Trinidad now has an interest in supplying LNG to Jamaica

In 2007 then Prime Minister of Trinidad Patrick manning reached and agreement with the government of Jamaica to supply LNG to meet our energy needs (JIS Feb 2007), this was the headline

Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Patrick Manning, has given a commitment to fulfill his country’s obligations under the liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, which was reached with the Jamaican government some two years ago.
Mr. Manning, who was addressing a press conference on Tuesday (Feb. 6) at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Montego Bay, following a joint meeting of the CARICOM Prime Ministerial sub-committee on external negotiations and the Caribbean Single Market and Economy, said he would inform the government very soon, on how best the twin island republic would be able to supply Jamaica’s LNG needs.
“The government of Trinidad and Tobago is determined to satisfy its contractual obligations to the government of Jamaica. An agreement was signed in good faith, and it is our determination, notwithstanding statements to the contrary coming from dubious sources,” he stated.

The Gleaner (2007) reported the following :Prime Minister Patrick Manning, who just last week recommitted to the agreement to supply Kingston with 160 million cubic feet of LNG per day starting 2009, said one possible area for emerging gas is the shared Trinidad-Venezuela sea border.

Let’s back up a little though, the talk of supply LNG got started three years earlier (OGJ 2004) , here is that report.

What has happened since then, well let’s see what really happened, well according to a USA cable the deal collapsed for reasons mentioned below (Gleaner 2011)

The article in the gleaner continued

There was even more according to the Gleaner

So fast forward tp 2020 after Jamaica has moved ahead and selected NFE to supply our LNG needs, we have this.

Where did this new LNG come from, given the fact that you sad their would not be enough to supply Jamaica in the near future ?

The Gleaner article continued

I must note however this would not be a government to government agreement but one that is stricyly commercial, but there is a subtle I would not want you to miss.

Trinidad looks out for the interest of Trinidians first.

Bless

Links

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110606/lead/lead4.html

http://old.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20070216/business/business5.html

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/business/20200124/massy-eyeing-lng-market-ja-aims-manage-substitution-threat-gas-business

https://www.ogj.com/pipelines-transportation/article/17291116/jamaica-trinidad-and-tobago-to-negotiate-lng-sale

Manning Promises to Supply Jamaica with LNG

Reasons offered for latest Transparency International scores are questionable when reviewed by an objective observer

I am never to quick to jump on findings without first reviewing what has been presented and asking some questions.

I find the results of the latest transparency international reasons given for our score questionable and here are my reasons as it relates to at least 5 of the 8 reasons reported.

TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL – REASONS

Strike #1

March 2019 – Resignation of Education Minister Ruel Reid in the context of corruption-related allegations – no reason offered at the time despite enquiry.

My comments

Nov 2019 – Reid arrested and charged for corruption. That is no longer a percept the law on the land acted and the matter is before the courts to be adjudicated. How on earth can you now say, with no reason given that adds to the corruption perception.

TI should be asked to explain this as the actual outcome overrides the former issue of no reason,

Strike #2

3. May 2019 – The first press conference of the Integrity Commission. It emerges in that press conference that the prime minister’s statutory declaration had not been “cleared”.

My comments

Aug 9, 2019   – PM declaration published, nothing adverse noted

Strike #3

7. August 2019 – Controversy regarding the statutory declaration of the prime minister and the leader of the Opposition insofar as the declarations only indicated purchase price and not the estimated market of immovable property held by the declarant, spouse, and children as indicated by the third schedule off the Integrity Commission Act.

My Comments

August 2019 – Integrity commission clearly outlines the basis on which the results have been published and is consistent with the Integrity commission act. This was accepted and no further controversy

Strike #4

7. August 2019 – Controversy regarding the statutory declaration of the prime minister and the leader of the Opposition insofar as the declarations only indicated purchase price and not the estimated market of immovable property held by the declarant, spouse, and children as indicated by the third schedule off the Integrity Commission Act.

