Crime is the number one cause of concern in Jamaica today. The murder toll carried by the Gleaner as at today’s date, April 7, 2010, is 426. That is 426 Jamaicans killed in 97 days including 5 policemen. It has gotten to the point where many of us have become desensitized to the criminal activities that we hear each day. Yesterday however there was one incident which sent chills up and down my spine. An 11 year old girl was abduction (by a family friend), raped, strangled, buried in a shallow grave and her clothes discarded elsewhere. Luckily the child was not dead. She revived in time and had the presence of mind to dig her way out and was able to walk naked in bushes until she found a house where she was helped.

 As a member of the British Commonwealth, capital punishment has been on Jamaica’s statute book forever however we are one of those countries that is abolitionist in practice, although we still retain the death penalty in our penal code. On November 25, 2008 at the House of Representatives and on December 19, 2008, at the Senate, the Jamaican Parliament voted to retain the death penalty. That is to resume capital punishment, as specified in the Offences Against the Person Act. The last execution in Jamaica was on the 18th of February 1988, when Nathan Foster and Stanford Dinnal were hanged for murder.

Now there are many arguments for and against the death penalty. Some say that life imprisonment is not an effective deterrent to criminal behaviour. Others maintain that the death penalty has never been an effective deterrent, that errors sometimes lead to the execution of innocent persons, and that capital punishment is imposed inequitably, mostly on the poor and on racial minorities. Still others say that the death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and that it violates the right to life.

Personally I don’t consider myself as a violent person but yesterday’s incident have me calling for the death penalty for the brute that could do what he did to a child. To add insult to injury, the perpetrator reportedly drove back to joined the mother and grandmother whom he accompanied to the Constant Spring Police Station to file a missing person's report.(Chat bout bright). Luckily the child was able to positively identify him. Imprisonment will mean him using valuable tax payers (my) money, which I certainly don’t agree with. In fact, I believe the usual methods of electrocution, hanging, gassing, beheading, stoning, shooting or lethal injection is much too good for the creature that did this. We need some extreme, slow methods of excruciating pain that leads to sure death for the likes of him.

The sad thing is that nothing will undo the horror he inflicted on this child. The frightening thing is that the sequence of events appears to be very similar to a previous case. Ananda Deans an 11 year old girl went missing September 17, 2008. She was also abducted, believed raped and buried in a shallow grave. Her clothes were found in a different area from her body. The reports are that the scene where the perpetrator took the police was similar to where Dean’s body was found. Do we have a serial killer on our hands? Maybe the police needs to do some serious digging in the area, who knows what they would find.

My prayers are for that little girl. Obviously God has great things in store for her life and I pray that she will be comforted and strengthened by his love.

Nuff love

Even though the hype from champs has more or less faded (except for those members of the Wolmerian community who continue to celebrate), the high school track season is far from over. You see Jamaican athletes dont get much break even at the high school level of competition as we have the developmental meets heading up to 'champs' including the biggest pre-champs meet, the gibson relays, and then after champs we have the carifta games and then the season ends with the Penn Relays. The only difference with the level of competition at the Carifta games and that of Champs however is that instead of our athletes competing against each other as rival schools, instead they compete under the banner of Jamaica.

The Carifta games is an annual competition that is organized by members of CARICOM community that basically counts as a caribbean olympics, including numerous track events including both sprint, hurdle, and relay events, and also distance events, it also includes numerous swimming events in the Carifta swim championships which though considered a separate event, really runs at the same time as the athletic meet. Jamaica normally dominates the Carifta athletic events though (after all, we are essentially the athletics capital of the caribbean), and our dominance can be shown wherein for the last 2 years, our closest competitor had 39 medals less than us. The event will this year be held in Grand Cayman and will consist of only 2 classes of athletes being the under 17 and under 20 classes on both the male and female side.

