Mandeville, MANCHESTER
Junior Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Delano Franklyn, said that after the election of a new leader of the People's National Party (PNP) today, the party will be as united as it has ever been.
"I do know that things have been said that make us a little uncomfortable," he noted on Tuesday while addressing members of the Rotary Club of Mandeville. He said that after today it will be the unity of the party that will be paramount. "Come Saturday it will be the party that will be on show," emphasised Senator Franklyn.
Angelo Laurence
Port Antonio, PORTLAND
Bubbling with confidence, a re-energised Portia Simpson Miller told delegates, along with other residents, in Portland, that every effort will be made to alleviate poverty in Jamaica, when she becomes Prime Minister.
The only female candidate in the field of four vying for the position of president of the People's National Party (PNP), Mrs. Simpson Miller, said that her humble background has allowed her to know and understand the plight of the people in this country, especially those in the rural parishes.
"I am going to create the opportunities for you to rise," Mrs. Simpson Miller told her audience earlier this week. "I am from the heart of this country. I have known what it is to be hungry, and I also know that every Jamaican is empowered when they have their own jobs. It creates a feeling of independence which will undoubtedly propel them towards a brighter future."
Ocho Rios, ST. ANN
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Early Childhood Commission are both calling for urgent action from those in authority and the wider society, to protect Jamaica's children from the effects of violence and HIV/AIDS.
UNICEF, in its most recent report, has listed violence and HIV/AIDS as the two main threats to the survival, development and protection of Jamaica's children.
According to UNICEF programme coordinator in Jamaica, Nerd Marasovic, there is evidence to show that children whose parents die of HIV/AIDS and those who live in households with persons affected by the disease, face severe discrimination in their daily lives. "The stigmatisation is sometimes so great that HIV positive parents refuse to disclose their status to their families for fear that their children will be rejected by the family, community and their schools," she said.
Devon Evans
