Chairman of the Registrar General’s Department (RGD), Danville Walker, is urging State agencies with responsibility for protecting the identity of citizens to start working together to produce one database for Jamaicans. Speaking at the opening of the inaugural Caribbean Civil Registration and Identity Management conference at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in Rose Hall, St. James, on July 7, Mr....

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. J.C. Hutchinson, has hailed the work being done by GraceKennedy at its agro-processing plant in Hounslow, St. Elizabeth. Speaking to JIS News following a tour of the facility recently, Mr. Hutchinson said the work being done at the factory fits well with the Ministry’s plan to place...

Over the next three years the Government will make the largest investment in the National Security apparatus, as it seeks to curtail the country’s crime rate. “Never before will so much be invested in ensuring our peace and safety. We are not talking millions, but billions,” Minister of National Security, Hon. Robert Montague said. Speaking in the 2016/17 Sectoral Debate...

President of the National Water Commission (NWC), Mark Barnett, says the agency has made significant improvements in its response to leaks and other infrastructural damages. Mr. Barnett, speaking at a press conference at the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation on July 6, said the NWC is now responding to reports of leaks and reinstating the infrastructure in a...

Fifteen new persons have been appointed and one retained to serve on the Jamaica Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel (JADDP) and Jamaica Anti-Doping Appeals Tribunal (JADAT). They include Attorney-at-law Kent Gammon, and retired High Court Judge, Justice Karl Harrison, who will chair the Panel and Tribunal, respectively. The appointees, who also include doctors and teachers, will serve for the next three years....

The Ministry of National Security will be seeking to have the mandatory minimum sentences for gun crimes, trafficking and possession increased. Making his contribution to the 2016/17 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representative on July 6, Minister of National Security, Hon. Robert Montague, said this will be escalated depending on the type of weapon. “Because the gun is featured...

The Ministry of Local Government and Community Development reports that the national clean-up programme is progressing well. Approximately $300 million is being spent on the programme, which targets the destruction of mosquito breeding sites identified by the Ministry of Health. The initiative, which is being spearheaded by a National Inter-Ministerial Task Force, aims to curtail the spread of mosquito-borne diseases,...