In addition, we need to find ways to share the excess that we reap with others. We can do this by organising in our communities, or at work or at church, to determine who will be growing what at each growing period and then do an exchange with each other, so that nothing goes to waste.
Accessing reasonably priced dry goods
With regard to accessing reasonably priced dry goods, we need to find the wholesalers who are offering good prices for their products. We could again, in our groups, buy these goods wholesale and divide them among ourselves.
Instead of buying high-priced meats at the supermarkets, we need to find a source, possibly the market, or else a butcher where we can get it at a price more reasonable than is offered in the supermarkets. If we have to travel to a rural area to do so, this could be done even once a month, and again the group would cover the cost of the transportation. This could work out, even with the cost of gas, to be cheaper than buying in the supermarkets. In addition, we need to eat less meat and add more vegetables to our diets. In any regard, it is a healthier option.
With the price of petrol being hiked by the new tax, persons need to again use the strength of community to assist each other. We need to look at carpooling. If your neighbour's children go to the same school as yours, or if you work in the same area, arrange that you share the job of transportation. Half of the week you drive, the other half the neighbour drives. In the '70s, the gas guzzlers on the roads became a thing of the past. Those of us who are now purchasing vehicles need to look at the mileage that the vehicles offer per litre of gas as a criterion for buying them.
Furthermore, we need to learn to be satisfied with less and we need to 'tun our han mek fashion'. In an effort to conserve, we need to seriously look at recycling. Containers bought with one item can be reused to store other dry goods, etc. With regards to our clothing, we would save money if we remove worn collars and sew them back on the reverse side instead of discarding the item of clothing.
There are many other such ways that we can cut back on expenditure. The Jamaica Public Service gives tips to the country as to how to conserve on the use of electricity. Let us implement these in our daily lives.
A sense of community
What I am saying is that in these difficult times we need to develop a sense of community. We need to learn to depend on each other and support each other. That community can be geographical or it can be an organisation or your workplace. If you are one of the fortunate ones who are not affected negatively by this global meltdown, then you can help others in your community who are less fortunate.
Those of us who were here in the 1970s, and who survived in spite of the economic difficulties that the country experienced, need to share with others how we did this.
As the well-known song says, "No man is an island, no man stands alone, each man's joy is joy to me, each man's grief is my own. We need one another, so I will defend, each man as my brother, each man as my friend."
Esther Tyson is principal of Ardenne High School, St. Andrew. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com. Copyright Jamaica-Gleaner.com
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090503/cleisure/cleisure5.html
Thursday, April 30, 2009
SOLUTION : Reduce imports - Clarke calls for change in import procedures
Jamaica Gleaner Online
Clarke calls for change in import procedures
Published: Thursday April 30, 2009
Clarke
ROGER CLARKE, the opposition spokesman on agriculture, wants the procedure by which certain agricultural imports are valued at Customs to be changed in order to protect local farmers.
Clarke has suggested that Customs be responsible for valuing select agricultural items being imported.
"Just like how you bring in a used car, whatever you tell them (Customs) that you pay for it, Customs tell you how much it worth and you charge on that," Clarke suggested during his contribution to the Budget Debate in Parliament yesterday.
According to Clarke, if local farmers are to survive, Government must find ways to prevent dumping on the local market. He said the ministry must think about applying allowable duty under the fair competition convention.
"When you bring in third-hand goods from abroad and say that you paid one cent per pound (Customs should) tell them that is your business (and price the goods based on local prices)," Clarke said.
As minister, Clarke had introduced a duty of 260 per cent on cabbage, lettuce, carrots, tomatoes and chicken.
However, he said even with this mechanism the imported food still continued to end up in the market-place cheaper than local produce as the items were undervalued by the importers.
"The reason it did not work, Prime Minister, was that when they came with the invoice, the invoices were like for nothing ... The intention was to make sure that our farmers had that competitive advantage. It did not happen," Clarke said.
Resonance
Meanwhile, Clarke's suggestion has found resonance with Agriculture Minister Dr Christopher Tufton, who shouted from the government benches, "I support you 100 per cent."
The Budget Debate continues today with Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller due to speak. Like her fellow opposition members, Dr Omar Davies and Clarke, who chided the Government's $555.7-billion Budget, she is expected to speak to the implications of Government's tax policies on the country's most vulnerable. Copyright Jamaica-Gleaner.com http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090430/lead/lead7.html
Clarke calls for change in import procedures
Published: Thursday April 30, 2009
Clarke
ROGER CLARKE, the opposition spokesman on agriculture, wants the procedure by which certain agricultural imports are valued at Customs to be changed in order to protect local farmers.
