How can the Ship Rider agreement be enhanced to cut the flow of guns to Jamaica

The government of Jamaica has signaled its intent to seek dialogue with the USA with the view of making changes to the Ship Rider agreement with a view presumably to offer more protection of our nationals.

The main focus of the Ship Rider agreement was to cut the flow of weed to the USA through the waters of the Caribbean.

To the government I say, please seek to get a commitment from the USA to use the ship rider agreement and the vast resource of the US Government to cut the flow of illegal small arms shipment to Jamaica and the wider Caribbean as its devastating our country .

Owen Ellington last week pointed the clear and present danger, a SSP indicated we have over 150+ illegal ports, so clearly we need help given these guns are leaving USA ports and following the same route used to ship drugs to the USA.

I hope this can be achieved .

Bless

Are there any investigative journalist left in Jamaica ?

The 2016 amendments to the Ship Rider agreement, allows for the USA to board a vessel flying a Jamaican flag and take into custody those on board suspected of being involved in drug smuggling. This however can only be done after making contact with the Jamaican authorities and getting a waiver.

I have a number of questions .

1. How many waivers have been granted between 2016 and now
2. How many men have been taken into custody during that period
3. What was the treatment meted out to these men
4. Were any of these men found guilty of drug trafficking in a USA Court
5. Have they all served time and deported back to Jamaica
6. Are there any of our nationals who are awaiting trails coming out of their detention.

Between 1997 when the first ship rider agreement was signed and 2004 when the first set of amendments were made we need to following

1. How many drug carrying boats were intercepted by USA coast guard
2. How many of these were in Jamaican waters (b) Outside of Jamaican waters
3. How much drugs (lbs) were confiscated during this time
4. How many Jamaican nationals were taken into custody
5. How many were taken to the USA
6. How many of those taken to USA were tried and convicted of drug trafficking
7. How many men from (6) were released without charge or acquitted
8. Are any of these men still being incarcerated.

Between 2004 and 2016 when the second set of amendments were done, please provide answers to the following questions

1. How many drug carrying boats were intercepted by USA coast guard
2. How many of these were in Jamaican waters (b) Outside of Jamaican waters
3. How much drugs (lbs) were confiscated during this time
4. How many Jamaican nationals were taken into custody
5. How many were taken to the USA
6. How many of those taken to USA were tried and convicted
7. How many men from (6) were released without charge or acquitted
8. Are any of these men still being incarcerated.
9. What was the underlying reason why the 2004 agreement amended in 2016.
10. What was the real justification for this and what was promised to us.
11. Did we received what was promised to us

Can anyone do some real work and provide Jamaicans with these answers.

To the government, before you all rush to make further amendments, please ensure we meet with our nationals who have been caught up in the Ship Rider agreement and removed to the USA .Find out what specific actions were taken against them, the treatment they underwent, what was said to them in terms of their rights etc.

Let’s not make any further adjustments to these rules without consultation and feedback on whether people have been honouring the existing agreement , because if they aren’t, its highly unlikely they will honour any new agreement.

Bless

Alleged mistreatment of Jamaican nationals by USA Coast Guard

I am not going to make any pronouncement on what the Jamaican fishermen where doing in Haitian waters, suffice to say, the Ship Rider agreement provides the USA (after seeking a waiver) to intercept and take into custody men suspected of being involved in drug trafficking.

Given the men were found guilty of “giving misleading statement of law enforcement officers” and not drug trafficking, which is the specific offence on which they were allowed to detain the men in the first place, does this not make their detention and subsequent conviction null and void and of no legal basis?

I will leave that to the law experts since I have no expertise in that area.

My focus however is on the stance taken by the opposition PNP, where they have sought to law blame on the government of Jamaican for the mistreatment of the fishermen by the US Authorities !!

I am perplexed that in a country of mainly black people, any political party could seek to blame its own people for their mistreatment at the hands of a foreign power , who happens to be mostly white.

These black men regardless of what they did, were chain and shackled like slaves from Africa through the middle passage to the Americas, that all I could see as I reflect on the horror these men faced in the 6 weeks they were chained like animals.

For any black person to not see this for what it is and rise up and condemn the act in no uncertain fashion is a tragic mistake, which is likely to allow this sort of injustice to continue.

