Black Immigrant Daily News

The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) on Friday allocated housing units to the first 11 informal settlers residing along Punt Trench, Cemetery Road and Saffron Street, as part of its relocation and resettlement programme.

The persons, who met with the Chief Executive Officer of CHPA Sherwyn Greaves, Director of Community Development Gladwin Charles and a team at the agency’s boardroom, registered for low-income, middle-income and young professional homes. Each allottee will now be moving forward with a banking institution of their choice to facilitate an affordable mortgage plan.

The relocation is necessary, as the area being occupied has been earmarked for the Ministry of Public Works’ $1.5 billion Independence Boulevard enhancement project.

An artist’s impression of what Independence Boulevard would eventually look like

CEO Greaves stated that this is a part of the government’s response to safely and humanely relocate the squatters to an area that improves their socio-economic wellbeing, while also ensuring that government’s development programmes progress smoothly.

The allocation will see the beneficiaries being issued with Certificates of Title, signaling legal ownership of their new land and will also give them the opportunity to have legal access to electricity, water and other amenities.

A number of the informal settlers expressed satisfaction with the agency’s response to their current situation.Father of four, Mr. Triske Marshall stated, “I glad that Housing do something nice for us, take we out of a lot pressure [and] make our life more easier for us and our kids”.

CHPA will continue to provide assistance for the informal settlers where necessary throughout the relocation and resettlement process.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

door Wilfred Leeuwin PARAMARIBO — De politiek moest het donderdagavond zwaar ontgelden tijdens een openbare discussie over de vraag ‘waarom

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Justices of the Peace (JPs) are encouraged to sign up for their newly launched Government of Jamaica JP email accounts, to improve access by citizens and other stakeholders.

The call came from the Minister of Justice, Delroy Chuck, at the official launch and sensitisation session for the email accounts, which was hosted virtually on Thursday (October 20).

This move will see custodes and JPs islandwide being accessible to the public via their government email account, which has the format firstname.lastname@jp.gov.jm.

“It is important for all JPs to be easily accessible by one email address that everyone will know. That means that you may have two or three addresses, but we urge you, JPs, to sign up on the JP emails so that the Ministry of Justice, the custodes [and] citizens of the country, can easily know how to get in touch with you,” Mr. Chuck implored.

“It will [also] be very easy to contact one another because we are using just the first and last names. Please pass on the message [about the email accounts] to the others,” the Minister urged the JPs.

Meanwhile, Minister of Science, Energy, and Technology, Daryl Vaz, said the email addresses represent another bold step towards a technology-enabled Jamaican society that is secure, cohesive, and just.

“I must applaud Minister Chuck and his team for the significant work that has been done to incorporate more technology in the provision of justice services for a more effective justice system,” Vaz said.

“This email system is directly aligned with our effort to facilitate digital access and inclusion for a better Jamaica,” he added.

Mr. Vaz noted that the email accounts not only facilitate access but also possess enhanced security measures and have ample storage.

He explained that the goal of the country is to become a digital society by 2030, adding that “underpinning the creation of this digital society are the considerations related to digital rights and responsibilities, digital privacy and security, digital access and digital commerce”.

“Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, I have taken note of the wide-ranging use of the technology in the justice system to facilitate access and quality services to our clients,” Mr. Vaz said.

During the session, custodes and JPs across the island were instructed on how to utilise their email accounts.

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AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — Broadcasters were criticized by FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Saturday for what he called unacceptably low offers for rights to screen the Women’s World Cup next year.

Offers of just 1% of the value of men’s World Cup rights deals have been rejected, Infantino said, for the tournament that starts in July in Australia and New Zealand.

The men’s World Cup has driven FIFA’s expected overall income toward $7 billion for the four-year commercial cycle that ends in December after that tournament in Qatar.

“100 times less, even more than 100 times in some occasions, then this is not acceptable,” the FIFA leader said at a news conference ahead of the finals tournament draw. “I don’t want to mention them, but those who are there, they know it.”

The time zones in Australia and New Zealand mean many games, especially in the group stage, will be played in the nighttime hours in lucrative markets in Europe and the Americas.

“We are not going to accept this,” Infantino said of the broadcast offers, “because we know that the viewing figures for these broadcasters in some big footballing countries for the men’s World Cup or for the Women’s World Cup are actually very similar … meaning their commercial income is very similar for men and for women.”

Infantino took a further jibe at broadcasters who he said pushed FIFA to treat women’s soccer more equally on issues such as World Cup prize money.

The 32 teams at the men’s World Cup in Qatar will share $440 million in prize money, while a prize fund of $60 million was proposed for the first 32-team women’s edition in 2023.

“In some countries, they are quite good at telling us … that we should give more emphasis on equal opportunities, on equality, on non-discrimination, on treating men and women in the same way which is, of course, what we have to do, and we try to do that to the best of our ability,” Infantino said.

“It’s important that everyone puts actions, as well, behind words and we all start to treat women’s football the same way.”

FIFA has changed the commercial model for the Women’s World Cup to earn its own income instead of simply being packaged as an add-on for broadcasters and sponsors doing deals for the men’s tournament.

Infantino suggested a further push for equality for women’s soccer, noting that Olympic tournaments have 16 men’s teams and only 12 for women.

“Women should have 16 teams as well at the Olympic Games,” he said. “These are some discussions we are going to have.”

Adding four women’s teams would need more than 70 athlete quota places when the International Olympic Committee is asking some governing bodies to make cuts to help find space for new sports and control organizers’ costs.

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A joint-services operation on Friday along the Berbice River in Region Six, has resulted in the discovery of a large quantity of marijuana and two firearms at separate camps.

The narcotics eradication exercise was conducted at DeVeldt Savannah in the Berbice River, by officers and ranks from the Guyana Police Force’s Marine Section and Narcotics Branch, along with ranks from the Guyana Defence Force’s Coast Guard between 05:00 hours to 14:00 hours.

During the exercise, one marijuana farm, two camps and two drying areas were located.

The farm measured about four acres, with about 20,000 cannabis plants measuring from six inches to two feet in high.

A 37-year-old farmer of Stewartville, West Coast Demerara and Wiruni Berbice River, was found on the farm attending to the cannabis plants, and he was arrested.

When the ranks conducted a search on the first camp, a suspected 12 gauge shot gun, loaded with three live cartridges, one Guyana Passport, one Identification card and one birth certificate in favour of the farmer who was arrested, were found.

Searches were also conducted on the second camp where a suspected 12 gauge shot gun along with four live twelve gauge cartridges were found.

The ranks also searched the two drying areas and a quantity of dry cannabis was found with an estimated weight of about 800 pounds. The estimated weight for the cannabis plants is 400 pounds. The total street value of the cannabis found during the operation is $489 million.

A gasoline plow, several farming tools and spray can was also found in the camp. The plants, camps and drying areas, farming tools and spray can were all destroyed by fire.

The farmer was escorted to Central Police Station where he was placed into custody and the suspected firearms and ammunition lodged.

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