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What's happening at the CSO?

March 6, 2013, 3:00 am
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Dear Editor,

I would like to express my disgust with how the authorities are handling the noxious fumes in the vicinity of the Central Sorting Office.

Why are people passing out day in and day out after the authorities have declared the area safe? Is it that they have made a guess and in order to confirm their guess they've decided to use human guinea pigs? This is outrageous.

I would have thought that further to the occurrence last June at the Portmore toll booth, proper measures would have been put in place to detect, contain and remedy these situations. However, this is not the case. So far, the authorities are clueless as to the origin and nature of the fumes, and whether or not they are harmful to human life.

We want to know what risk we take, we the people who work at the CSO and we the people who visit the CSO.

The Government serves the people. This is the sole purpose of Government and this kind of sloppy behaviour should not be tolerated.

I commend the staff at the CSO, who apparently risk their lives to ensure the timely delivery of mail. I for one would not be entering that building tomorrow. Perhaps the next time we decide to test the toxicity of the building and environs, we should send the good minister down there for a day.

Robert Howell

roberthowelljm@yahoo.com

What's happening at the CSO?

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The perils of travelling by bus, taxi

March 6, 2013, 3:00 am
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Dear Editor,

I am not trying to shoot a hole in the pockets of bus and taxi operators. However, just imagine for a while having to sit between two seats on a vehicle travelling for one and a half hours; or having to be leaning to one side adding to your already discomfort in order to have use of your legs upon exiting the vehicle because the person sitting in front of you, at no fault of their own, has to sit in such a way that all their body weight is resting on you.

This is the reality of persons travelling on routes such as Spanish Town to Mandeville or Ocho Rios to Spanish Town where, a seat meant for one passenger has to be shared whether you want to or not. In addition, the full fare is expected even from children less than 12 years of age.

To add to this situation, the conductors are so impatient, rude and disrespectful that one better not try to question or put up any resistance to this arrangement that has overtime become the "status quo" of public travelling.

It is not as if one cannot understand the harsh reality of our economic situation or the dilemma that these operators have to deal with bearing in mind the fact that gas price has really skyrocketed in recent times. Nevertheless, passengers should not be forced to travel uncomfortably so as to ensure that the most is made out of each trip. Not only is this arrangement unfair to passengers, it also poses a real danger should an accident or any other unforeseen incident arise on the journey.

Hence, my call for the relevant authority to start doing more regular checks in this regards. This practice, while it may have been going on for a long time, should not be allowed to continue.

Patricia Clarke

patriciaclarke230@yahoo.com

The perils of travelling by bus, taxi

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Concerns about Golden Age Home

March 6, 2013, 3:00 am
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Dear Editor,

I am more than bewildered as to what is the real purpose and role of the caregivers - appointed and paid by the State - at the Golden Age Home in Vineyard Town, St Andrew.

On Sunday, 17th February at around 10 am, I received a call from a resident at that Home, pleading for assistance to get to hospital as he had fallen and injured his left leg - which, by the way, was amputated just below the knee some years ago. Despite being in agony since the fall, which occurred all of two days prior, on February 14, the caregivers/medical professionals refused to expend any effort to get him the medical treatment required.

Since the pain was so intense and the fall happened on a Friday and it was now Sunday, the senior citizen was concerned that he had done irreparable damage to his hip and back and begged me to help get him to hospital. I eventually took him myself, with the assistance of a kind young man who attends the same church as the amputee. The gentleman was subsequently admitted to the Kingston Public Hospital, where the damage to his hip bone was found to be so severe as to warrant surgery and the insertion of pins to speed up the healing process.

So my question is this - just what is the purpose of these caregivers? When I got there on the Sunday in question, there were already nurses on staff; one of whom told me, quite unconcerned, that the injured resident had already been told that he would be taken to the doctor on Monday. So in other words, he should just wait! May I use this opportunity to remind said caregivers and indeed all professionals paid from the public purse that some of us are taxed and taxed very heavily so that they can be employed to provide essential services to their fellow Jamaicans.

Certainly one could argue that if this senior citizen were living on the streets, he might have got more prompt attention from one of several charitable organisations that assist 'street people' - or maybe even some passers-by. Instead, he was placed in a state home whose administrators showed such scant concern for his agony! And we can well wonder how many other residents at that home suffer in silence due to this inhumane treatment?! We taxpayers demand better service.