My Comments

August 2019 – Integrity commission clearly outlines the basis on which the results have been published and is consistent with the Integrity commission act. This was accepted and no further controversy

Strike#5

8. September 2019 – Chairman of the Integrity Commission resigns, and no explanation offered.

My comments

This makes no sense, people can resign as they see fit, how can perception go up because a man decides to resign as soon as his pension packaged has been agreed on

Any objective reader would raise the very concerns that I have raised , but if you are looking to score political points you would be willing to accept the mischaracterization of our country by others.

PS . I am surprised they never included the RADA Scandal as well !!

Public sector workers are livid with the PNP in relation to tax break

Word has emerged that public sector workers , which largely sides with the PNP are reportedly livid about the comments made by Julian Robinson that the income tax break of $1.5m for PAYE workers have made income inequality worse.

Workers got even more agitated when Robert Pickersgill described their salaries which ranges between $4.5m to $5.5m as chicken feed and they (MP’s) deserves an increase.

One person was heard shouting ” How can they be earning $4.5m and talking rubbish about chicken feed when my salary as a government worker was only $1.8m. Me a long time PNP but me haffi big up d JLP because if a neva fi dem, me would a pay ole heap more taxes”

Others workers chimed in ” Mek dem tan deh chat @!$@#$ery , because me can tell you this a dun me dun wid PNP”

I asked ” Why you done with PNP when its your favorite party”

Worker ” Is money we a defend right now , love for party has gotten me no where as me still haffi work fo support mi pickney dem. JLP gi we $1.5m and d ole we happy. We neva happy when dem raise taxes but from me know me self taxes go up every year. Me nah lie, when me look a the ole heap a work JLP do in just 4 years, me caan believe seh it could happen but me see it with me own two eyes”.

The worker continued and was joined by others ” Andrew did seh we can sleep with we doors open but all now dat nah happen cuz murder up and corruption up, but at least we see seh dem a try do something bout it. Mek a tell unno diss, Phillips caan win and me nah waste me vote pon nuh loser, right now a JLP a a d talk and ahso me ago vote. Me nuh see the prosperity yet but right now all a me bredda and sista dem get work and dat neva happen yet, so man haffi gee credit weh credit due. Yu tink seh me a fool fi go vote fe a party dat a look fi roll back the $1.5m not a #!@#”

I am urging all JLP members, bloggers, activist to spread the work on their Facebook and Whatsapp group. The message is loud and clear, tell the folks that the $1.5m tax break they currently enjoy would be lost under a new PNP government, resulting in income losses.

In addition they are seeking to remove the benfits enjoyed by the Junior Stock Ecxhange which we cannot afford.

Please spread the word as we are seeking to gain 45-47 seats in the next General elections.

Bluedot poll says 64% of Jamaican sees the JLP government as corrupt, really?

Nationwide news network on Monday, January 13, 2020 released poll results which they said, indicated that a whopping 64% of Jamaicans views the current administration as being corrupt but are these numbers correct.

See below the graph showing the actual results (NNN 2019)

As I reviewed the data I recognized a number of issues.

Issue #1

The sum of numbers 22+15+22+12+30 = 101% , but wait a minute the results cannot be greater than 100% !

Issue #2

The scale used said 5 was MOST corrupt while 1 was NOT corrupt. This would appear to suggest the the median number on the scale which happens to be 3 would have to be NEUTRAL ie neither corrupt nor not corrupt.

Let’s therefore accept that a score of 3 is neutral it therefore means the poll results would be as follows.

42% of those polled viewed the JLP as corrupt

36% viewed the JLP as not corrupt

22% says the don’t think the are either corrupt or not corrupt ie neutral.

This is a far cry from the results reported by Nationwide which said 64% sees the JLP as corrupt, while 36%( corrected from 37%) see the JLP as not corrupt.

Let’s now change that assumption as assume that 3 is no longer neutral but instead falls on the lowest side of the corrupt scale. This would give the actual survey a 60%/40% bias. In other words the scale would be setup in such a manner that 60% would be built in as corrupt and 40% as not.

