The Revenue Enhancement Division of the Ministry of Local Government is pleading with property owners to pay up their property tax. Andre Wiltshire, financial analyst in the Revenue Enhancement Unit, lamented that the non-payment of the taxes was severely hampering the undertaking of property-related services such as collection and disposal of garbage, maintenance of parochial roads and payment for streetlights, among others.

“People need to pay their property tax (so) that property-related services can be carried out,” he stressed. Ann-Marie Mittoo, director of communications at the Ministry of Local Government and Environment, reiterated that the compliance level was very low.

She said that a hundred per cent compliance would still not be enough to pay for all the services funded by the property taxes, so every dollar is needed. “The property tax cannot do all that it is slated to do. Solid waste alone (could) eat up all of it and still be wanting more like a hungry man,” emphasised Mrs Mittoo.

She added that the low compliance rate had forced the Ministry to review the number of services that benefit from the property taxes. In recent times, the fire service has not been a beneficiary.

Mr Wiltshire revealed that the latest compiled figures show that the compliance rate for the financial year 2004-2005 stood at a meagre 35 per cent. The 2003-2004 period was equally as daunting with a matching 35 per cent compliance rate.

Three Jamaican teachers receive awards

Three teachers from Jamaica have been awarded with the International Excellence Award for Teachers. The Canada-based International Scholarship Trust Foundation, the parent company of the local agency for the Heritage International Scholarship Trust Plan (HIST), gave the award at a reception held at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston last week.

The awards focus exclusively on teachers from pre-school through to grade four, who have made significant contributions to education and who have helped to raise the status of the teaching profession in Jamaica, Bermuda and the Bahamas.

The International Excellence Award winners are Vernie Wisdom from the Marjam Preparatory School in Ocho Rios; Simone Kelly of the Shortwood Teachers’ College; and Doreth McFarlane of Denham Town Primary School.

Ms McFarlane, while giving the acceptance speech on behalf of the awardees, said she was elated that teachers at the early childhood level were appreciated. The Canada-based International Scholarship Trust Foundation grants US$1,000 to each of the winning teachers who are nominated by parents or the school community.

Guest speaker at the reception, Fay Saunders, past principal of St Andrew High School for Girls, emphasised the importance of the early childhood curriculum.

New patrol boat to help drug fight

Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller has pledged to be strong and unflinching in fighting against the illegal drug trade that plagues Jamaica and the Caribbean.

Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin

Mrs Simpson-Miller, who also holds the Defence portfolio, was speaking to a group of army personnel and international dignitaries at the commissioning ceremony of the HMJS Middlesex at the Jamaica Defence Force’s base in Port Royal on the weekend.

“I intend to be very serious, and very tough, and very firm in the defence of our country, and in dealing with the whole problem of drug trafficking and the protection of our waters,” the Prime Minister said.

She also said she would be working closely with other regional heads of government to coordinate a defence against the trafficking of illicit drugs, which she noted is a US$322 billion industry.

Additional fire trucks expected this month

Ten new fire trucks are expected to arrive in the island by the end of this month, according to Acting Commissioner of the Fire Brigade Frederick White.

According to a statement from Jamaica House, Acting Commissioner White told Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller that the new fire trucks would arrive in the island by late April.

Portia Simpson-Miller, PM of Jamaica

The Deputy Fire Chief was updating the Prime Minister on developments within the fire brigade. He said additional trucks including a number of special units expected to arrive by year’s end.

According to Jamaica House, Prime Minister Simpson-Miller assured Commissioner White, and the other officers who met with her, that although she was no longer the minister with portfolio responsibility for the fire brigade she would ensure that under her watch, the brigade was brought up to first world standard.

She said this should include the establishment of a world class training institute which is to be constructed at Twickenham Park in St Catherine. The Prime Minister said the institute would not only serve the training needs of Jamaican firefighters, but that it could also offer training to firemen and women across the region.

Severe drought in western Jamaica

Scores of residents in communities across western Jamaica are now reeling from a severe water shortage as a result of extended islandwide drought conditions.

The National Water Commission (NWC) in a recent statement confirmed that some of its facilities are being affected mainly in the parishes of Hanover and Westmoreland.

For residents of New Milns, Haddington, Rejoin, Castle Hyde, Great Valley in Hanover and several others including Friendship, Logwood, Deans Valley and Shrewsbury in Westmoreland the lack of water or inconsistent supply was the common cry.

“The water condition is very bad. The pressure is very low and sometimes we have no water and we have to resort to using the untreated river water,” said Merilda Lawrence of New Milns in Hanover. Other parishes such as St Thomas, Kingston and St Andrew, St Catherine, and Clarendon are also being affected by drought conditions.

Michael Lee Chin buys CVM and UGI Group

Jamaican-Canadian billionaire Michael Lee Chin revealed details behind his acquisition of the controlling stake in the United General Insurance Company (UGIC), as well as the controlling interest in the CVM Group. Neville Blythe’s UGI Group owns the interest being sold in the cash-strapped general insurance giant.

Michael Lee Chin, Chairman

The company has been hit by new insurance regulations requiring a substantial boost in its assets. An agreement has been reached for Mr Lee Chin’s AIC Barbados company to take the 75 per cent UGIC stake, although the deal is subject to regulatory approval. The insurer is the biggest operating unit in the UGI Group.

The CVM acquisition is expected to cost $250 million and involve a 64 per cent stake. Mr Lee Chin is to pump $300 million into the acquisition to provide it with necessary equipment.

Mr Lee Chin already has a 50 per cent shareholding in Columbus Communications which has controlling interests in Cable Bahamas.

This company owns a cable television station in Trinidad and New World Network which owns Arcos Network, the provider of a fibre-optic ring around the Caribbean, Central America and South America. It also owns Flow, the new communications provider in Jamaica.

Jubilee gets equipment to help prevent infant, maternal deaths

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the European Commission presented the Victoria Jubilee Hospital with 12 foetal heart monitors (pocket model), one central monitoring system, two antepartum foetal monitors, six portable patient monitors and 10 examination lights to reduce the risk of mothers dying during childbirth and aid in the safe delivery of babies.

Speaking during a brief handing-over ceremony at the hospital, UNFPA Deputy Representative for the Office of the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean, Jaime Nadal, said it was unacceptable that in this era of “phenomenal discoveries and scientific achievements, women are still dying by the minute from pregnancy-related causes.”

He said the partnership between the European Commission and UNFPA was “an investment in the reproductive health and well-being of women in Jamaica and also in the fight against poverty.” In receiving the equipment, Dr Douglas McDonald, senior medical officer at the hospital, said it would help the medical team to better manage the health of women in their care, and in so doing, reduce the number of women who die during childbirth. He added that prior to this, the hospital had only one foetal monitor.

Students want condoms in schools

Students of several leading high schools are calling on the Government to immediately make condoms available in these educational institutions. The students are concerned with the issue of teenage pregnancy, making condoms available in schools would be the most realistic option to address the problem.

They want a structured consultation on the issue as prior discussions on the matter have not been constructive. The National Family Planning Board has reported that while the number of teens becoming parents at an early age has declined, the figure remains high.

The latest statistics immediately available indicate that 5,249 girls aged 15-19 years had their first child in 2003, down from 6,245 in 2002 and 7,395 in 2001. Figures from the Registrar General’s Department also revealed that 1,328 girls in that age group became parents for the second time last year compared to 1,517 in 2002 and 1,730 in 2001.