No matter what political party you support , one should NEVER seek to support the actions of a foreign power against its own citizens particularity when the actions are unjust and reminiscent of slavery.

Clearly the Americans considered these people to be less than humans and slaves ,hence the treatment and instead of the PNP lashing out at the USA for this, they instead have chosen to turn on their own people.

The PNP had a grand opportunity to show the world that as a country we stand united against injustice done to our people not only by our government but by the agents of a foreign power as well , but sadly they once again missed that chance.

I think we would be hard pressed to find any other country on this planet , where, given these circumstance, the people refuses to join forces and condemn the actions of the foreign state.

The PNP has missed the bigger picture by its failure to do what is right and has sought to try to be opportunistic , but they have chosen the wrong subject on which to so do, thus leaving us to think they really does not give a hoot about what really happened to these men.

To the opposition, you cannot gain any political mileage by condemning your own government for the injustice done by a foreign power against your own people, how could you have all missed that.

Jamaicans are not amused and there is now another reason, why the PNP ought to remain in opposition until they can understand that we while we may cuss out each other in the name of politics, we will unite against outside agents.

That lesson was sadly missed by the PNP by NOT by the well thinking voters looking on.

The Americans must be laughing and saying ” look at those fools”.

Human rights group, I have noticed your silence as well but I will leave that for now.

Visa fraud by students from Jamaica , I am shocked !

I am here in shock

250 students mainly University students who submitted application for J1 visa to be part of the cultural exchange program with the USA are under investigation for visa fraud.  It’s being alleged that these folks may have submitted fraudulent documents to the embassy.

It is said these students submitted documents with doctored grades, ie grades higher that their official transcript as well as higher GPA scores than they have obtained on their official transcript.

60 Students have been confirmed to have submitted false grades. Reports are these students paid around $20k to create these falsified documents.

Each of the 60 students were fined $200,000 or ten times what they paid for the falsified documents.

Are these the new crop of managers we are creating.

Where is the transformation that higher education is supposed to bring about, why did these students think it was ok to submit grades higher than they had obtained at school.

Why would they not seek to work harder, put their feet to the pedal and obtain the kind of grades that would increase their chances of being accepted on the program.

No, its easier to be dishonest, studying and getting higher grade is too much work, when all I need to do is to pay someone some money and get what I need.

I suspect that these folks may have not only ruined their chances of getting a J1 visa and the opportunity to earn some money during the summer, but many may have disgraced their families, lecturers and the school.  I dare to say many may have ruined their chances of obtaining a B1/B2 visa for the next 10 years and stymied any opportunity for overseas employment in the USA having completed their course of study.

Why would I want to employ a graduate who is willing to commit fraud even before they enter my organization, would they have ruined their chances of landing certain jobs here at home.

Question to these “students”, was it worth it.

The total cost so far is as follows

1. $20,000 for the fake documents
2. $200,000 for the fine
3. Maybe 6weeks @ 40 hrs per week @ 9.50 per hr  @ $130 = $296,000
4. Opportunity cost of not getting the type of job you would have hoped for based on the above
5. Other non-quantitative cost

Was it worth it in the end?