Shame on you!

Karen Jean E Brown

PO Box 5578

Kingston 8.

Concerns about Golden Age Home

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Better days ahead for St Ann's Bay Hospital

March 6, 2013, 3:00 am
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Dear Editor,

I would like to thank Mr Wesley Cunningham for his observations and concerns with respect to conditions at the St Ann's Bay Regional Hospital as outlined in his letter published in the Sunday Observer dated, March 3, 2012 titled, "St Ann's Bay Hospital needs attention, Minister".

A significant increase in patient load has impacted patient flow in the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department and by extension, has impacted available bed space on the wards.

We are aware of the present overflow at the facility and have taken steps to address the matter. In February, I took part in a contract signing valued at $73.4 million, which will see a 47-bed expansion of the female medical ward. This work is slated to begin on March 18, 2013, and will last eight months. In addition, other improvements are being made to the hospital as well as to health centres in St Ann.

We expect that this expansion of the ward will significantly reduce the need for persons to wait in the A&E Department for extended periods for admission. I would like to assure Mr Cunningham and other persons who use the facility that the Ministry of Health and the team at the North East Regional Health Authority are doing everything possible to rectify the problem.

We apologise for the inconvenience and use this opportunity to urge persons to utilise their community health centres for non-emergency cases to alleviate the demands on hospitals.

Hon Dr Fenton Ferguson, DDS, MP

Minister of Health

Better days ahead for St Ann's Bay Hospital

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What's up with Titchfield Beach?

March 7, 2013, 3:00 am
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Dear Editor,

Much has been made of the renaissance in upscale tourism in Port Antonio. However, little has been mentioned about the closure of the Titchfield Beach, which has severely impacted local guest houses and deprived residents of their birthright.

The Port Authority/marina management says that NEPA has shut them down, yet local NEPA officals counter that by saying that they have no right to close this beach.

In the meantime, the local chamber's newsletter claims that the local health department requires four lifeguards on this tiny beach.

John Maxwell must be squirming in his grave, as the bureaucrats have succeeded in taking away another beach from the people of Jamaica.

Michael ODonnell

mangoridge@yahoo.com

What's up with Titchfield Beach?

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We need to enforce our laws

March 7, 2013, 3:00 am
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Dear Editor,

The late journalist and talk show host Wilmot "Motty" Perkins used to say, if thieves could make laws, stealing would be legal. In the Jamaica that I grew up not so long ago, many of us studied using, "Home Sweet Home" lamps, throughout high school and college.

Stealing electricity was was not only too dangerous but also too risky, if you are poor and want to add a criminal record on top of that. But laws are made to be broken, and who better to break laws than those who make them.

John Wayne, the famous American actor, once said that everywhere he went he found God's presence, followed by the law. Without the law, we are no better than our ancestors who lived in caves.

Marlene Malahoo-Forte recently asked, how can Members of Parliament visit their constituencies in which persons are stealing light and water and turn a blind eye? One of the main duties of Members of Parliament is the making of laws. Enforcing laws is another matter.

Marlene Malahoo-Forte recently asked, how can Members of Parliament visit their constituencies in which persons are stealing light and water and turn a blind eye? One of the main duties of Members of Parliament is the making of laws. Enforcing laws is another matter.

Nowadays, lottery scammers are deemed to be extracting reparations on behalf of all of us, because our ancestors suffered during slavery. The man with the plasma television sent to him from foreign, may not be able to afford electricity, and so, stealing electricity is obligatory. If there is a dance, the Jamaica Public Service Company becomes part of the income, not the expense.

In this impoverished country where, "more man have more cars, more man have more phones and more man have more gal," stealing is inevitable. We cannot afford gas, there is a new tax on phones and more gal have more man.

A few weeks ago in Mandeville, a man with a gun held up another man. He demanded money, but the hapless victim said that he was broke. The gunman proceeded to search his victim and found cash in his socks. The gunman then angrily retorted, 'how you so lie? How you say you broke'?

Nowadays, the police have a hard task when they come upon a crime scene. It is difficult to distinguish who is criminal from who is innocent. Sometimes they find that there are wolves in sheep's clothing.

Jamaica is fast becoming a country of lawyers, not laws. Yes we make laws, but we seem to be playing catch-up with the criminals. We are at the mercy of criminals. They strike in broad daylight ... no longer are gunmen confined to committing their dark deeds under the cover of darkness. The law indeed is not a shackle.