The Jamaican team coached by the Wolmer's head coach who took champs this year is yet again set to dominate the carifta games with our only major competition being in the hurdle and relay events. The gleaner writes that the team consists of top Jamaican sprinters include Julian Forte, Brandon Tomlinson and Kemar Bailey-Cole among the Under-20 boys and Odean Skeen and Odail Todd in the Under-17 division. Danielle Williams, Natasha Morrison and Antonique Campbell head the Under-20 female sprinters while the Under-17s include Kadisha Dallas and Channiel Johnson.

The swim championships on the other hand will take part in Jamaica at the national stadium swimming pool and according to the observer the athletes (under the coaching of Jackie walter) are hoping for at least a 3rd place finish overall, being lead by Dominic Walter, Kendese Nangle, Victoria Ho and Lauren Williams. Our competition is set to come from regional swimmers such as McKayla Lightbourn of The Bahamas, Trinidadians Christian Homer, Cadell Lyons and Kimberly John Williams, and Siona Huxley of St Lucia. All in all the Carifta meets are set to be quite the competitive events and you are guaranteed some upsets and heated competition.

Good luck to team Jamaica!

Easter means many different things to many different people and religious groups. To people living in the Northern regions of the world Easter means that spring is beginning and its time to wear thin clothing, and break out the grill for some outdoor cookouts. To the not so christian among us Easter means its time to start painting eggs in festive colours and get all the children excited as they participate in easter egg hunts and get chocolate eggs and hear stories about the Easter Bunny who lays those eggs (even though rabbits don't lay eggs... which made it pretty confusing to me as a child, a confusion which was quickly dissipated with chocolate). But for Jamaicans, it means a whole other thing... in Jamaica Easter is Bun season.

I can already hear all the Jamaican readers snickering as they hear the word bun (for the none Jamaicans out there "giving bun" means you are cheating on your significant other), but I am not talking about that kind of bun, I am talking about the pastry (take your mind out of the gutter).

No this time I am speaking about the pastry bun. The Jamaican Easter bun (or you may hear spice bun) is a thick sweet breadlike pastry that is normally filled with various fruits (raisins, cherries, and mixed peel) that goes well with a thick slice of cheese. As is the case with Christmas cake, everybody has their own variation of the recipe to make Bun, but nontheless they all have their own unique deliciousness to them.

Now the tradition is normally that during this season people bake dozens of these buns and give them out to family, and friends. Those who cant bother with baking these buns just purchase any of the store brand buns (Maxfield, National, HTB) and give those out, but one thing that I can guarantee is that bun is involved. Another thing that also happens during easter is that alot of people eat more fried fish, or maybe that is just my family. Now this is not to say that the more western idea of the egg hunt and chocolate egg easter does not exist in Jamaica. There are sections of society that participate in this culture, but without a good piece of bun and cheese most Jamaicans will really feel like a fish out of water.

Of course the church is a major part of the easter tradition, Jamaica is a very christian country and we also use this season to celebrate the death of christ and the washing away of our sins... but after church there is also the sharing of bun. The other tradition that takes place in Easter is the kite flying. Every Easter in St. Ann there is a kite festival where one can go and see a multitude of kites of varying shapes and sizes.

Now alot of people may say that this tradition sounds pretty boring, after all it sounds like Easter is simply about church, bun, and watching some kites. To be honest, that is mostly what it is about in Jamaica, but boring it is not. Most Jamaicans look forward to this easter season as it is certainly one that all enjoy. All this talk about bun has actually gotten me hungry for a piece of bun as well, I shall go see if I can acquire a piece of bun. Happy Easter