May the Lord help us

2019 High School Ranking

Here are the results

Ministry of Education JAMAICA

2019 HIGH SCHOOL RANKING

1 Immaculate Conception 100%

2 Campion College 99.5%

3 St. Hilda’s Diocesan High 98.84%

4 Hampton high 97.7%

5 Mount Alvernia High 97.66%

6 Wolmer’s Girls School 96.9%

7 Westwood High 95.21%

8 Glenmuir High 95.14%

9 DeCarteret College 94.4%

10 St. Andrew High School for Girls 92.9%

11 Convent of Mercy Academy Alpha 92%

12 Knox College 91.8%

13 Montego Bay High 89.61%

14 Morant Bay High 88.4%

15 Wolmer’s Boys School 88.1%

16 St. George’s College 88%

17 Munro College 87.7%

18 Holy Childhood High 87.6%

19 Ardenne High 86.6%

20 Merl Grove High 83%

21 Mannings High 82.7%

22 Bishop Gibson High 81.5%

23 York Castle High 79%

24 Meadowbrook High 77.8%

25 The Queen’s High School 77.6%

26 Manchester High 77.5%

27 St. Hugh’s High 75.9%

28 Kingston College 70.3%

29 Clarendon College 69.2%

30 Marymount High 68%

31 St. Jago High 60.7%

32 Charlemont High 60.1%

33 St. Mary High 60%

34 Jamaica College 59%

35 Ferncourt High 58.6%

36 Denbigh high 57%

37 May Day High 54.71%

38 Titchfield High 54.5%

39 St. Catherine High 53%

40 Annotto Bay High 53%

41 Camperdown High 50%

42 Gaynstead High 49.4%

43 Cornwall College 44.9%

44 Mona High 44.7%

45 Calabar High 43.8%

46 St. Mary’s College 40.6%

47 St. Elizabeth Technical High 39.4%

48 Rusea’s High 37.1%

49 William Knibb Memorial High 35.9%

50 Excelsior High 35.7%

51 Jonathan Grant High 34%

52 Guy’s Hill High 33.6%

53 Dinthill Technical High 31.4%

54 Frome Technical High 31.33%

55 Oberlin High 31.1%

56 Old Harbour High 31%

57 Holland High School 30.7%

58 Irwin High 29%

59 Ocho Rios High 27.1%

60 Mile Gully High 27%

61 Black River High 25.9%

62 Iona High 25.8%

63 Papine High 25.7%

64 St. Mary Technical High 25.7%

65 Bridgeport High 25.3%

66 Garvey Maceo High 25.2%

67 Aabuthnott Gallimore High 25.1%

68 Edwin Allen High 23.2%

69 Green Island High 22.6%

70 Anchovy High 21.1%

71 Bellefield High 19.9%

72 Herbert Morrison Technical High 19.9%

73 St. Thomas Technical High 17.8%

74 Happy Grove High 17.7%

75 MacGrath High 17.6%

76 Porus High 17.5%

77 Holmwood Technical High 16.5%

78 Spaldings High 16.5%

79 Lennon High 16.1%

80 Maggotty High 15.8%

81 Green Pond High 15.5%

82 Albert Town High 15.4%

83 B. B. Coke High 15.3%

84 Jose Marti Technical High 14.9%

85 Belmont Academy 14.8%

86 Seaforth High 14.6%

87 Lacovia High 14.4%

88 Claude McKay High 14%

89 Buff Bay High 13.6%

90 Kingston Technical 13.4% 🙊

91 Vere Technical High 13.2%

92 Tacky High 12.9%

93 Pembroke Hall 12.7%

94 Merlene Ottey High 12%

95 Port Antonio High 11.58%

96 Cross Keys High 11.3%

97 Troy High 11.3%

98 Central High 10.9%

99 Godfrey Stewart High 10.8%

100 Cambridge High 10.7%

101 Muschett High 10.6%

102 Clan Carthy High 10.3%

103 Brown’s Town High 10.2%

104 Tarrant High 10.2%

105 Kingston High 10.1%

106 Oracabessa High 10%

107 Spot Valley High 9.5%

108 Winston Jones High 9.4%

109 Vauxhall High 9.2%

110 Waterford High 9.1%

111 St. James High 9%

112 Tivoli Gardens High 9%

113 Maldon High 8.8%

114 Norman Manley High 8.8%

115 St. Andrew Technical High 8.6%

116 Maud McLeod High 8.3%

117 Edith Dalton James High 8%

118 Marcus Garvey Technical High 7.8%

119 Donald Quarrie High 7.5% 🙊

120 Ascott High 7.4%

121 Kemps Hill High 7.1%

122 Charlie Smith High 7%

123 Bog Walk High 6.8%

124 Foga Road High 6.7%

125 Petersfield High 6.6%

126 Dunoon Park Technical High 6.4%

127 Balaclava High 6.1%

128 Rhodes Hall High 6.1%

129 Mavis Bank High 5.9%

130 Greater Portmore High 5.8%

131 Lewisville High 5.6%

132 Carron Hall High 5.4%

133 Ewarton High 5.4%

134 Kellits High 5.4%

135 Newell High 5.4%

136 Christiana High 5.3%

137 Holy Trinity High 5.3%

138 Yallahs High 5.2%

139 Eltham High 5.1%

140 Tacius Golding High 5%

141 Little London High 4.6%

142 Knockalva Technical High 4.5%

143 Spanish Town High 4.4%

144 Alston High 3.8%

145 Bustamante High 3.3%

146 Cedric Titus High 3.3%

147 Thompson Town High 3.1%

148 Brimmer Vale High 3%

149 Fair Prospect High 3%

150 Glengoffe High 2.8%

151 Haile Selassie High 2.7%

152 Islington High 2.6%

153 Penwood High 2.6%

154 Grange Hill High 2.4%

155 Cumberland High 2.2%

156 Hopewell High 2%

157 Denham Town High 1.7%

158 Paul Bogle High 1.5%

159 Innswood High 0.9%