Mark Clarke

Siloah, St Elizabeth

We need to enforce our laws

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Don't lecturers have work to do?

March 7, 2013, 3:00 am
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Dear Editor,

Seeing the state that we are in, both as a nation and as a people, wouldn't it be fair to ask if our university lecturers have any work to do? I ask this because we see them doing what appears to be a lot of non-university (even non-educational) work.

If there are still people who doubt that we have a very serious intellectual deficit problem, then I would invite them to simply take a casual look at the state that we have been in for a very long time. Just to name two indicators — our national productivity has been declining now since the early 1970s and, judging from the state of our economy, our problem-solving skills leave much to be desired.

Now, we are always being told that, in many respects, our universities hold the key to a better future. We have been hearing this now for as long as I can remember. Yet our state of affairs continues to worsen. How then can our university educators find so much time for work not directly related to their jobs?

I fail to see how our universities can do more to materialise the enhancement of our intellectual capacity that we so desperately need when so many of them are being appointed to boards of all kinds, hosting talk shows, chairing committees, and even managing organisations.

If it is that their workloads are light, then that in itself should raise a red flag. The lack of any real ability of our leaders, most of whom are university graduates, to solve our problems as manifested by our economic mess, should have induced our universities to revise the job descriptions of these educators long ago.

Based on the state that we are in, I can understand politicians being able to host talk shows and the like, as they clearly have little to do. But I can't understand this of tertiary-level educators, as one would have thought that developing the intellectual capacity of people would have been no easy task. This is especially true in our case, where the art of problem solving is desperately underdeveloped.

If, on the other hand, these educators are very efficient at what they do, wouldn't it be better for them to use their free time to boost the problem-solving skills of their students?

One rarely sees engineers, like information technology professionals, farmers, doctors and other scientists having the luxury of so much free time like these educators, and yet we can see what they are doing.

I think that our universities owe it to us to take a good look at the workload of their educators. From where I stand, there is a wide gap between the apparent volume of work that they have, and the need to solve the severe problems that we have.

Michael A Dingwall

michael_a_dingwall@hotmail.com

Don't lecturers have work to do?

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Ruel Reid and religion at JC

March 7, 2013, 3:00 am
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Dear Editor,

Arrogance, insensitivity and ignorance constitute a really bad cluster of personal attributes. In the case of an aspiring or sitting leader, whether religious, political or educational leader, it is just not acceptable.

Each culture has its own manifestations of cultural practices, gestures and religious beliefs. Contrary to popular belief, there are practising Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and atheists making equal contributions to the development of Jamaica.

Humility and respect are essential attributes and core values of any civilised society; indeed such core values should be at the top of every school's agenda. While the external manifestations of these values may take various forms, they do exist in all civilisations.

It is thus particularly regrettable that the Principal of Jamaica College, Ruel Reid, tried to justifying his Christian tent during school hours. Maybe Mr Reid was playing to the gallery, but in so doing did he expose how he felt about non-Christian cultural and social practices?

Mr Reid, when did schools take the place of religious training institutions, and should school teachers take the place of religious experts? Moreover, he seems to be assuming the "strange" role of high priest, imam, pundit or archbishop to host such a crusade.

Leaders, especially leaders of educational institutions, must demonstrate a higher level of humility, humanity and cultural sensitivity. The present episode is exceedingly distasteful and has served as an example of why teachers and principals should stop imposing their personal beliefs on students. One expects leaders to seek to strengthen, not weaken, the bonds of inter-social harmonious relations.

Andrew King

abking020@gmail.com

Ruel Reid and religion at JC

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There are better things to do

March 7, 2013, 3:00 am
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Dear Editor,

It has come to my attention that the Government of Jamaica has tabled a bill to decriminalise the practice of obeah on Jamaican soil, while we are plagued by the more significant issues like violence against our children and the precipice that our economy is on the edge of.

The aforementioned situations are of more importance and value to the country and society that we have to live in, but what message do they choose to send to the younger generation?

They try to find every way possible not to address the matters that affect the lives of the Jamaican people, and we always seem to be okay with that. When do we realise that the quicker we take the time to address the problems that we have to face, the quicker we will make progress in making them disappear?

As a nation we have failed to stand up in togetherness, failed in putting up a united effort to make Jamaica the place to work, live and play ... all of this because we always tend to put things on the back burner, but my question to the Jamaican people, still remains: When will the back burners become full?

