AUGUST:
'REDEMPTION SONG', a sculpture of a nude couple by Laura Facey was unveiled on August 1 by Prime Minister Patterson at one of the entrances to Emancipation Park, New Kingston, to mark the first anniversary of the park.
The Cigarette Company of Jamaica, Ltd., a subsidiary of the Carreras Group, Ltd. has been assessed by the Commissioner of Taxpayer Audit and Assessment and ordered to pay $5 billion in taxes for the period 1997 to 2002, The Gleaner reported on August 1. Two billion dollars of the assessment relates to income tax and $3 billion to penalties. The Cigarette Co. objected to the assessment charging that for the first time, the Commissioner had sought to treat loans for the Cigarette Co., a subsidiary and body corporate resident in Jamaica, as being distributions to its parent company, the Carreras Group, which was also a body corporate resident in Jamaica.
The Hon. Louise "Miss Lou" Bennett-Coverley, Jamaica's foremost cultural icon, arrived in Jamaica from Canada, where she now lives, as a special guest of the Government during the Independence celebrations. Tribute was paid to her at a special concert at Emancipation Park on August 6 in her honour. On August 11 Miss Lou was made a Fellow of the Institute of Jamaica.
The Minister of Finance and Planning said it began implementing a strict new motor vehicle policy designed to provide greater control of the use of government-owned motor vehicles. Under the policy, the government said, it ceased the assignment of motor vehicles to a wide range of public sector officers who previously enjoyed the benefit.
The Jamaican Bar Association honoured two stalwarts of the legal profession in Jamaica. They are Dr. Lloyd Barnett, the leading constitutional expert and human rights advocate, and David Coore, Q.C., a former Attorney-General and Minister of Finance and Planning. Also, the association recognised Lt-Col. Hurlstone Whitehorne, honorary life president of the Commonwealth Lawyers' Association, and Ambassador Don Mills, the bar's representative on the Judicial Services Commission.
Government consultants are being paid $326 million a year, more than three times the figure initially reported in March, The Gleaner reported on August 1. The information was contained in the Report on Consultants/Advisers which was tabled in Parliament.
The Maroon Town community in St. James won the 2003 Michael Manley Award for 'Community Self-Reliance'.
Brown's Town Community College, St. Ann, is now offering the general Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree programme from the University of the West Indies, under a franchise arrangement between the two institutions, The Gleaner reported on August 5.
Sam Mahfood, co-founder and chairman of the Food for the Poor charity, died on August 5 at the age of 63.
Jimmy Cliff, the reggae superstar, joined the elite group of Jamaicans who have been awarded The Order of Merit, Jamaica's third highest national honour. Cliff, who was born James Chambers, starred in the 1970s full-length Jamaican feature film The Harder They Come. He was rewarded in the 2003 'Independence Day Honours List' for his outstanding contribution to the film and music industry and joins the legendary Bob Marley and Louise Bennett-Coverley, 'Miss Lou', as Jamaica's highest-ranked cultural stars.
Uonie Lyn of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Montego Bay, won the 2003 'Chef-of-the-Year Award' presented by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission, becoming the first woman to earn the prize.
On August 11 Sean Paul, one of Jamaica's top international artistes, was fined $2,000 in the Resident Magistrate's Court, Montego Bay, for using profanity at the recent Reggae Sumfest concert in the tourism capital.
A resolution from lawyers calling for the abolition of the title "Queen's Counsel", was debated at a general meeting of the Jamaican Bar Association and deferred for further discussion by the legal profession.
Edward Seaga, the JLP leader and head of the Premium Group of companies, announced on August 12 that he had placed one of his companies, Premium Investment Ltd., into voluntary liquidation to clear debts on Enchanted Garden, his resort property in Ocho Rios.
Faced with consumption tax penalties and interest that amounts to approximately $120 million, the majority of which is a penalty on $30 million of unpaid General Consumption Tax, Mr. Seaga said Premium was being wound up because of "severe cash flow problems, accumulation of debt and tax arrears" that have hit one of its subsidiaries, Town and Country Resorts Ltd.
New bus fares for the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region went into effect on August 16. The fares rose from $20 to $30, $30 to $40 and from $10 to $15 for children under 12, students in uniform, the disabled and senior citizens.
Dr. Herbert Thompson, president of the Northern Caribbean University, Mandeville, Manchester, said the NCU would be establishing a campus in Port Antonio, east Portland, early in 2004.
The UWI is spearheading efforts to establish an Institute of Tourism to facilitate specialist study in areas such as sports and eco-tourism. Clive Edwards, project manager of the Caribbean University Level Programme said the institute would offer more focused study on a menu of specialities than a department with a mix of programmes.
Wenthworth Livingston Gabbidon, 49, principal of Pike All-Age School, north-east Manchester, was on August 18, elected the 36th president of the Jamaica Teachers' Association.
Dunbar McFarlane, former managing director of National Commercial Bank, was appointed Toll Regulator for Highway 2000, The Gleaner reported on August 23.
The National Water Commission petitioned the courts for permission to sell the properties of Corporate Area customers whose accounts are in massive arrears with the commission.
The Reverend Dr. Paul Thompson, pastor of the Trinity Moravian Church, Kingston, was appointed principal of Bethlehem Moravian College (formerly Bethlehem Teachers' College), Malvern, St. Elizabeth. He was scheduled to take up the post at the 142-year-old college in September.
John Junor, the Health Minister, rejected calls by the health and social work community for the setting up of 'red light' districts or safe zones for local prostitutes, to permit tighter monitoring of the sex trade.
Dr. Omar Davies, Minister of Finance and Planning, threw his hat in the ring at the 11th hour at a meeting at the Jamaica Conference Centre on the downtown Kingston waterfront to elect the chairman of the People's National party's Region Three which consists of the 15 constituencies and 40 parish council divisions in the Corporate Area of Kingston and St. Andrew. Up to then, the sole contender for the post which had previously been held by Paul Burke, was Allan Rickards, public relations and advertising executive. The election was postponed to September 8.
Prime Minister Patterson went to Cuba on August 31 to attend a conference on sustainable development, poverty reduction and environmental preservation.
Earl DeLisser, a Kingston lawyer, was on August 31 elected president of the National Democratic Movement, succeeding Hyacinth Bennett, educator, who resigned. At the election at the Coconut Grove Great House, St. Ann, DeLisser became the third president of the eight-year-old party. Bruce Golding, a former chairman of the JLP, was the first president.
The Seaford Town Museum which highlights the life of the early German settlers in Westmoreland in 1835, was launched on August 30 as part of a community tourism project.
Jade Fulford, 22, an undergraduate in international relations at the UWI, Mona, won the "Miss Jamaica World 2003" beauty contest at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston, on August 30. (She represented Jamaica at the 'Miss World' contest in Sanya, China, on December 6 and was named in the top 20).
- Lloyd Willams