Clarke has suggested that Customs be responsible for valuing select agricultural items being imported.
"Just like how you bring in a used car, whatever you tell them (Customs) that you pay for it, Customs tell you how much it worth and you charge on that," Clarke suggested during his contribution to the Budget Debate in Parliament yesterday.
According to Clarke, if local farmers are to survive, Government must find ways to prevent dumping on the local market. He said the ministry must think about applying allowable duty under the fair competition convention.
"When you bring in third-hand goods from abroad and say that you paid one cent per pound (Customs should) tell them that is your business (and price the goods based on local prices)," Clarke said.
As minister, Clarke had introduced a duty of 260 per cent on cabbage, lettuce, carrots, tomatoes and chicken.
However, he said even with this mechanism the imported food still continued to end up in the market-place cheaper than local produce as the items were undervalued by the importers.
"The reason it did not work, Prime Minister, was that when they came with the invoice, the invoices were like for nothing ... The intention was to make sure that our farmers had that competitive advantage. It did not happen," Clarke said.
Resonance
Meanwhile, Clarke's suggestion has found resonance with Agriculture Minister Dr Christopher Tufton, who shouted from the government benches, "I support you 100 per cent."
The Budget Debate continues today with Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller due to speak. Like her fellow opposition members, Dr Omar Davies and Clarke, who chided the Government's $555.7-billion Budget, she is expected to speak to the implications of Government's tax policies on the country's most vulnerable. Copyright Jamaica-Gleaner.com http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090430/lead/lead7.html
Monday, April 20, 2009
JAMAICA SOLUTION - HIGH COURT Judge Martin Gayle 'Plea-bargaining may ease backlog of cases'
Published: Sunday April 19, 2009
Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
Justice Gayle
HIGH COURT Judge Martin Gayle has made a special appeal for the speedy implementation of case management and plea-bargaining in criminal matters to reduce the huge backlog of cases which has been slowing down the justice system for years.
Gayle made the appeal on Wednesday after officially opening the Easter session of the Home Circuit Court on King Street, downtown Kingston, and was informed that there were 385 cases on the trial list and that most had been traversed from previous court sessions.
Jeremy Taylor, acting deputy director of public prosecutions, called for amendment to the Jury Act so that majority verdicts could be taken in non-capital murder cases. He also expressed concern about the large number of murder and sexual-offence cases on the court list.
Ministry of Justice officials reported in January that regulations accompanying the Criminal Justice (Plea Negotiations and Agreements) Act 2005 were being finalised for tabling in Parliament. This new law would give the director of public prosecutions statutory authority to engage in discussions and make bargains with accused persons in certain felony cases. It would also allow the accused to know beforehand that their sentences would be reduced.
Many challenges
Gayle, in commenting on the backlog of cases, said, "The continued fallout from the global economic crisis has brought many challenges and the judicial system has not been spared." He said the ever-growing criminal list was a clear indication of "the challenges ahead of us". He added that plea-bargaining and case management would significantly reduce the backlog of cases and save judicial time.
Referring to the issues of widespread economic hardship, Gayle said, "It is particularly worth remembering that compassion and forbearance in the exercise of legal rights will not only assist the less fortunate to meet their daily needs in the short term, but in the longer term, will almost certainly make good social sense."
Bargaining worked elsewhere
George Soutar, president of the Advocates' Association of Jamaica, says there is no reason that plea-bargaining would not work for Jamaica, which has a tremendous backlog of cases. Experience in other countries showed that plea-bargaining assisted the process of reducing the backlog of cases, he said.
Taylor, in giving a breakdown of the cases, said perhaps the system of justice had not kept pace with the growth in crime. He called for amendment to the Jury Act so that majority verdicts could be given in non-capital murder cases. He pointed out that there were 17 murder cases on the list for retrials because juries had not arrived at unanimous verdicts.
Taylor also called on defence lawyers to advise accused persons to plead guilty in circumstances where the cases against them were overwhelming, as, in such cases, the court could give "a discount" in sentencing.
Perhaps the four criminal courts at the Home Circuit Court were not enough to deal with the number of cases, he said, as a court could only try one case at a time.
Taylor pledged the whole-hearted effort of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to ensure that as many cases as possible would be tried during the current Easter term, which ends on July 31.