Levoane Lowe

evoanelowe@yahoo.com

There are better things to do

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Not so, Mr Wignall

March 8, 2013, 3:00 am
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Dear Editor,

I normally would not take the time to respond to your columnist, Mark Wignall. However, his column in yesterday's edition of your newspaper (: "Are we going back to the dark days of the mid 1990s?" is an attempt to rewrite history, with a total disdain for the facts. It cannot be permitted to go unanswered.

In this column, there is a photograph of me, with a caption: "foreign exchange agents used under him". However, nowhere in the text is there any reference, either to me or to the false assertion of the caption to my photograph. In any event, Mr Wignall's implied accusation is totally false. What are the facts?

The foreign exchange auction system instituted by the (Edward) Seaga Administration in the 1980s did give rise to a black market, with the Bank of Jamaica resorting to using agents to purchase foreign exchange 'on the streets'. When this information came to the attention of Prime Minister Michael Manley in 1991, he ordered a full investigation, led by Sir Alister McIntyre, then the Vice Chancellor of the UWI. The investigation revealed that this unacceptable practice had started in the last years of the Seaga Adminstration and had continued, unknown to either the new BOJ Governor, G Arthur Brown, or Prime Minister Manley. Governor Brown immediately put a stop to this practice and senior officials of the BoJ were dismissed. Immediately after, the exchange system was totally liberalised.

All of the above is documented public information. In fact, the results of the investigation were presented by Sir Alister at a press conference.

In case Mr Wignall is interested in facts, I became Minister of Finance in 1993, fully two years after the BoJ's involvement in the black market came to light and was terminated. What then is his rationale for associating me with this unfortunate practice? Is this sloppy journalism or plain malice?

In case Mr Wignall is interested in some additional facts, during my period as Minister of Finance, the NIR moved from (US)$12 million (December 1993) to over (US)$2,400 million in 2007.

Omar Davies, MP

Not so, Mr Wignall

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Census and religious trends

March 8, 2013, 3:00 am
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Dear Editor,

The 2011 population and housing census report included trends on religious affiliation. Of the 20 categories, several denominations showed declines between 2001 and now (Anglican, Baptist, Roman Catholic, Moravian, Methodist and the minority Baha'l). All other religious groups including the minorities (Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Rastafarian) showed an increase.

Of note are the statistics on "no religion/denomination" which increased from 543,902 in 2001 to 572,005 in 2011. By far the largest percentage increase in the last decade occurred among people who categorised themselves as having no religion or who did not state any affiliation. The former represent a whopping 20 per cent. This is in line with global trends. In our Caricom sister state of Trinidad and Tobago, nearly 13 per cent of the people describe themselves as non-religious, while in the UK about two-thirds do so.

Of note are the statistics on "no religion/denomination" which increased from 543,902 in 2001 to 572,005 in 2011. By far the largest percentage increase in the last decade occurred among people who categorised themselves as having no religion or who did not state any affiliation. The former represent a whopping 20 per cent. This is in line with global trends. In our Caricom sister state of Trinidad and Tobago, nearly 13 per cent of the people describe themselves as non-religious, while in the UK about two-thirds do so.

It must be emphasised that, contrary to the propaganda preached by religious and some educational leaders, progress has marched in step with this decline in religious affiliation (more human rights, stable democracy, education and exposure).

In Jamaica, there is no contradiction between the apparent rise in non-traditional Christianity and a simultaneous movement away from religious belief. Studies of non-believers in other societies show that the self promotion, intolerance and bigotry by religious fundamentalists are key factors which make people turn from religion.

More importantly, Christian groups in Jamaica have generally enjoyed disproportionate benefits and political influence in our society. Non-religious people and minorities are, by definition, silent on national and even religious issues, but they would tend to share the same values and concerns as every other Jamaican.

This silence would imply that, when it comes to public policy such as human rights or abortion or the death penalty, politicians would undoubtedly consider what would persuade voters to support them at election time.

Andrew King

abking020@gmail.com

Census and religious trends

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Offensive, mean-spirited and baseless, Mr Johnston

March 10, 2013, 3:00 am
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Dear Editor,

Mr Franklin Johnston's column of Friday, March 8, 2013 is offensive and does both him and me a disservice.

