$10-m travel bill

[Lazie]

Did Ms. Grange get back the PM, to explain what happened?

Easy Fred Astire ... the above article simply prove you were wrong when you said,

"Why has the govt. politicised Labour Day by choosing official Labour Day projects in key JLP constituencies? Wasn't it enough when they, quite arbitrarily, chose West Portland for last year's project?"

[Muadib]

Mi memba when PJ Tab alone was 10 Million after him dun pay for di butler and chef dem...

LOL !!

Improvement ??

[Rudi]

Mi memba when PJ Tab alone was 10 Million after him dun pay for di butler and chef dem...

LOL !!

Improvement ??

You're an evil fellow. LOL

[Jawge]

In the face of your patrty's campaign
for change and your cry on this site for foul play? The above is now your contribution? Ben thanks a lot.

You seem to reason that since it's 73 people using 10 mil instead of one, Ja is moving in the right direction. The sad part is that many more of your colegues reason along the same line.

[Islandman]

Heh heh. Jawge you deh pon form today.

[Mosiah]

Again, then why did your PM say the exact same thing as I did?

are you some crazed shih tzu chasing his tail in circles?

We've been through this already I know what I said. And I know what the PM said!

Again, he asked for an explanation from Grange. Did he get one? Yes or no, no need to even show me the response.

The above article proves nothing! Zas crise! And then we bawl about education!

[Muadib]

Suh nuh improvement dat ???

[Lazie]

Again, then why did your PM say the exact same thing as I did?

are you some crazed shih tzu chasing his tail in circles?

We've been through this already I know what I said. And I know what the PM said!

Again, he asked for an explanation from Grange. Did he get one? Yes or no, no need to even show me the response.

The above article proves nothing! Zas crise! And then we bawl about education!

The PM said nothing close to what you said. At least we can agree on the education part.

[Baddaz]

much ado about nothing... i don't see a problem there... in order for a country to grow, it has to invest in its human resources... the experience and knowledge gained from this conference would be worth far more than jm$10m...

are we into developing a country or developing a patty shop... not a ting wrong with this, as far as i am concerned... just my opinion...

[Lazie]

much ado about nothing... i don't see a problem there... in order for a country to grow, it has to invest in its human resources... the experience and knowledge gained from this conference would be worth far more than jm$10m...

are we into developing a country or developing a patty shop... not a ting wrong with this, as far as i am concerned... just my opinion...

but 73 people Baddaz? The gov't is asking people to tighten their belt yet they go and do this? How about the mayors plus one more so they can have coverage for all the session, then share information with each other?

[Mosiah]

resaonable lazie...oxymoron

[Lazie]

resaonable lazie...oxymoron

Who yuh a call moron?

[Muadib]

Did any Chefs or Butlers go ?

Nuh belt tightening dat ?

[Mosiah]

heh heh! guess!

you're not just any moron though. you are the OXY kind!

[Baddaz]

lazie... money well spent...

'Money well spent' - Officials defend multimillion-dollar trip to Bahamas

Published: Wednesday | May 20, 2009


Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter

( L - R ) Montague, Brown Local government officials are defending their recent trip to The Bahamas which cost [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]taxpayers[/COLOR][/COLOR]

more than $10 million.
"It was money well spent," declared state minister with responsibility for Local Government, Robert 'Bobby' Montague, hours after he returned to the island yesterday.
"I agree that $10 million is a lot of money but it must be looked at in the context of the investment. Every day you say 'increase the capacity of the councils' and that the councillors must be upgraded, but what better investment than in your people?" Montague added.
According to Montague, the four-day Commonwealth Local Government Conference in The Bahamas was invaluable for the more than 70 councillors and support staff.
Exposed to information
He said the Jamaicans met persons from across the Commonwealth to look at best practices in local government and options for the survival of parish councils during the current economic crisis.
"They (the councillors) were exposed in three days to the amount of information they would not normally get in three years," said Montague.
He said in addition to the human development, the delegation returned from The Bahamas with a commitment from the European Union for J$127 million to assist the six parishes where the banana industry is struggling and a commitment from the United States firm Microsoft to provide software valued at US$200,000 to assist the Jamaican police to plug into an international anti-crime network.
In addition, Montague said the Federation of Canadian [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]Municipalities[/COLOR][/COLOR] also used the Bahamas conference to commit CDN$20 million (J$1.3 billion) to assist Jamaican local government authorities increase their capacity.
Montague was supported by Milton Brown, the chairman of the Association of Local Government Authorities and mayor of May Pen, who also attended the conference.
"I think it was a significant investment in human capital. I think the persons who went, the councillors and the administrators, are much better off for the experience," Brown said.
"It will manifest itself by the services offered by the local authorities in the immediate future," Brown added.
Everyone should experience
Another participant at the conference, Errol Greene, town clerk at the Kingston and St Andrew [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]Corporation[/COLOR][/COLOR], shared his views.
Greene, who was attending his third Commonwealth Local Government Conference, told The Gleaner that everyone involved in local government should be exposed to the seminars and meetings which formed part of the event.
"We shared ideas and best practices and while we learnt from some countries, there were others who were impressed with aspects of the operations in Jamaica such as the public participation in the creation of [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]budgets[/COLOR][/COLOR] at some councils," Greene said.
Several questions were asked last week after news broke that more than 70 people had left the island for the conference in The Bahamas.
The Opposition People's National Party raised issue about the size of the delegation and the cost to taxpayers at a time when the [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]administration[/COLOR][/COLOR] was asking Jamaicans to "tighten their belts". arthur.hall@gleanerjm.com