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The Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Office (PICA) is urging persons, who have submitted applications for citizenship to contact the agency by November 7 to sort out their applications. Director of Citizenship at PICA, Carole Hammond, said that the agency is experiencing a backlog in the processing of applications. "We have approximately 814 applications in backlog for citizenship to Jamaica and...

Approximately 1,200 citizens of St. James benefitted from free health services, including dental, optical and pre-natal care, at the 16th annual Atlanta/Montego Bay Sister Cities health fair held from October 5 to 7. More than 26 health professionals including dentists, ophthalmologists, gynaecologists, paediatricians, podiatrists and general practitioners, and a team of volunteers participated in the three-day event held at the...

Speaking on behalf of the Caribbean region at the 98th Meeting of the Committee of the Board of Governors of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Madrid, Spain, today (October 8), Minister of Finance and the Public Service, the Honourable Audley Shaw, recognised the increased role of the IDB in the development efforts of the Caribbean, noting that the Bank...

Prime Minister, the Hon. Bruce Golding says there has been a slow down in the rate of decline in the economy and based on reports he has received, remittances for August have shown an improvement of 8 per cent, compared to the figures for August last year. The Prime Minister was speaking at his 8th Town Hall meeting in the...

On the advice of a team of doctors at the University Hospital of the West Indies, Senator the Hon. Dwight Nelson, Minister of National Security, left the country early this morning for the United States of America, to seek medical treatment for an unusual vascular problem resulting from intestinal complications. Minister Nelson will have further consultations with doctors in the...

Government is seeking to create a trust to make more funds available to the Students' Loan Bureau (SLB). Prime Minister, Hon. Bruce Golding, said that the move will enable students to borrow more, match the repayment schedules to expected salaries, and have the loans spread over longer periods. The Prime Minister was speaking with students of the University of the...

Prime Minister, Hon. Bruce Golding, says Jamaica is not doing well in the area of human resource development. He said Government is spending $75 billion this year on education but not getting value for the money being spent. "There is a lot of work to be done...there is a culture that has to be overturned.there is a complacency that has...

Prime Minister, Hon. Bruce Golding, has started to develop a framework that will guide the consultative process of public sector reform in a bid to meet the designated implementation date of April 2010. Minister with responsibility for Information, Daryl Vaz, made the announcement to journalists, who attended the post Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House on Wednesday, October 7. Minister...

In an effort to provide its services to more Jamaicans, the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA), plans to visit more communities with its mobile unit. Speaking in an interview with JIS News on Wednesday (October 7), Customer Service Manager at PICA, Stephanie Gordon, said that there is an overwhelming demand from citizens for the services of the agency. "We...

Government's health sector groups have been invited to a special meeting at ten O' Clock Thursday morning (October 15), at the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, to be updated on the reclassification exercises within the sector. This will be followed by a meeting at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security on Friday (October 16) at 2 o'clock,...

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Dr. Christopher Tufton, has stressed the need for more collaboration between parish development committees and bodies undertaking national development plans. Delivering the keynote address, recently, at the 7th National Tree Planting ceremony at the Black River Municipal Park, St. Elizabeth, the Minister noted that without synergies between groups doing development, much of their effort...

Minister of Education, Hon Andrew Holness, has implored newly appointed Deans of Discipline to ensure they are not seen as "enforcers with a belt", but that they develop a sustainable framework for maintaining discipline in schools. "Any behaviour management strategy that relies on fear is usually very short term. It doesn't change behaviour, all it does is it controls behaviour,"...