Of the 385 cases on the trial list, 203 are murder cases and 139 are sexual-offence cases. The Hilary term, which began on January 7 and ended on April 3, had 407 cases for trial. Of that number 59 cases were disposed of and 348 cases traversed to the current term. A total of 37 new cases have been added to the traversed list.
Formidable trial list
Gayle described the trial list as formidable and said emphasis must be placed on clearing the backlog, so there must be fewer adjournments in cases set for trial. Disclosing that major dents had been made in the backlog of cases in the Gun Court, Gayle said he was positive that the trend would continue this term.
Attorney-at-law Paul Beswick pledged support on behalf of the private Bar, and agreed that from the figures given, there was a daunting task ahead. He hoped that the cases would move with expediency.
HIGH COURT Judge Martin Gayle has made a special appeal for the speedy implementation of case management and plea-bargaining in criminal matters to reduce the huge backlog of cases which has been slowing down the justice system for years.
Gayle made the appeal on Wednesday after officially opening the Easter session of the Home Circuit Court on King Street, downtown Kingston, and was informed that there were 385 cases on the trial list and that most had been traversed from previous court sessions.
Jeremy Taylor, acting deputy director of public prosecutions, called for amendment to the Jury Act so that majority verdicts could be taken in non-capital murder cases. He also expressed concern about the large number of murder and sexual-offence cases on the court list.
Ministry of Justice officials reported in January that regulations accompanying the Criminal Justice (Plea Negotiations and Agreements) Act 2005 were being finalised for tabling in Parliament. This new law would give the director of public prosecutions statutory authority to engage in discussions and make bargains with accused persons in certain felony cases. It would also allow the accused to know beforehand that their sentences would be reduced.
Many challenges
Gayle, in commenting on the backlog of cases, said, "The continued fallout from the global economic crisis has brought many challenges and the judicial system has not been spared." He said the ever-growing criminal list was a clear indication of "the challenges ahead of us". He added that plea-bargaining and case management would significantly reduce the backlog of cases and save judicial time.
Referring to the issues of widespread economic hardship, Gayle said, "It is particularly worth remembering that compassion and forbearance in the exercise of legal rights will not only assist the less fortunate to meet their daily needs in the short term, but in the longer term, will almost certainly make good social sense."
Bargaining worked elsewhere
George Soutar, president of the Advocates' Association of Jamaica, says there is no reason that plea-bargaining would not work for Jamaica, which has a tremendous backlog of cases. Experience in other countries showed that plea-bargaining assisted the process of reducing the backlog of cases, he said.
Taylor, in giving a breakdown of the cases, said perhaps the system of justice had not kept pace with the growth in crime. He called for amendment to the Jury Act so that majority verdicts could be given in non-capital murder cases. He pointed out that there were 17 murder cases on the list for retrials because juries had not arrived at unanimous verdicts.
Taylor also called on defence lawyers to advise accused persons to plead guilty in circumstances where the cases against them were overwhelming, as, in such cases, the court could give "a discount" in sentencing.
Perhaps the four criminal courts at the Home Circuit Court were not enough to deal with the number of cases, he said, as a court could only try one case at a time.
Taylor pledged the whole-hearted effort of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to ensure that as many cases as possible would be tried during the current Easter term, which ends on July 31.
Of the 385 cases on the trial list, 203 are murder cases and 139 are sexual-offence cases. The Hilary term, which began on January 7 and ended on April 3, had 407 cases for trial. Of that number 59 cases were disposed of and 348 cases traversed to the current term. A total of 37 new cases have been added to the traversed list.
Formidable trial list
Gayle described the trial list as formidable and said emphasis must be placed on clearing the backlog, so there must be fewer adjournments in cases set for trial. Disclosing that major dents had been made in the backlog of cases in the Gun Court, Gayle said he was positive that the trend would continue this term.
Attorney-at-law Paul Beswick pledged support on behalf of the private Bar, and agreed that from the figures given, there was a daunting task ahead. He hoped that the cases would move with expediency.
Friday, April 17, 2009
SOLUTION- COOPERATION -John White, Social Development Commission parish manager for St James, has called for a multisectoral approach for youth
SDC parish manager calls for combined effort to save youths
Published: Friday April 17, 2009
Claudia Gardner, Gleaner Writer
Published: Friday April 17, 2009
Claudia Gardner, Gleaner Writer
White
WESTERN BUREAU:
John White, Social Development Commission parish manager for St James, has called for a multisectoral approach to youth development in order to successfully manage and curtail the problem of youth delinquency.
