Persons are encouraged to take note of the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service’s publication of unclaimed account balances. Unclaimed balances are monies that have remained in the possession or under the control of a banking institution for 15 years or more. This means funds in the bank accounts of persons who have not conducted any transactions utilising these over the 15 or more stipulated years. Economic Analyst in the Ministry’s Financial Regulation Division, Nadine Pryce, informs that under Section 126 of the Banking Services Act, unclaimed balances must be published in the Gazette ..read more

St. James Health Department has employed an additional 35 workers as it ramps up its vector control campaign to stem dengue fever infections, with reports that the Type 2 strain has been discovered in Westmoreland and four other parishes in the east of the island. According to the Ministry of Health, discovering the DENV-2 type is considered the most severe point to a heightened risk for an outbreak. In addition to fever, DENV-2 type can cause two or more other symptoms of typical dengue infection and can be fatal. Medical Officer of Health for St. James, Dr. Francine Phillips Kelly, told West ..read more

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. Christopher Tufton, has disclosed that the health ministry struggles to manage social cases on the island. This is in the wake of the recent circulation of a video on social media of persons sleeping on the floor at the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) in Montego Bay. During a post-cabinet press briefing on Wednesday, August 16, Dr. Tufton explained that the section of the hospital in the video “is a holding area for social cases (that is used) when we become overcrowded by more urgent life-threatening cases that require inpatient care, and we have to assig ..read more

Prime Minister Andrew Holness, on Friday, August 11, broke ground for the $907 Million Sheffield Palms housing development in Retreat, Westmoreland. Being executed under the National Housing Trust’s (NHT) Guaranteed Purchase Programme (GPP) the project will provide 60, two-bedroom housing solutions to Jamaicans in the first phase. The first 30 units are expected to be completed by March 2024; while the additional 30 houses will be delivered to homeowners by September 2024. The overall development, comprising 24 acres of land, will bring 113 housing units to the market. It will include paved dr ..read more

Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett has urged delinquent employers in the tourism industry “to step up to the plate and honour their commitment to workers to match the 5 percent contribution” made by members of the Tourism Workers Pension Scheme (TWPS). The call came at the first annual general meeting of the scheme, held in hybrid form at the Montego Bay Convention Centre recently. The TWPS was launched in January 2022, and Minister Bartlett stressed that “up to July 21, 2023, membership enrollment stood at 6,214, with contributions totaling approximately $876 million.” As of January 1, 2023 ..read more

Plans are in place to upgrade the Black River Hospital in St. Elizabeth from a Type C facility, to a Type B. “We are upgrading the entity to a Type B hospital, and we are now in the process of looking at securing the designs of new additional facilities and architectural work, which will then lead to the build-out,” Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. Christopher Tufton said. He made the announcement at the official commissioning of a digital retrofit system at the facility on Friday (July 28). The move to a Type B facility will usher in a host of improvements for the hospital, with a focus o ..read more

It is the view of Western Mirror CEO and Editor-in-Chief Lloyd B. Smith that for the Black descendants of the infamous slave trade in Jamaica to be fully redeemed, there must be fulsome reparation. Exploring the theme “Redemption Song: Garvey, Marley and Liberation Theology”, Mr. Smith delivered the 26th Emancipation Lecture staffed by the Calvary Circuit of Baptist Churches on Sunday, July 30. Focusing on the lives of National Hero Marcus Garvey and reggae icon Bob Marley, the man they call “Governor” used Marley’s iconic anthem “Redemption Song” as the backdrop for his lecture, which contain ..read more

Chetwood Memorial Primary School in Montego Bay, St. James, is the toast of the Ministry of Education Region Four (St. James) Westmoreland and Hanover, having landed three prestigious government scholarships for their outstanding performance in the 2023 Primary Exit Profile, PEP. Deanashae Delisser received the J.A.G. Smith Scholarship for being the Top Girl from a Primary, All Age, and Junior High school and will be attending Immaculate Conception High. Abigail Mundle received the George William Gordon Scholarship – for second place Girl from a Primary, All Age, or Primary Junior High school ..read more

Eliminating the conditions for marital rape, are among matters that will be addressed in the amendments to the Offences Against the Person Act. Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, explained that when the Act was passed in 2009, it provided for conditions to be met for a wife to claim rape. “There are specific things that allow you to claim that you were raped in marriage. It should not be that a married woman has less rights than an unmarried woman. Both of us should have the rights over our bodies, and that is, what was greed by the [Joint Select] Comm ..read more

A $155 million improvement project has been undertaken at Mt. Alvernia High School in Montego Bay, St. James, including the installation of a solar power electric system and the refurbishing of the school’s chemistry and physics laboratories. This is courtesy of a partnership between Food For The Poor USA (FFTPUSA) and USAID and its American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (ASHA) Program Worldwide. The inauguration ceremony took place at the school on Thursday, June 1, 2023, during which it was outlined how the project came about. It was noted that in 2017, Maria Santamarina, Director of Governme ..read more