Mr. President I welcome the opportunity to address this Honourable Senate in my first State of the Nation debate since assuming office in September 2007 as Attorney General and Minister of Justice. It is a great honour and yet humbling to be given the opportunity to serve my country in this capacity, and I thank the Prime Minister, Hon. Bruce...

Welcome to St. Jago De la Vega, the Old Capital with such a rich history that conjures images of pageantry, domination and triumph. a place where Spanish was once the official language. The buildings around us tell the story of the indomitable nature of the Jamaican persona and the craftsmanship of our ancestors who created these magnificent buildings that are...

Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps it was ironic. Or then again, perhaps it was a sign of what was to come. Whatever it was, I am sure that, as with all mystical experiences, no one could have predicted the impact it was to have on the entire world. It was sixty four (64) years ago that it happened. The world had...

Mr. President, Members of the Governing Council of the United Nations, Members of the Secretariat, Heads of States, Excellencies, Ministers, Heads of Delegations, friends. I am honoured on behalf of the Government of Jamaica to address this 14th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and 4th Conference of the...

Mr Speaker, Honourable Members of the House,It is a privilege and honour to report through the Parliament on the activities and strategic plans of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade for the period September 2007 to the end of the financial year 2008/2009. In doing so, I must first place on record my appreciation to the Prime Minister,...

It is very difficult to follow in the footsteps of two outstanding sons of the Region in the persons of the Hon. Owen Arthur, former Prime Minister of Barbados and Dwight Nelson, himself a giant in the trade union movement and now Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, both whom gave the first two...

As the New Year looms before us, and as we face the many challenges that confront us at the national, regional and global levels, it is time for us to make solid and achievable resolutions that will guide our personal and national actions towards the achievement of our stated objectives. Nationally, ours is the task to create dynamic synergies that...

I deeply appreciate your invitation to join you today in commemorating the members of staff who have been recipients of National Honours and Awards. As you are no doubt aware, I am currently just getting my feet wet on the job. But although I am new to the Ministry, I am not new to the portfolio. People have referred to...

I don't know if it's the 'island thing', where we constantly feel that we need to explore beyond our shores or whether it's the fact that we all came from elsewhere to populate our island home, but Jamaicans are definitely an itinerant people. When Barrington Irving decided to fly around the world, he was following in a deep Jamaican tradition....

I am pretty sure that by now you must have heard the maxim popularized by the late American advice columnist Ann Landers: 'Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don't recognize them' The problem with maxims of course is that we fail to maximize the value of the wisdom inherent in them, even though we (often quite...