Now with the recent news that the US Fraud Prevention Unit is on the verge of revoking the visas of Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Mavado, Ricky Trooper and Aidonia. I have taking it upon myself to update this site's readers about any movement Jamaica's dancehall artistes make overseas. Sadly people need to realise that YOU NEED a US visa to travel to most locales in the world as American airports happen to be major hubs in the aviation business. So a lack of a US visa can really hamper your travel plans especially if you are supposed to be a touring dancehall artiste. As I get more information about the cancellation of the visas and how it might affect all Jamaicans who wish to travel, I will alert you all however without further ado here is a review of dancehall act T.O.K recent tour of Europe. After taking on 24 shows in 30 days dancehall's longest lasting group T.O.K is ready to share the unforgettable experiences of their "Our World" European Tour which started back in early February. The group which last year dominated the reggae circuit in Japan with two #1 singles "Champion" and "Guardian Angel" once again proved their international appeal when they took Europe by storm following the August 25th release of their "Our World" album project for VP Records. According to group member "Craigy T" the tour of Europe was an overwhelming success complete with satisfying memories of waving fans and sold out club venues. "On February 5th we commenced the tour with a show in Malmo Sweden and from there it was off to Nantes France and then Paris a day later. We had back to back shows in different cities so we were always on the move. Everywhere we went it was just pure love from the fans. Touring is like a musical boot camp, it keeps you focus cause all you do is shows and when you not doing performances your rehearsing or creating new music". During mid February T.O.K made their way across to Amsterdam in the Netherlands and shortly after visited cities in Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Russia and Italy before returning to Sweden for the final two shows in Vasteras and Stockhoim. "The first time we ever went to Sweden was in 2002 and we performed in Stockhoim so being back there was a great experience, the venue is quite historic and with a sold out show we had the crowd in a frenzy for over a hour. Russia was also memorable for us cause it was like -17 degrees over there and people still came out to see T.O.K perform" stated group member "Bay C". While in Italy T.O.K reunited with Italian Reggae group Sud Sound System who they collaborated with on a song during their last trip to the country. With the link reignited they shot a video for the single "Keep On Moving" a song which is expected to be the 1st single from Sud Sound System album dropping this summer. Despite returning home in early March the group never got a chance to report the details of their tour due to other engagement stated Craigy T. " Well we returned to Jamaica on March 7th but was off to the US Virgin islands two days after for a Spring Break show and then when we got back home we had another show at the Jungle Night Club in Negril so we never got a chance to share the details of the tour with the media until now". WATCH THIS SPACE

Every now and again somebody publishes an article in some publication that just makes me happy to know that there are still people in Jamaica with the ability to think outside the political box, to think radically, and all in all just make me read and say... Brilliant. These people are those which give me faith that maybe there is somebody out there who has the capacity for intelligent thought. The article that managed to inspire me is one published in yesterdays (30/3/10) Observer by Attorny Frank Phipps QC, with regards to the way the government handled the recent extradition issue you have probable heard so much about.

Now to a cut a long story (that has been repeated one too many times) short, the US government has requested that the Jamaican government send one of its most notorious gangmen to the US to face multiple charges. The Jamaican government refused to send said gangleader on some questionable grounds, and apparently the Jamaican government is so serious about the fact that they will not be sending this person abroad that even our Prime Minister has had to step forward and make a public statement regarding the fact. In the article Phipp's spoke about the separation of powers and the lack thereof in Jamaica, where he states that the government needs to be held more accountable for their actions. He starts by saying that:

If the minister is wrong, politically wrong, in refusing to send the case to the courts, the consequences may very well be that the government could fall ... That's a political reality.

...

But under our system of governance where the executive and the legislature are so intertwined, that the mistake of the executive can cause the demise of the elected representatives of the people, which is not right. You need a separation of powers wherein if the minister had made a mistake, then the government may fall, but it cannot affect where the people have elected their representatives ... it should not

That seems pretty straight forward and it is a serious issue with Jamaican politics, where in essence the executive (the prime minister), is pretty much allowed to do whatever he pleases and nobody does everything except bawl and complain about what he is doing. The legislature (parliament) cannot even attempt to question what the executive does because the executive also has constitutionally, the power to shift and shuffle the legislature as he sees fit (so he can use more forceful pursuasive methods). We have seen this issue begin to show itself where numerous ministers have recently been linked to some unscrupulous dealings or bad contracts etcetera, and it basically leaves the government in some sort of limbo as to what the next step is.

