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THA Secretary of Tourism and Culture Tashia Burris. File photo/David Reid

THA Secretary of Tourism Tashia Burris said the Executive Council has approved $17.5 million for the island’s inaugural carnival.

Burris announced the budget on Monday, less than two weeks before the official carnival activities get under way, from October 28-30.

“We’re actually hoping to spend less, because we have a number of sponsors who have come on board to support the carnival in its first year…Our spend is really targeted to marketing and ensuring this is the safest carnival,” she said.

She said 200 additional police officers will be on the ground to ensure everyone’s safety.

She warned that any person who has plans of engaging in illegal activities to think twice.

“We put the safety and security of our locals and visitors at the forefront, and obviously building out the infrastructure that is necessary so people can have an epic time.”

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A policeman walks through some bushes in Cunupia to get to a stream where a severed human leg was found on Monday afternoon. –

A man who went to a stream in Cunupia to pick flowers for prayers, stumbled across a severed human leg on Monday afternoon.

Newsday was told the man went to Gillies Road, off Mon Plaisir Road, saw a foot sticking out from a piece of sponge at around 12 pm and called the authorities.

Police from the Cunupia station went to the northern side of the road and saw it was a left leg. They said the rest of the body is still unaccounted for.

Up to 2.35 pm, police were waiting for the arrival of crime scene investigators and homicide detectives.

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The micro-lending industry will likely see a culture of non-compliance evolving as many firms struggle to meet the requirements for operation under the rigour of the Microcredit Act, Jamaica Association of Micro Financing (Jamfin) chairman Blossom O’Meally-Nelson, says.

O’Meally-Nelson in making her contribution at the recent Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Financing of Terrorism Conference hosted by the Jamaica Institute of Financial Services (JIFS) and the Jamaica Bankers Association (JBA), told the gathering that the “pressure” now placed on micro-lenders is also having the unintended consequence of fostering an underground economy.

The Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Financing of Terrorism Conference was held in a hybrid format from October 11 to 12.

Microcredit institutions (MCIs) have long complained about the fit and proper rules and the paperwork as well as operational changes required for their business to get approved for a microcredit licence under the new legal arrangements created by the passing of the Microcredit Act in Parliament last year.

“The Micro-Credit Act has been done and has created a whole heap of pressure for micro-finance institutions because the Anti-money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) framework is not fully in place,” she said.

She continued: “I think we are going to create the greatest non-compliance in history. We are feeding the undergrown economy.”

She said the standards for operations have been set so high under the Microcredit Act that many operators will not be able to attain the level needed to be licensed.

“There is a strong feeling that this is done to cull the sector and reduce the sector to a few people…it is very hard, for them to attain the standards,” she said.

Many MCIs also operate informally and the strictures of the Microcredit Act have discouraged them from seeking to be licensed, O’Meally- Nelson said.

“We see a goodly portion of customers disappearing with all those other microfinance institutions that are not applying for registration,” she said.

The absence of a national identification system that would foster proper due diligence checks of customers also poses challenges for the industry.

“These customers operate mainly in the cash economy. These people don’t have any bank accounts. The majority of loans that you make are personal [and] this makes the sector vulnerable,” she said.

“Even if a person has a business… they don’t have any structure… [so] you have to lend the individual, you cannot lend to the business,” she said.

She reasoned that the pushback from citizens who think the National Identification System (NIDS) is aimed at capturing them in the tax bracket may be reduced if Jamaicans are incentivized to register for the NIDS

“If you get a National ID, you get free hospital care,” she suggested.

Conversely, “why would you get a National ID if you have to pay taxes, your children can’t go to school and you don’t have anything [financially]? What’s the point?” she reasoned.

The Jamfin chairman also suggested that the public be educated about Know Your Customer (KYC) standards to aid in their understanding of financial processes.

“The public doesn’t know what we mean by KYC, neither do they care because they need to eat today,” she said suggesting the ability of the customer to secure a consumer loan supersedes their concern for the process.

“So, our financial literacy programme has to be within the context that something is going to [benefit] them,” she said.

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Movement for Social Justice political leader David Abdulah.

MOVEMENT for Social Justice (MSJ) political leader David Abdulah says Government could have avoided the mess created by the collapse of the corruption case against former attorney general Anand Ramlogan, SC, and former opposition senator Gerald Ramdeen, had it taken advice offered to use a special prosecutor to pursue corruption matters.