I first became acquainted in a concrete way with the matter of adolescent pregnancy when I was asked to open the dining area of the Women's Centre Foundation of Jamaica (WCFJ) in 2010. I have travelled to the ICPD Conference of Parliamentarians on Population and Development and during the course of my subsequent research determined that this was an issue which I wished to champion.

I have been aware of work being done on the matter of reintegration. In fact, I have heard that as far back as 2005 a submission was made to the Ministry of Education (MOE) by a students' union association, asking the ministry to look at this matter.

I understand the WCFJ and various other women's agencies have advocated for this law to change from even further back without success. Ms Olivia Grange had established an inter-agency committee under her ministry to look at the issue when she was minister, and I have been told that the education ministry was looking at this issue as part of its policy review which, I understand, had started under Minister Holness.

I was concerned that with all this advocacy over the years and the obvious impact on society, this matter had never reached Parliament. I was also concerned that the ministry might not actually address the issue when it completed its review or that it might not decide to change the law.

I still don't know what the MOE's position is on the reintegration of pregnant girls into the formal school system. I had no idea that the issue would get the public support which it did, and I have been pleased and encouraged by it.

If your mean-spirited and baseless commentary is anything to go by, however, I do hope that it means that the ministry is planning to change the law to ensure that all Jamaican girls have a right to complete their formal education, and are not to be marginalised to the options of only CAP or school-leaving certificates. They are entitled to complete their formal education -- it would/will be a good decision for Jamaica's development prospects.

I invite you to check Hansard for June 2012 where you will read my presentation on adolescent sexual health and reproductive issues, including my call for this change to policy, the tabling of the parenting support bill and a new approach to family planning outreach.

After my presentation, persons encouraged me to break out the issues into separate motions for debate, which I am in the process of doing (research takes time). The next will be on the Parenting Support Commission asking that it be supported in the budget. Coincidence? Leaked information? No. The budget is coming up and I would like to advocate for resources.

I do my own research, but also provide a stipend to one or two young persons (unconnected with MOE or any other MDA) to assist me with issues from time to time. I wish I had contacts in the ministry; it might make my research work easier. I do not get scripts from anyone; I draft all of my own motions and presentations (again, wouldn't it be easier otherwise?)

I look forward to Mr Johnston's personal written apology and the apology of the Observer.

Senator Kamina Johnson Smith



Offensive, mean-spirited and baseless, Mr Johnston

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Apology

March 10, 2013, 3:00 am
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The Jamaica Observer has no information to support the suggestion made by Dr Franklin Johnston in his column on Friday that Senator Kamina Johnson Smith's recent presentation in the Upper House on adolescent pregnancy has its genesis in leaked documents from "corrupt civil servants".

The Observer unreservedly apologises to Senator Johnson Smith for publishing the comment.

Apology

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Gov't must share in the sacrifice

March 10, 2013, 3:00 am
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Dear Editor,

I heard with great dismay Dr Omar Davies' reaction in Parliament to the request by many associations and individuals for the Government to reduce the size of the Cabinet and to tell us what steps they plan to take to reduce the cost of parliamentary salaries and perks.

I interpret what was said to mean that doing so would not amount to much in the scheme of things, with little or no impact on Government's expenses. I am truly surprised that a gentleman of Dr Davies' great knowledge and experience has not learned of the need for "shared sacrifice".

Even if, as he put it, the effect would not amount to much, it is the gesture that counts and not necessarily how much it saves. It is very, very important for the Government -- when asking workers, pensioners, businessmen, and women to accept a wage freeze, pay more taxes, receive reduced income on bonds and other investments -- to do the right thing and demonstrate to all Jamaicans that they understand and accept that they, too, must take less pay, have a smaller Cabinet and reduced perks, to show that they, too, are sharing the pain with the citizens of our beautiful Jamaica.

I hope that what is happening now will never happen again.

We must ensure that those who govern us do whatever is necessary to grow our economy so that everybody prospers.

Peter Thwaites.

pjsr40@gmail.com

Gov't must share in the sacrifice

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For a meaningful Jamaica Jubilee

March 10, 2013, 3:00 am
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Dear Editor,

I remember the first time I heard Mutabaruka repudiate the 1962 Jamaican Independence watershed as a meaningless development from the Rasta perspective. It jarred me.

Even if one agrees with the analysis, that in all the independence movements of the 20th century in Africa and the Caribbean, black nationalism capitulated to western rationalism, which conceived nations in terms of units of land rather than a unity of people, one feels some spiritual connection with the motto, anthem and pledge fed to us daily from our primary school days.

