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Discussions between the Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC) and the Jamaica Bankers’ Association (JBA) on a draft voluntary Banking Code of Conduct, are at an advanced stage. The proposed Code of Conduct, drafted in 2011 under a Consumers International/Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) project, recommends principles and rules governing the manner in which banking institutions should operate, particularly in relation to their...

Approximately 95 children in the Waterhouse community are benefiting from a new school building, which was handed over to the Maranatha Christian Church by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), on March 15. The Maranatha Ministries Basic School was constructed at a cost of $44.5 million, with financial support from the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF), a project of the...

Debate on the legislation to combat the illicit lottery scam opened in the Senate on Friday, March 15. It will continue on March 21. The Law Reform (Fraudulent Transactions) (Special Provisions) Act specifically targets that criminal activity and other related fraudulent actions. It was passed in the House of Representatives last week. The lottery scam, centred primarily in western Jamaica,...

Cabinet is slated to receive the names of persons nominated to sit on the proposed Consumer Protection Tribunal, during its weekly meeting at Jamaica House on Monday, March 18. Industry, Investment and Commerce Minister, Hon. Anthony Hylton, who will make the submission, says the Chairman and members have already been identified and the legal and legislative requirements put in place...

Corporate Jamaica and other stakeholders are being encouraged to give back to the most vulnerable in the society. This comes from winner of the Jamaica Institute of Management (JIM)/Gleaner Company Limited 2012 Manager of the Year Award, Managing Director of Sherwin-Williams (WI) Limited, Ian Forbes. “It’s not only about revenues and profits,” he emphasized, while addressing the awards ceremony, held...

Some 20 Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) Extension Officers and Researchers at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries are to take part in a training workshop, geared at combating the Beet Armyworm. The workshop will be held from March 18 to 22, and March 25 to 26 at the Junction Guest House, in St. Elizabeth. The last outbreak of the...

The National Water Commission (NWC) is moving aggressively to implement measures to alleviate drought conditions, which are expected to continue to affect the island over the next two months. President of the NWC, Albert Gordon, said the company has been working to implement a number of long and short-term measures in an effort to minimise the impact of drought conditions...

How many plastic bottles do you use each week? A 2006 study out of the University of the West Indies (UWI), estimates that Jamaicans use over a million plastic bottles in any given week and many of these are discarded in gullies or by the roadside, as Jamaicans do not have strong recycling habits. One parish is on a mission...

Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, Hon. Phillip Paulwell, says he will be re-introducing the Cuba-Jamaica Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) Project,as part of the national energy conservation and efficiency plan. He noted that the initiative, introduced in 2006 as part of a demand reduction plan, had achieved results in terms of saving on energy use. The project involved the...

Health Minister, Hon. Dr. Fenton Ferguson, says the Ministry welcomes all partnerships that seek to improve health care delivery and provision of services to the people of Jamaica. “This is an indication that we are all taking responsibility for health care in this country and we see the value of partnerships and participation to move the health sector forward,” he...

Jamaica’s Ambassador to the United States (US), Professor Stephen Vasciannie, says strong partnerships are needed in the fight against the lottery scam. “We cannot live like this. Jamaica will destroy its tourism sector, its remittance sector, and business sector more generally, if the country assumes that the rest of the world will eventually ignore the lottery scam problem,” Ambassador Vasciannie...

Government has set about to educate the average Jamaican of the cruel impact of the lottery scam, through a public awareness programme. Minister of National Security, Hon. Peter Bunting, says the public awareness exercise is aimed at changing the mindset of many who see the lottery scam as a victimless crime. One of the segments of the programme is dubbed,...