White made his comments during a Gleaner Editors' Forum held in Montego Bay, St James, on Wednesday.
He said it was crucial that state-owned youth-oriented entities such as the National Youth Service, the National Centre for Youth Development and others, including his, which have overlapping functions, make efforts to collaborate with each other instead of undertaking solo activities.
"I think collectively we need to come together to find ways of dealing with the problem of young people, and that is why sometimes the young persons will turn to linking with the dons because this is where they find something happening for them," said White.
"And, if we don't come together and try to deal with that, we are going to have a serious problem; we are not going to able to capture and regain the trust and confidence of the young people."
White said that in some cases youths were disillusioned and needed to be channelled into positive activities, but that this could only be accomplished by an inter-agency approach.
"I know each of the agencies has their mandate, but we need to look at what each is going to do for our young people, and we can't wait on directives from our head offices," White said.
"We need to start looking at it now from the local level and how we go about doing some interventions."
He added: "We need to channel them (youth) back into culture, into drama. We need to be working together. We can't be blowing our own trumpets."
White said that, at present, the approach to youth empowerment was disjointed because "everyone is doing their own thing".
claudia.gardner@gleanerjm.com
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090417/lead/lead5.html
Saturday, April 11, 2009
SOLUTION - New legislation coming to crack down on paedophiles
Attack on child porn - New legislation coming to crack down on paedophiles
Published: Saturday April 11, 2009
Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter
The Government is getting tough on paedophiles with new laws aimed at cracking down on child pornography.
The Cabinet has approved a bill titled 'The Child Pornography (Prevention) Act 2009', which is to be debated by Parliament shortly.
"There is no law in Jamaica that deals specifically with child pornography and the trend globally is to treat child pornography as a separate crime," Attorney General and Minister of Justice Dorothy Lightbourne announced recently.
"The bill will criminalise the production, possession, importation, export and distribution of child pornography," Lightbourne added.
She noted that though 16 was the age of sexual consent, for the bill, a child would be described as anyone under 18 years old.
According to Lightbourne, when the bill is passed later this year Jamaica will have its first definition of child pornography.
"It encompasses any visual representation of a child or any person depicted as a child engaged in real or stimulated sexual activity, any representation in picture or words for sexual purpose showing the sexual organs of a child," Lightbourne said.
She pointed out that any representation of a child being subject to torture, beatings or physical abuse would also be punishable under the bill, even if it is not in a sexual context.
"Also covered by the bill is just accessing child pornography. So going on the Internet and coming up on it accidentally you will be protected if you take steps to do something about it. So persons are caught if you are surfing the Internet and you come up on it and you don't report it," warned Lightbourne.
Major problem
Child pornography has been a major problem worldwide, with its reproduction and dissemination changing radically since the introduction of the Internet and cellular phones with recording devices.
In Jamaica, several cases have surfaced recently of video recordings on cellular phones. Perhaps the most infamous was the seeming attack on a teenage girl by a group of boys in a vehicle being driven by a then church deacon.
That case is still before the courts.
It was estimated that in 2003, 20 per cent of all pornography traded over the Internet was child pornography, and that since 1997 the number of child pornography images available on the Internet had increased by 1,500 per cent.
In 2007, the British-based Internet Watch Foundation reported that child pornography on the Internet was becoming more brutal and graphic, and the number of images depicting violent abuse had risen fourfold since 2003.
About 80 per cent of the children in the abusive images on the Internet are female, and 91 per cent appear to be children under the age of 12.
It has been estimated that there are between 50,000 and 100,000 paedophiles involved in organised pornography rings around the world, and that one-third of these operate from the United States.
arthur.hall@gleanerjm.com http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090411/lead/lead5.html
Published: Saturday April 11, 2009
Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter
The Government is getting tough on paedophiles with new laws aimed at cracking down on child pornography.
The Cabinet has approved a bill titled 'The Child Pornography (Prevention) Act 2009', which is to be debated by Parliament shortly.
"There is no law in Jamaica that deals specifically with child pornography and the trend globally is to treat child pornography as a separate crime," Attorney General and Minister of Justice Dorothy Lightbourne announced recently.
"The bill will criminalise the production, possession, importation, export and distribution of child pornography," Lightbourne added.
She noted that though 16 was the age of sexual consent, for the bill, a child would be described as anyone under 18 years old.
According to Lightbourne, when the bill is passed later this year Jamaica will have its first definition of child pornography.