I have always fought to find some meaning in the promise of 1962. My father and his father before him left a legacy of the kind of sacrifice, vision and principles that fed the fledgling institutions of a young nation.

While empathising with Muta's sentiment, the here and now required me to culturally repatriate, self-repair, and put my own dynastic flag of conquest on the Jamaican rock.

However, I have now arrived at the following conclusion:

The symbols of 1962 can never be sold successfully to a people if they are, or are perceived to be, tools of oppression. The Coral Gardens atrocity is the significant memory the Rastaman has of 1962. The Independence fires and flag-raising had little impact upon those brutally violated by the State.

The present age of violence can justly be said to have been initiated by the Jamaican Government and its agencies. From Coral Gardens to Tivoli Gardens, and every case of police extrajudicial killing in-between; poor black people in Jamaica have been fed a diet of murderous impunity for the last 50 years.

There is a very long file of State terror that makes a mockery of every honest attempt to find integrity in the idea and symbols of Jamaican nationhood.

Notwithstanding short bouts of hope from populist leaders such as those at present, the people who have witnessed the brutish nature of the post-Independence Jamaican Government have failed to be aroused from their deep cynicism and anancyism by compromised and corrupt leaders.

These leaders lack the courage to accept responsibility for the brutish past, for initially arming the inner-city political fiefdoms and fuelling the baptism of blood and international crime that now brand the nation, and for waxing fat off the blood of the poor, raping them of justice, and translating the rule of law into a rule of terror.

Last Friday was the anniversary of the State crucifixion of Rastafari -- the true carrier of the gene of black identity and will towards self-determination. The State should now move swiftly to make amends, right this wrong, and safeguard itself from reaping in the next 50 years the blood it has sown in the last 50. This would be a meaningful Jamaica Jubilee.

YeKengale

yekengale@yahoo.com

For a meaningful Jamaica Jubilee

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Law change was about flogging, not obeah

March 10, 2013, 3:00 am
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Dear Editor,

I am responding to a letter published in the Observer on Thursday, March 7, 2013, in which the writer stated that "It has come to my attention that the Government of Jamaica has tabled a bill to decriminalise the practice of obeah on Jamaican soil."

That statement is incorrect. The Obeah (Amendment) Act was one of three Bills passed in February to eliminate whipping and flogging as punishments that may be imposed by the Court. This was necessary because the Obeah Act had previously provided that whipping could be imposed, in addition or as an alternative to a sentence of imprisonment, as punishment on conviction for the practice of obeah. The law has now been amended to eliminate whipping by way of judicially-imposed punishment in Jamaica.

To be clear, it remains a criminal offence to practise obeah in Jamaica, punishable by a sentence of imprisonment of up to 12 months, with or without hard labour.

I should mention that during the debate of these Bills in the Senate, an Opposition senator stated that in his view obeah should be decriminalised, and he received support for that idea from a senator on the Government side. I then suggested to them that they bring a motion before the Senate to have the matter ventilated. In the event they do so, it should be an interesting discussion.

Mark Golding

Minister of Justice

Law change was about flogging, not obeah

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Sandy Bay health centre falls short

March 11, 2013, 2:00 am
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Dear Editor,

Good day to you and the staff of the Jamaica Observer and congratulations on being in business for so long and continuing to give us the best news from Jamaica and the world.

I am writing in regards to the Sandy Bay Health Centre in Clarendon. It has come to my attention that the authorities there have been out of family planning supplies both for males and females. Mothers and children have also had to be turned away because of a lack of certain drugs that the children need to stay healthy.

Regarding the family planning supplies, as a country that keeps reminding us about safe sex and preventing unwanted pregnancy, why have we allowed supplies to run out? Not everyone can afford to buy a condom but they can have sex and not providing these, as in the past, can lead to a rise in AIDS and other STI's.

I am appealing to the authorities to look into the situation and correct it as soon as possible. The children need their medications also.

Another thing is the lack of mosquito spraying in the area. Neighbourhoods such as Longville Park and others are continually sprayed. I have lived in the area for over a year and it has never been fogged.

At one point, people from the mosquito eradication programme were going around making sure that containers were treated. When I asked them about fogging, the answer was that they were short of chemicals. Mosquitoes are forcing us to lock up in our homes and using coil destroyers which are not good for the children. I have contracted dengue and so has my wife. My son is asthmatic and having him locked up in the stale area is not helping.