In order to ensure that separation of powers is upheld one can either have a referendum to affect change to the constitution and the close to unlimited powers that it gives to the executive, OR as suggested in the article:

It can be done by increasing the number of ministers in the Senate and saying that no elected member of parliament should be a minister of government. The advantage of that is if all the ministers are in the Senate, you can't have these big Cabinet membership, you can only have 13. You know how much you would save if you had a serious, competent man running a ministry with a proper civil service? A lot of these statutory bodies and quasi-government organisations could be eliminated, with only 13 ministries... If you were to save all that money you could afford to pay the MP the same salary that you pay the minister, so the MP has nothing to lose financially and his responsibility would be to his people whom he represents.

Wow... wasn't that a remarkably simple solution. You see honestly there is no big challenge in separating the powers of government. Many states do it without much issues, even our biggest neighbours the USA does it and no you dont need to have a multi billion GDP to be able to implement such a thing either. You would achieve an MP who's sole focus is on his constituents and a man who because of his INTELLIGENCE and QUALIFICATIONS would be in charge of running the ministry, unlike current situations where we currently have men who are incapable of rational thought in charge of important ministries, such as the Finance Ministry, or Health, or Housing.

The article also attacks Mr. Golding stating that he had always been one of the people who was at the forefront of the move for separation of powers. From his days where he left the JLP and formed the NDM he even proposed ways in which the separation can be done, and stated that "We have to ensure that no minister can be allowed to run with it", but to me it seems like Bruce only showed signs of intelligence in those years when he formed the NDM and since then has become, much less than he had the potential to do.

The problems with our current political system is quite obvious, nobody is accountable and nobody is in government who is speaking for the people and their rights and telling the executive and the legislature that hey wait a minute, what you are doing here is wrong... But alas, we are stuck where we are for the time being.

Caribbean Fashion Rocks!, New York's signature runway for island designers and models, will be rocked this spring by three of the world's foremost Caribbean-born fashion models-Jaunel McKenzie, Carla Campbell, and Oraine Barrett. All hailing from the famed Pulse Model Agency in Jamaica, the super models, along with Pulse Chairman and CEO, fashion industry luminary Kingsley Cooper, will be guests of honor at Fashion Rocks' 3rd annual staging at LQ New York in New York City on Sunday, April 25th. Since its inception in 2007, Caribbean Fashion Rocks! has provided a unique platform for Caribbean designers and models to penetrate New York's renowned fashion industry. For the 2010 staging, Fashion Rocks will turn its focus to the region's burgeoning modeling industry, honoring Cooper for his pioneering role in developing an international modeling industry in the Caribbean, and producing the fashion industry's groundbreaking Caribbean supermodels. "When most people think of fashion capitals, they think Paris, Milan, or New York City - not the Caribbean," states Robert Clarke, CEO of Irie Jam Media Group, New York's leading outlet for everything Caribbean, producers of Caribbean Fashion Rocks! "The Caribbean region has produced some of the world's greatest supermodels - Jaunel, Carla, Oraine, Tyson-even Naomi Campbell has Caribbean roots. It is an honor to have Jaunel, Carla, and Oraine walk the Fashion Rocks runway. And an honor to recognize Kingsley Cooper and Pulse, they represent the best of the best in the Caribbean fashion industry, and demonstrate how influential our industry is globally." McKenzie, Campbell, and Barrett will be joining some of New York's prominent and upcoming models on the Caribbean Fashion Rocks! runway this April, wearing designs from local fashion lines including Michael Gillings, Jewel Shannon, Kay Dane, Rep JA, and Royal Rush, among others.