160 Trench Town High 0.8%

Manchester Parish Council represents the largest verifiable corruption ever at local government.

I am reading with pain how the people put in charge of the Manchester Parish Council used their position to steal over $400m from the people to enrich themselves.

How on earth can someone not working walk in to various banks 41 times and en-cashed over $15m , where absolutely no work was done. Where were the system in place when Noel Arscott was the Minister.

Although Noel is no longer the Minitser he must be called upon to give account for his stewardship or lack thereof.

I am not for one minute suggesting he was involved in any wrong doing, but as the responsible minister he ought to have know what was taking place under his watch.

It cannot be that the PNP Minister are given a free ride when they fail but the public holds the JLP to account as they should, no something is wrong in Jamdung.

We hear of houses and land be bought to the tune of millions of dollars of tax payers money, how on earth was this allowed to go undetected for so long .

It really pains my heart to see the level of theft that took place here and is equally surprised about the lack of outrage from the usual suspects. how convenient .

Constitutional challenge to ship rider agreement looming, who will take it on?

Given the outrage being expressed by Jamaicans across the length and breadth of Jamaica to recent news about the slave like treatment of Jamaican nationals by the USA coast guard, one would be inclined to ask about the 1997 Ship Rider agreement .

In 1997 the then Minister of National Security , Dr Peter Phillips and the PNP which was in power at the time , signed what we now know as the “ShipRider” agreement . What is this agreement

The Shiprider Agreement allows United States vessels to pursue and search within Jamaica’s waters, vessels suspected of drug trafficking; United States vessels may also pursue and search suspect Jamaican vessels in international waters

The agreement also allows for men suspected of being involved in drug trafficing being “taken” to the USA for trial.

In 2004 the PNP government ammneded aspects of the Ship Rider agreement to achieve the followng

The protocol further allows for cooperation in ship boarding, ship riding and over flight. In addition, US Coast Guard law enforcement detachments operating from specific foreign government ships will be able to board suspected ships in Jamaican waters.

The protocol also speeds up the provision of technical assistance including drug detection technology between the two countries and puts a framework in place for the exercise of jurisdiction in each nation’s continuous zone. Importantly it ensures greater protection for civil aircraft including an agreement that neither the US nor Jamaica will use force against civil aircraft in flight

Current spokesman on Justice Mark Golding sought to defend the original and ammended ship rider agreement in 2015 when the wrote the following

But does the surrender of Jamaican nationals to the USA go against our national pride, or against “political sovereignty”? In responding to this, we need to recall that the final decision on the transfer of the Jamaican is being left to a Jamaican official (the minister of national security). This approach is strongly analogous to the model Jamaica has already accepted for the Shiprider Agreement; for, as noted above, in the case of the Shiprider solution, a Jamaican gives permission to the Americans for their actions in our waters or against our ships.

Thus, from my perspective, there is nothing in the proposed arrangements to transfer accused persons to the United States that would go against our political sovereignty or national pride. Nor do the proposed transfer arrangements go against legal sovereignty, I repeat for emphasis.

He continued

Overall, in assessing this issue, we should also be mindful of the practical problems faced by the Jamaican State in combating drug trafficking. Our law enforcement system simply does not have the financial and infrastructural means to mount a strong counter-narcotics programme without United States assistance. By the same token, our judicial system — and country — should benefit from having some of the major drug traffickers tried expeditiously in the United States of America. The Government’s original approach promotes effectiveness.