He said this during a virtual news conference on Sunday.

A purported agreement to indemnify Jamaica-born Vincent Nelson, KC, from civil and criminal prosecution in return for a notarised statement led to the case against Ramlogan and Ramdeen being dropped.

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard announced the discontinuation of the matter against Ramlogan and Ramdeen on October 10.

But Attorney General Reginald Armour, SC, on the same day, said the matter is not yet over.

Armour said Nelson has not recanted any admission of wrongdoing he made in the criminal proceedings.

He promised to take the advice of eminent local and foreign senior and King’s Counsel “to ensure that no stone is left unturned in the pursuit of justice for the people of TT.”

Abdulah said he was not going to deal with the statements being made by the government and opposition on this matter. He also said he was not going to pronounce of the innocence or guilt of people involved in the Ramlogan/Ramdeen case.

But Abdulah recalled that shortly after the PNM won the September 7, 2015 general election, he met with the Prime Minister. That meeting with Dr Rowley involved a conversation about the PNM’s campaign promise to combat corruption and deal with a plethora of corruption allegations against the former UNC-led People’s Partnership government.

Given Dr Rowley and the PNM’s public stance for seven years about dealing with corruption, Abdulah said it was important that the PNM “ensure that the right steps were taken to bring anyone who may have been guilty of corruption to justice.”

He added, it is indisputable that successive PNM and UNC governments have failed to tackle the longstanding problem of corruption.

“No one in this country is being held accountable for corruption and white collar crime. Corruption and white collar crime have proceeded with impunity.”

Abdulah said the suggestion was made to Rowley seven years ago to establish an office of special prosecutor to deal with corruption matters. Such a prosecutor could be given a budget by the Cabinet that allowed him or her to hire the necessary forensic and other expertise to investigate alleged corruption and white collar crime.

Abdulah said this would have prevented the direct involvement of the attorney general or any other cabinet ministers in the prosecution of such matters.

He added that former AGs Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, SC, and John Jeremie, SC, had offered similar advice to Rowley.

But Abdulah lamented that Rowley and the PNM did not heed this advice.

“Let me remind people of the old saying, stick break in their ears.”

Abdulah said Maharaj, in his tenure as AG, had Karl Hudson-Phillip act as a special prosecutor with respect to the Piarco airport scandal, resulting in the gathering of evidence against people accused of wrongdoing in that matter.

While observing that locally no one has been found innocent or guilty in that case for the last 20 years, Abdulah said some people in the United States who were connected to that matter, were found guilty and either served time in prison or paid fines.

He also recalled that Desmond Allum served as a special prosecutor under the George Chambers government in 1985-1986 with respect to the Scott Drug Report.

“There was a template.”

Abdulah reiterated that had Government gone this route, it could have avoided the situation it is in now.

These kinds of situations, he continued, could lead to a lose-lose scenario where taxpayers’ money is lost to prosecute legal matters, and people who may actually be guilty of wrongdoing may get off scot free.

“We are losing both ways, and this is unacceptable.”

Abdulah reiterated that Rowley and the PNM must accept responsibility for this.

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With the housing and construction industry rapidly expanding, the PPP/C Government will be implementing a single window electronic processing system to improve the ease of doing business.

Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal said legislation for the system will be presented to the National Assembly by the end of the year.

“Today I am happy to report that legislation to introduce the Single Window System will conclude by December and implementation will begin immediately,” Minister Croal said during a recent house lot allocation exercise in Region Six.

The Housing Minister noted that the government has recognised that the increased demands for building permits and other services by the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) and the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) require a more efficient solution.

Once the legislation is in place, it will significantly reduce the time it takes to complete a transaction as well as steps within the transaction, standardise application forms and checklists, among other things. It will also see the ministry transitioning from paper-based to electronic.

“The Ministry of Housing and Water through CHPA and GWI is facing greater demand for its services. As you are aware, not only do we provide subsidised housing, CHPA for example issues approvals and building permits for commercial and industrial purposes as well as executes town and country planning by way of zoning for residential, commercial and industrial areas,” he explained.

The Minister added, “As a result, there is a tremendous need for us to provide these services more efficiently, that is, we must reduce the time taken to conduct business with the Ministry.”

The Ministry has already created an online portal which allows house lot applicants to upload their applications or update their information from the comfort of their homes. The regional offices to ease the residents travelling to the central office in Georgetown.

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