NEW ENERGY INITIATIVE FROM DEVELOPMENT BANK TO BENEFIT CARIBBEAN NATIONSĪ new financing instrument will be created by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to expand energy access, support transition in the energy sector, and protect the climate of countries in the Caribbean region and Latin America. Holness added that this is an age in which every transaction requires identification and pointed to the face that 35,000 Jamaicans did not collect their COVID-19 grants in 2020 because they lacked legal ID.
JAMAICA PRIME MINISTER ANDREW HOLNESS REGISTRATION
Holness said the government is creating the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Data Protection Act and the National Identification and Registration Inspectorate to provide independent oversight under NIDS. Modern digital economies rely on strong digital identities that focus on privacy rights and security of citizens, who favor the creation of strong and transparent identification systems. Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness noted that the NIDS will position Jamaica among the world’s strongest digital economies. Over two years after a court struck down Jamaica’s National Identification and Registration (NIDS) Act, it was passed by the House of Representatives with 14 amendments. JAMAICA’S HOUSE PASSES NATIONAL IDENTIFICATION AND REGISTRATION ACT Grace McLean, acting permanent secretary, left on leave after a report from the auditor general indicated fiduciary failings around the JCTE payments. Williams has also asked the police and the Major Organized Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency to provide whatever information is required for the probe. JAMAICAN MINISTER OF EDUCATION ASKS FOR PROBE OF MINISTRY’S $124 MILLION LOSSįayval Williams, Jamaica’s Minister of Education, has requested that the Financial Investigation Division launch a probe into the circumstances of the multi-million dollar losses at the Education Ministry involving payments to the Joint Committee on Tertiary Education (JCTE). On behalf of the Government and people of Jamaica, I extend heartfelt condolences to the family of former US Secretary of State, General Colin Powell as well as the people of the United States,” said Holness.Jamaican and Caribbean weekly news stories “We have had many good conversations and very interesting discussions about Jamaica and the developments taking place. Jamaican prime minister Andrew Holness, who also has roots in St. As a fellow American of Jamaican descent, he always served as a role model not only for persons back home but here in America as well,” said Messam. “We have lost a tremendous leader who exuded the epitome of great character. He was born in the United States to parents from rural Jamaica.Ĭolin Powell, he noted, was always someone he wanted to emulate. Wayne Messam, Mayor of Miramar, has a similar background to Powell’s. He was a proud son of Jamaica and was sure to point out that only in America the son of black immigrants could achieve what he did in his lifetime.” Mayor Wayne Messam Elizabeth often and walked among the citizens with ease. She said “he made sure that at every opportunity the world would know that he was the son of immigrants.”Īccording to Walker-Huntington, “He visited his ancestral home in Top Hill, St. Dahlia Walker-Huntingtonĭahlia Walker-Huntington, another Jamaican attorney based in South Florida, met Powell once at a immigrants rights event in Washington DC. They did not have their individual dignity beat down for three hundred years, the fate of so many black American slaves and their ancestors,” he wrote. “West Indians were left more or less on their own. In his autobiography, My American Journey, Powell reflected on the significance of growing up in a Jamaican/West Indian home, compared to the African-American experience. Elizabeth parish, where Powell visited several times. His father Luther grew up in Top Hill district in St. Powell’s parents were from rural Jamaica. He added that, “As a son of Jamaican roots, we can celebrate the significance of his life contributions to the American landscape. His family journey was and is our own journey. This is an extraordinary loss for our adopted home of the United States of America, Jamaica, and the Caribbean region.” Marlon Hill, a Jamaican attorney and leading figure in South Florida Jamaican Diaspora affairs, said Powell was the “embodiment of grace, resilience, dignity, and service to the greater good.” His family, in a statement, said the former Secretary of State and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was vaccinated. Powell died at age 84 from complications of COVID-19. It was fitting that on October 18, the day he died, Jamaica celebrated National Heroes Day. – He was born in Harlem, New York but Colin Powell always acknowledged his Jamaican roots.