Given the current situation , I would like a response from Mark Golding as to whether or not he holds onto his original position.

At the same time I am imploring the human rights groups and civil society to mount a challenge in the constitutional court on the merits of the ship rider agreement and to seek a declaration if the agreement is a breach of the constitutional rights of Jamaicans..

Over to these good folks.

Bless

Sources: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/reflections-on-jamaican—sovereignty_45181 .

https://jis.gov.jm/jamaica-signs-new-shiprider-agreement-with-united-states/

Jamaica Signs New Shiprider Agreement With United States

Will Peter Bunting dethrone Peter Phillips?

I think the writing in on the wall for Dr Peter Phillips in this upcoming leadership race for leadership of the party.

The various MP’s are lining up behind each candidate, but from what I understand, there are some who are lying up behind Peter Phillips and are only there to push him off the plank.

Peter Phillips days as party leader will end in September and he will have a number of first.

1. First party leader to be defeated in a leadership race
2. First party leader never to become Prime Minister
3. First party leader to be challenged even before he faced his first national election.
4. First party leader to be dethroned in just a little over two years.
5. First party leader to go up for leadership 3 times and lost all three.
6. First party leader never to have gone to a national election
7. Shortest serving party leader.

My advice to Peter Phillips therefore is rather the suffer the indignity of leaving pol;itics in disgrace, is to offer his resigination and allow Phillip Paulwell to step forward and challenge Peter Bunting.

Bless

Be very careful to whom you listen.

As I listen to the accolades pouring in for the late former Prime Minister Edward Seaga I cannot help but remember what I was told years ago by my dad who did not finish high school he said ” Son as you go through life, be very careful to whom you listen. I am not suggesting that you rely solely on your understanding, but be aware that those who speak a lot and speak the loudest, typically have a hidden agenda”.

Very sound advise from a man who never finished high school, never had any subject, but was street smart and very aware, due to travels to many countries around the world.

Edward Seaga was vilified as a tyrant , a Don, a dictator and a man who was said to be at the heart of our culture of political violence. In death we hear many like Trevor Munroe who was part of the left leaning group saying how wrong they were and the man was in fact an institutional builder, whose legacy is unlikely to be bettered by any other political leader.

I read of one young man who wrote that he has now taken a rather dim view of his own father who mislead him for years about Edward Seaga.

The local media is to be blamed as well for contributing to this negative narrative over the years and now that the truth is being told, we have found that many people who had been swimming naked have been exposed, now that the tide has receded.

What is troubling however is the chief proponents of the lies have been the most educated amongst us.

There is a huge take away from this.

1. Read widely
2. Do you own research
3. Seek multiple sources
4. Ask piercings questions
5. Listen to understand and not just to respond
6. Look at the background of the writer/speaker
7. What are innate biases and can they be relied on to be objective

Items 1-7 above is likely to assist you in ferreting out the truth going forward and you unlikely to be misled.

If the PNP is serious about the perception of corruption, they must set Paulwell “free” !

One of the things that can be associated with the PNP of the 1990’s to today, is rampant corruption of every single public sector body on the island.

The PNP has been associated with the most acts of corruption and pilferage of the nations resources, than any other party since independence.

If you google corruption in Jamaica, there is one name that is likely to always pop up and that is Phillip Paulwell. Mr Paulwell has come to be known as Mr Teflon and no matter what the scandal his, he has been able to walk away with nothing being able to stick.

This however does nothing to remove the stench of corruption that has been associated with his name and that of the party over these many years.

Paulwell however commands great “strength” in the party and so any party leader who appears to be “brave” enough to cut him loose, is likely to lose that status as party leader in very short order. What this therefore proves, is the party leadership is willing to remain tainted, with the hope that the
“average” Jamaica will turn a blind eye to the sordid past of the person and the party at large and they can win on PJ, Portia and Manley legacy.

The PNP has however failed to recognize that social media has become a very powerful force and the access to information is now at blazing speed , easily accessible and is no longer controlled by the traditional media houses.

The PNP have a real problem because the cannot cut Paulwell lose and still have a party.

We ought to therefore take full advantage of this scenario.