Commentary

Newly elected members of parliament at Gordon House
Published 5 hours ago

Editorial | Fix public sector accounts

While any amount that helps to get the job done is welcome, given the scale of the problem, an allocation of J$18.8 million in this fiscal year, presumably to pay private professionals for helping to clear the backlog of unaudited financial statements of government ministries and agencies, seems inadequate.

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Children and nuns gather outside the Holy Family Catholic Church before attending a mass ahead of Christmas celebrations in Gaza City.
Published 5 hours ago

Peter Espeut | The Samaritan woman at the well

Quite by coincidence, the gospel reading in several mainline Christian churches on Sunday, March 8 – International Women’s Day – was centred on a woman. Today I take a break from local politics and…
Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Fayval Williams, opens the 2026/27 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives.
Published 5 hours ago

Kristen Gyles | Keep Miss Bev’s pension safe

The finance minister opened the budget debate by announcing some interesting reforms to the financial sector. These were largely regulatory reforms intended to widen the universe of investable assets…
Courtney Williams, Commissioner of the Independent Fiscal Commission
March 12, 2026

Editorial | IFC and noisy MPs

Apart from their partisan desk-thumping, an unfortunate feature of Jamaica’s legislators is how little attention they pay to, and therefore know about, the bills upon which they vote. They generally…
Africka Stephens
March 12, 2026

Africka Stephens | Tomato juice in schools? A right step in school nutrition

March is officially observed as Nutrition Month, a time when national attention turns to the critical link between what we eat and how we live. It is therefore both fitting and forward-thinking that…
The SSP Diaries
March 12, 2026

SSP Diaries | The threat regime débâcle?

Following the forceful removal of President Maduro of Venezuela, and the huge public outcry from strong US allies across the globe, the US Administration has experienced something unexpected in the…
“A resource is only a blessing when the people can feel it in their daily lives. If Jamaica ever strikes oil, the victory cannot stay on paper or in press releases...This is not the hour for Jamaica to think small. If opportunity comes, we must meet it w
Published 18 hours ago

If Jamaica strikes oil

Jamaica cannot afford to drift through this moment with polite language, soft thinking, or the usual habit of celebrating possibility before securing substance. There is a serious conversation now…
Paulwell
March 11, 2026

Editorial | Rare earths and more

While the economic feasibility of extracting rare earth elements (REE) from bauxite residue is still unattained, Phillip Paulwell is right about Jamaica needing to do the work to put itself in a…
A thick plume of smoke rises from an oil storage facility hit by a US-Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran on March 8, 2026.
March 11, 2026

Elizabeth Morgan | Another war in a complex, volatile region: fulfilling prophecy?

The international news is dominated by the current Iran war initiated by Israel and the USA on Saturday, February 28. The USA was assembling its military in the region following its mission in…
March 11, 2026

Offniel Lamont | Call to address obesity

Over the past 30 years, childhood obesity in the Caribbean has more than doubled, making it the hardest-hit region in the Americas. In 2022, 8.6 per cent of children under five years old were…