By now you all know the winners of ‘Champs’ 100, for the boys, Wolmers Boy School and for the girls, Holmwood Technical. Wolmerians, Skilachi, have you stopped celebrating as yet? And why not, the best in 1910 and still the best in 2010,100 years later. The rest of us salute you. On the girls side, Holmwood Technical, eight years consecutively, quite impressive. I suppose Edwin Allen High School winning the Central Championships served as a wake up call.  Anyway the gap in the final points was a lot closer this year so you know you have your work cut out for you for next year.  

 

Everyone wants to win however we can only have one winner, or in this case two winners. The fact is all the participants worked and trained very hard for this event. The standards were very high and the organizers maintained very strict rules. On the first day of Champs, I remember one little miss being disqualified from the relays for a false start. It was obvious that she was totally devastated however she held her head up and walked with what I’m sure was all the dignity that she could muster. Talk about the agony of defeat, we saw it over and over, during the four days. But this is the kind of preparation that will truly set our athletes apart when they get on the international stage. Learning how to deal with the good and the bad; being great sportsmen and women.

 

So, how did your schools fair. Well I had told you my choices, St. Georges for the boys, they came 7^th and Manchester High for the girls, and they came 5^th. I am well pleased.  I know we have been hearing a lot about the top school so for those of you who haven’t yet seen the full points at the end of the day, here they are.

 

 

Nuff love

On December the 10th 2009, Buju Banton was arrested at his Tamarac, Florida home allegedly trying to purchase more than 5 kilograms of cocaine from undercover officers. Banton plead not guilty to the charges of conspiracy to possess and intent to distribute cocaine. The loss of Buju’s freedom on U.S federal charges has the power to further sully his image internationally and subsequently trickle down to affect the reggae/dancehall brand globally. Buju Banton did one song, 18 years ago, which has haunted, or stifled, his career for the past several years. The gay community has used Buju among other Jamaican artistes as a rallying point for publicity for their issues. It has to be acknowledged that Buju’s musical and spiritual journey has taken him far from his early recordings but unfortunately those activists will not make the issue die. The reason why I even mention Buju’s never-ending fight with the gay activist groups is that by all accounts at the time of his arrest Buju was at his Florida residence preparing to come home after a U.S. tour which was dubbed successful however was hit with protests and cancellations at various venues across the country. After his arrest, on various websites and message boards, many people have commented that this is actually chickens coming home to roost for Buju and are correlating his 18 year old recording with his subsequent arrest. So while all of his detractors are in celebratory mood, I must ask that we, the dancehall community, must come together and support Gargamel and although we all detest the ‘white lady’, cocaine for the uniformed, we should remember that all the facts are not in and Buju Banton has not be convicted of anything. Fast forward a couple of months and the Banton is once again the focus of the American legal system. This time the allegations are that Buju has lost significant weight while being detained in the Pinellas County Jail because he was denied the vegetarian diet he requires for religious reasons. However the jail officials counters that Buju has actually gained weight in prison. On top of that, a lawyer for Buju filed a motion saying his client had been placed in maximum security because he "had the audacity to share his food with another inmate." According to Pinellas sheriff's Capt. Mark Fletcher he couldn't tell from the records whether Banton shared his commissary purchases with others, which would be a violation of jail rules. "Food is money in jail," Fletcher said. "It's a commodity. We have to make sure it goes where it's supposed to." But Fletcher insists that Buju has not been placed in maximum security. He said Banton is being kept in an older part of the jail where the security arrangements are different, but not punitive. Fletcher said deputies moved Banton after he argued with a corporal who told him not to give his food away. As with these cases generally the truth on both sides lies somewhere in the middle. Buju Banton has been a polorazing figure internationally throughout his career and even while he is incarcerated he still commands the public's attention. Watch this space

Readers I know that you didn't expect me to make a writeup on what was simply the most epic champs I have seen in my lifetime so far. After all you can see how important champs is to Jamaicans all around by the three different posts on what is essentially the same topic. Champs is that one weekend where essentially the news is sports and sports is the news, and the news this week is that the school that won the first ever boys championships, made a comeback and also made sure that they won on the 100th anniversary of champs in fine style. Holmwood girls also managed to continue their magnificient form winning their 8th consecutive Girls Championships with what is nothing less than a sound beating of early favourites Edwin Allen, stamping their class.