Please, I am asking the relevant authorities to address these issues immediately so that I can see where my land tax and the other taxes are going.

Alessandro

originaliru@gmail.com

Sandy Bay health centre falls short

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A salute to our civil servants

March 11, 2013, 2:00 am
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Dear Editor,

The whole nation should stand up and salute the civil servants of Jamaica for making what I term in my language a "lifetime sacrifice"; as revealed in the Jamaica Observer of March 7. This is no ordinary sacrifice, as is recognised by our prime minister and our minister of finance.

As the prime minister stated, she is exploring ways of reciprocating with the civil servants' goodwill gesture (my interpretation), apart from the NHT stuff that she identified. That is all well said in the "joy of the moment." I sincerely hope that this will not be forgotten by the current PNP administration, and that there will be no civil service positions put on the "chopping blocks" as could be expected by and through the IMF negotiations. This would be tragic, if that ever happened.

Let us move on to bigger and better things, now that one major hurdle is out of the way; and give honour and praise where honour and praise is due.

I extend my personal congratulations to the union of the civil servants and to each Jamaican civil servants. This is a major sacrifice to our nation in a time of economic and finance distress and needs

Dr Dudley E Morgan,

World Wide Resources Training Centers - Yukon

Alberta, Canada

A salute to our civil servants

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Mustard Seed thanks Digicel

March 11, 2013, 2:00 am
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Dear Editor,

Over the years, Digicel and the Digicel Foundation have shown their commitment to providing for the most vulnerable of our society, and we at the Mustard Seed Communities have been fortunate enough to benefit from their kind gestures.

Through this commitment, they have impacted the lives of the mentally and physically challenged children affected by HIV/AIDS and pregnant teens.

Recently, the Mustard Seed Communities was blessed to have been the beneficiary of funds raised through the Digicel Foundation 5K Night Walk/Run to aid special-needs children. We are proud of this partnership with the Foundation, as it has helped us tremendously in providing for this special population.

This is highly commendable, especially during these trying economic times, when charities need as much help as they can get. Thanks, Digicel Foundation, for considering us and giving some nobility to the work that we have been called to do.

Darcy Tulluch-Williams

Executive Director

Mustard Seed Communities, Jamaica

darcy.williams@mustardseed. com

Mustard Seed thanks Digicel

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Too many hypocrites in Jamaica

March 11, 2013, 2:00 am
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Dear Editor,

It is becoming clearer that Jamaica is a country like none other. Our prime minister and minister of Finance are so boldly thanking public sector workers and bond holders for their sacrifices to help dig Jamaica out of the deep hole that it is in.

However, Mrs Simpson Miller and her Cabinet are yet to make a sacrifice to assist in the process. I was flabbergasted to hear Dr Peter Phillips trying to scold bond holders who do not buy into the recent NDX, while he was speaking at a function at St Mary High School. Is this really what we should expect from our minister of finance after people invest and expect great returns, just to be told we cannot meet your expectations, so just fall in line? I am becoming more annoyed with the hypocritical nature of this Government. Administrations across the world understand the pressure that faces their people, and are willing to share in the burden.

However, our "poor people" Government goes out and purchases luxury vehicles costing millions of dollars, continue to operate a very large Cabinet or as Mama P would say a "breakfront", continue to flagrantly spend on initiatives that have no real benefit to Jamaica. How does this Government go about doing cost benefit analysis?

As a young professional, I have never thought about migrating from Jamaica. However, with leaders who have NO vision, empathy and understanding of what the masses are facing, migrating seems to be a grand idea at this time.

Most of the promises made prior to the general elections are yet to be fulfilled. I must commend the Government for the JEEP programme, but, in the same breath, I ask the question: Is the Government implying or forcing university graduates to clean roadsides and gutters for as low as $1,000 per day, when they must pay back high student loan costs?

I ask again: Is the Government committed to improving lives or simply giving some Jamaicans a chance to live slightly above the poverty line, or live on the poverty line? I am here waiting for answers, as I stand aghast to see the direction the country is heading with an "uncaring, selfish and visionless" Government. I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news but at this time, I really do feel sorry for my country and its people, including myself.

Javid Brown

Westmoreland

javidbrown@gmail.com

Too many hypocrites in Jamaica

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