There is something fundamentally wrong with that, as you cannot put together an “objective” poll which is biased or skewed to one side.

In conducting poll and setting up rating scale, its the responsibility of the pollster to indicate explicitly what every number on that scale represents . If this is not done (as it appears to have been in this case), the respondent will provide a score that means something to him which could be very different from the intent of the pollster.

So back to my original question, which is correct

You be the judge

Bless

What would happen if the Chinese packup and leave next week

There has been wide spread concerns about the Chinese taking over Jamaica given their involvement in major infrastructural projects across Jamaica .

They have now moved into main stream construction projects, building high rise apartments and shopping centers across the country.

People say our debt to the Chinese are very high, but the truth is only about 6% of our external debt is owned to China so the real question is , who really owns our debt.

Let’s get to the original question however, what if the Chinese suddenly become fed up with the xenophobia surrounding their presence in Jamaica and decides to walk away, who do you think would be able and willing to step in and fund these major infrastructural projects that are on the table.

Let’s think on these things.

I am sure some smart Alex is going to say ” So just because they giving us low interest loans they should be allowed to do what they want”. I know its coming , so let me put on record, that’s not what I am suggesting, so let’s focus on the question, who is willing and able to step in at same level of rates being provided by the Chinese.

That’s the only question for now, I will say more later .

Why all our crime plans have failed and how to stop the failure.

In the corporate world, many of us have worked with organization here in Jamaica that are multinationals. In many of these companies there may or may not be a corporate planning department that sets the overall goals( just a few) for the company and each plant in each region will develop their own sort of Strategic, Tactical and Operational plans , best suited for their regions.

The companies that do not seek to force planning at some remote corporate office and allow for that to take place at the local level with just top level objectives seem to do much better for very obvious reasons.

Planning to address crime in Jamaica ought to be no different from the planning that takes place at these companies but alas, its not and so we keep creating plans that are destined to fail even before the planning process has been completed.

Anti Crime plans in Jamaica over the last 50 years all appears to have been centrally planned, with the major players being the Minister of National Security and his advisors, the Commissioner of Police and his handful of deputies along with some selected few.

These guys sit and create a plan at some office in Kingston , which is to be rolled out in East Kingston, Southern St Andrew, Mount Salem, Spanish Town, Clarendon etc etc., how effective do you all think those plans will be.

Well the answer is their on record, because crime in particular murder has been on the rise for the last 50 years with no end in sight leaving Ministers and the public to call for divine intervention.

So we have tried the same set of tactics for the last 50 years with very little sustainable results, which clear says to me that our methodooly used in the planning process must be flawed.

We have had many commissioners of police, many ministers of national security, but the one thing they have had in common, is failure to curb the rise in murders over the long term.

We must vow to not make the same mistake going forward and in so doing I am recommending that we seek to move away from this central planning process to a decentralized crime fighting strategy, here are the basics.

Basic structure of the JCF

5 Area Headquarters

19 Divisional Headquarters

Approximately 190 stations

Lets begin the planning process at the 19 Divisional Headquarters and work our way up and here is why.

Each division or geographical area across Jamaica is different in terms of socio-economic conditions, education, terrain etc and as such the crime fighting methodology and resources required would be very different. No Minister of National Security or Commissioner of Police will ever be that familiar with these requirements to effectively plan for these divisions and communities .

The head of each police division must immediately be tasked with the responsibility to create a plan for that division indicating the strategies to be employed and the resources required to carry out those strategies. Each part of the plan must also indicate set performance metrics which will be then used to assess the effectiveness of this plans. We already know those metrics so really its now a matter to detailing which strategy/strategies will be used to impact each of the various metrics to achieve the desired results.

I firmly believe that by moving to this sort of planning approach, it is likely to yield much better results over the long-term and in addition is would serve as a good tool to determine who gets promoted and who gets demoted based of deliverables providing the resources required were provided .

More to come.

Bless