"It encompasses any visual representation of a child or any person depicted as a child engaged in real or stimulated sexual activity, any representation in picture or words for sexual purpose showing the sexual organs of a child," Lightbourne said.
She pointed out that any representation of a child being subject to torture, beatings or physical abuse would also be punishable under the bill, even if it is not in a sexual context.
"Also covered by the bill is just accessing child pornography. So going on the Internet and coming up on it accidentally you will be protected if you take steps to do something about it. So persons are caught if you are surfing the Internet and you come up on it and you don't report it," warned Lightbourne.
Major problem
Child pornography has been a major problem worldwide, with its reproduction and dissemination changing radically since the introduction of the Internet and cellular phones with recording devices.
In Jamaica, several cases have surfaced recently of video recordings on cellular phones. Perhaps the most infamous was the seeming attack on a teenage girl by a group of boys in a vehicle being driven by a then church deacon.
That case is still before the courts.
It was estimated that in 2003, 20 per cent of all pornography traded over the Internet was child pornography, and that since 1997 the number of child pornography images available on the Internet had increased by 1,500 per cent.
In 2007, the British-based Internet Watch Foundation reported that child pornography on the Internet was becoming more brutal and graphic, and the number of images depicting violent abuse had risen fourfold since 2003.
About 80 per cent of the children in the abusive images on the Internet are female, and 91 per cent appear to be children under the age of 12.
It has been estimated that there are between 50,000 and 100,000 paedophiles involved in organised pornography rings around the world, and that one-third of these operate from the United States.
arthur.hall@gleanerjm.com http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090411/lead/lead5.html
Monday, April 6, 2009
SOLUTION - Patricia Isaacs - Female farmer
Building Bridges - Former restaurateur creates niche market
Published: Sunday April 5, 2009
Photo by Gareth ManningPatricia Isaacs reaps Scotch bonnet peppers from her farm in Claremont, St Ann.
The Sunday Gleaner begins a new series today looking at innovations in farming. Many small farmers have overcome many hurdles to achieve success, and we will tell their stories.
Gareth Manning, Sunday Gleaner Writer
'REUSE', 'RECYCLE', 'reduce' are pet words that Patricia Isaacs employs on her 300-plus acres farm in the cool valley of Claremont, St Ann.
The only producer of baby corn in Jamaica, Isaacs, a former restaurateur, has created a niche market for herself, supplying hotels and restaurants.
And that has not been her only innovation.
The assertive business woman is the sole female farmer highlighted in a Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute publication recently for her farm's innovative move to develop a hydroponics system for growing crops. It's a system which utilises a nutrient solution rather than soil for cultivation.
However, shortly after Isaacs started, the operating system became challenging for the first-time farmer. But, like a good business woman, when one system fails, she simply tries another.
"Since I have fish (which is her main produce), I am going to do 'aquaponics', which is when you use the water from the fish pond to grow crops," Isaacs proudly tells The Sunday Gleaner.
The process
How will this work? By channelling water from the ponds into troughs about a 100 feet long and about six feet wide. Seedlings will be placed on foam to germinate and then transferred to troughs for growth.
"Through the foam, the seedlings absorb the water. You don't waste a lot of water because what happens is the water comes from the fish straight into the trough. It circulates the plants, takes up the nutrients and it goes back to the fish, and the fish gain from the plants, and plants gain, from the fish," Isaacs explains.
It's a win-win situation in many respects - the farmer saves water and the fish and the crops gain from the added nutrients that circulate from the pond to the trough.
And to make the system even more economical, Isaacs will be using rain water, which she already harvests for her pond.
The system won't be too expensive to set up because she already has the fish. It costs, at most, about $200,000 to build 10 troughs, but it will need a lot of attention.
"What you have to do is build the troughs with some cement and steel and you are going to need pipes," she says.
Throw in a full solar-energy unit and you have a farm working at even greater efficiency.
Isaacs' farm is fully solar generated. It's not a cheap system to buy, she explains, but it's worth the benefits in the long run.
"We have solar and if we don't have enough sun we have a back-up generator," she says.
Isaacs believes if small farmers had more access to funding and grants to invest in more efficient forms of production, like she is doing, there would be no boundaries to the amount of food the island's agricultural sector could produce for local consumption and export.
"It's very expensive to maintain. I can't stress enough that we need more access to grants if we are going to be efficient," she tells The Sunday Gleaner.
"And the farmers need to know that these grants are available. Sometimes we don't know about them and people who are friends of friends know about these things. People who want to move the industry ahead, they should have opportunities to get some of these grants," she adds.