**Taken from Jamaica Gleaner

With regards to the boys side of things, earlier in the evening most of the Wolmer's and Calabar fans as both teams enjoyed a ding dong battle for the championship. Calabar had lead earlier on with the field events, taking the discuss and shotput in class 1 gaining a multitude of points to take the lead. Then came the 200m events where Wolmer's once again showed that they were the athletic kings taking most of the 200m races (Odeane Skeene also won the class 2) in addition to giving a sound beating in the class 1 race where Julian Forte and D'wayne Extol romped to 1st and 2nd place seemingly discussing with each other as they ran who should win and who would take second, while the rest of the field were trying desperately to try to catch up.

**from Jamaica Gleaner

The evening culminated with both Wolmers and Calabar tied for 1st place with 198.5 points and only 1 event left where the schools could gain points. The 4x400 shaped up to be the most exciting event of the day but it was Wolmer's who managed to take it and the championships placing second behind Vere Technical with Calabar placing 7th.

The gleaner in their write up about boys champs stated that:

With a memorable evening of sprinting, the Wolmer's boys gambled big with their stars and outstripped perennial favourites Kingston College and Calabar, by testing those stars, putting them through gruelling combinations of events. Combinations that threatened to spoil their chances of individual glory, but the unselfish act of the team's captain Dwayne Extol - allowing his teammate to win the Boys' Class One 200 metres - displayed the character and spirit of the team.

On the girls side of things, the day was just as exciting as even though Holmwood lead throughout most of the day, Edwin Allen through the excellent performances of their athletes rallied to come within 10 points of Holmwood by the final 4x400m event. However the overall showing of Holmwood athletes such as Chris-Ann Gordon winning the 400 and 800 meter  races, helped bring Holmwood to cruise to another excellent triumph in the championships.

Another quote from the gleaner states that:

In the girls' championships, the Holmwood machine rolled on after the girls from Christiana in Manchester held off a stiff Edwin Allen challenge to secure their eighth consecutive hold on the coveted crown. Holmwood powered to 273.33 points, just over 15 more than their Frankfield-based neighbours who closed on 258 points.

All in all champs was another really exciting showing, and was surely extremely impressive to all who watched as the quality and class of the athletes was second to none. However in the spirit of Champs I must say congratulations to Wolmers Boys and Holmwood girls for taking the championships, it was certainly excellent.

**From the Jamaica gleaner

Of course I had to end with a Wolmers shot... after all it is my school. AGE QUOD AGIS!!!

The 2nd FAME Road Party of 2010 was held in another location far from the normal venues within the corporate area. The Fame crew of selectors Dj Inferno, Arif "Supacoop" Cooper and "The Captain" Collin Hines invaded the Fayors Entertainment Centre in Mandeville with the view of bringing their special brand of musical selectin into Central Jamaica. Special mixes were the order for the night as the significant crowd started move to and fro at the Fame crew's every whim. Reeling out hits from the 1990’s to the present, the Fame disc jocks had a field day as the women gyrated energetically and screamed in musical bliss. The more aggressive tunes were greeted with salutes from both the males and females present, while some of the latest dancehall tracks had couples dancing closely with each other and leaving very little to the imagination. Interestingly, by the end of my night at Fayors just when I thought the music was at a lull and it was safe for me to sneak out of the party. The Fame djs ramped up the action again and for approximately 45 minutes I was pinned within the venue, unable to exit. Eventually I was allowed safe passage to leave the area and begin the trek back into Kingston. A really good party and a lovely way for Fame FM to reward their fans.