Explaining further about her baby-corn production, Isaacs says it is easy to plant and within 60 days it is ready for reaping.
"When we plant, we plant four or five acres and they (the two major hotels she supplies) buy a lot," she says.
No waste
High demand means a lot of waste is produced by Isaac's crop of baby corn. But like most of her produce on the farm, the waste is not ... wasted.
Self-sufficiency is practised by this Guyanese native.
The trash from her baby corns is crushed and mixed with chicken manure and reused as fertiliser for the crop coming up.
"You can say what I run here is an environmentally friendly farm," she says. And that's for certain. Use is created for ever bit of waste.
Isaacs recently set up a piggery to use the trash generated from her vegetable garden.
"We don't allow anything to be wasted and at the same time, you earn more income," she explains.
Published: Sunday April 5, 2009
Photo by Gareth ManningPatricia Isaacs reaps Scotch bonnet peppers from her farm in Claremont, St Ann.
The Sunday Gleaner begins a new series today looking at innovations in farming. Many small farmers have overcome many hurdles to achieve success, and we will tell their stories.
Gareth Manning, Sunday Gleaner Writer
'REUSE', 'RECYCLE', 'reduce' are pet words that Patricia Isaacs employs on her 300-plus acres farm in the cool valley of Claremont, St Ann.
The only producer of baby corn in Jamaica, Isaacs, a former restaurateur, has created a niche market for herself, supplying hotels and restaurants.
And that has not been her only innovation.
The assertive business woman is the sole female farmer highlighted in a Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute publication recently for her farm's innovative move to develop a hydroponics system for growing crops. It's a system which utilises a nutrient solution rather than soil for cultivation.
However, shortly after Isaacs started, the operating system became challenging for the first-time farmer. But, like a good business woman, when one system fails, she simply tries another.
"Since I have fish (which is her main produce), I am going to do 'aquaponics', which is when you use the water from the fish pond to grow crops," Isaacs proudly tells The Sunday Gleaner.
The process
How will this work? By channelling water from the ponds into troughs about a 100 feet long and about six feet wide. Seedlings will be placed on foam to germinate and then transferred to troughs for growth.
"Through the foam, the seedlings absorb the water. You don't waste a lot of water because what happens is the water comes from the fish straight into the trough. It circulates the plants, takes up the nutrients and it goes back to the fish, and the fish gain from the plants, and plants gain, from the fish," Isaacs explains.
It's a win-win situation in many respects - the farmer saves water and the fish and the crops gain from the added nutrients that circulate from the pond to the trough.
And to make the system even more economical, Isaacs will be using rain water, which she already harvests for her pond.
The system won't be too expensive to set up because she already has the fish. It costs, at most, about $200,000 to build 10 troughs, but it will need a lot of attention.
"What you have to do is build the troughs with some cement and steel and you are going to need pipes," she says.
Throw in a full solar-energy unit and you have a farm working at even greater efficiency.
Isaacs' farm is fully solar generated. It's not a cheap system to buy, she explains, but it's worth the benefits in the long run.
"We have solar and if we don't have enough sun we have a back-up generator," she says.
Isaacs believes if small farmers had more access to funding and grants to invest in more efficient forms of production, like she is doing, there would be no boundaries to the amount of food the island's agricultural sector could produce for local consumption and export.
"It's very expensive to maintain. I can't stress enough that we need more access to grants if we are going to be efficient," she tells The Sunday Gleaner.
"And the farmers need to know that these grants are available. Sometimes we don't know about them and people who are friends of friends know about these things. People who want to move the industry ahead, they should have opportunities to get some of these grants," she adds.
Explaining further about her baby-corn production, Isaacs says it is easy to plant and within 60 days it is ready for reaping.
"When we plant, we plant four or five acres and they (the two major hotels she supplies) buy a lot," she says.
No waste
High demand means a lot of waste is produced by Isaac's crop of baby corn. But like most of her produce on the farm, the waste is not ... wasted.
Self-sufficiency is practised by this Guyanese native.
The trash from her baby corns is crushed and mixed with chicken manure and reused as fertiliser for the crop coming up.
"You can say what I run here is an environmentally friendly farm," she says. And that's for certain. Use is created for ever bit of waste.
Isaacs recently set up a piggery to use the trash generated from her vegetable garden.
"We don't allow anything to be wasted and at the same time, you earn more income," she explains.
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090405/lead/lead9.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
