There she goes again.

[Exile]

Example: if you were a member of the party you would be it. Now you are just a JLP rep

[Muadib]

I resent that attack on my cyberspace persona !!

Moderators ! I am being abused !

Help !

[Don1]

Example: if you were a member of the party you would be it. Now you are just a JLP rep

LoL!

[Exile]

LOL. Gwaan go watch de World Cup! South Korea right?

[Muadib]

Ghana mi seh !

Mi nuh cyar bout di oddahs...

6 half dozen...

[Karl]

I don't participate in the Portia-degradation thing. She has much to answer for particularly in her earlier warlord years (where is the Truth & Reconciliation Commission?) but has moderated herself in the last 20 or so years. In fact there is much to admire about her rise from the ghetto to leading a party and being appointed PM...something of a fairy tale and very commendable of her...showing strength of character and smarts to outdo the PNP latter day Drumblair crowd.

Where she falls way short for me is in taking over that party which clearly failed Jamaica in a comprehensive manner in the previous 2 decades...one which had been almost consumed by tribal corruption and a stunning lack of vision....what has she done to reform the entity and present Jamaica with a viable option?? NOTHING!!!

She has had her chance and has done nothing with it except continue the same old BS. Allied with that she does not seem to have a good command of the policy complexities involved in running a country.

For those reasons...not her poor diction, pronunciation or lack of middle class social graces, she is unqualified imho to run Jamaica.

Both parties need some new thinking and new blood...dinosaurs like Gelding and Portia need to step to give that a chance to happen.

mi tiyad ah dem.... dem come in lika plague pon wi

This is at least based on sensible laid out perceptions. ...but is it true she has done/that there is the reality that she has done NOTHING?

I think her reign as PM needs a look at achievements during that reign. It matters not if most of the programs were ongoing or in formative stages when she took over.

Sure she could have done more...which of former leaders could not have...but I think any real look at her tenure for failures would not be bang on the money with failure. As it was for Hugh Shearer, Michael Manley, Edward Seaga and PJ Patterson...to curb and to turn back gun crimes and the headlong continuing plunge into greater and greater levels of corruption is her Achilles heel...

...but it is not an accident that the Bruce Golding administration has had to acknowledge that it is wise to maintain the good programs and that it shall follow paths that were well founded.

[Muadib]

Rather strange with all the 'good programs' the PNP has failed abysmally during its tenure... even as the Region and the World advanced.

Any theory as to why your PNP make things look so hard ?

1/3rd is really mekking Omar look bad.

Tufton is making Roger Clarke look like an idiot.

Ah Bwoy...

[Don1]

not really looking at her brief interlude as PM which was unremarkable but at the fact that under her leadership the PNP is the some ole same ole...and not presenting any real alternative to the JLP imho.

If the PNP is returned to power it would be by default...due to Gelding's corruption & ineptitude.

Not good

[Muadib]

One can only pray for 2 more Terms of 'corruption and ineptitude'

At the rate of this ineptitude by the end of the 2nd TERM dollar should be back in the 50's, murder rate should be down to 400 per year, interest rates and inflation single digits and cost of electricity 1/3 what it is now..

[Reggaedoc]

Portia Simpson never had a vision of where she wanted the country to be in 20, 30 years time. She is not a visionary, and she has never been one. Awarding the position of leadership of a major party, and premeiership of a developing country almost half century after independence, simply on the basis of length of service to the party, is wrong-headed, and probably dangerous.

Social graces aside, I wonder how many Portia supporters on this forum would employ Portia to manage their family business?.

We should not give her a pass because she is black, or because she came from the roots or for any other such prerequisite. She has to held to the same standards as anyone else. Further, there are others who are black, came from the roots, came up through the ranks, poor people pickney etc, who are far more talented, educated, and capable of leading the party and country that Portia, but because they may not be involved in tribal politics, they do not get the profile that tribalist Portia gets. I take no prisoners. A spade is a spade.

[Exile]

Oh is North Korea yu like?

[Muadib]

Spain mi seh !

Yuh def ?

[Exile]

Like the speaker naw work on mi laptop? Or de software conversion naw work....

[Karl]

Rather strange with all the 'good programs' the PNP has failed abysmally during its tenure... even as the Region and the World advanced.

Any theory as to why your PNP make things look so hard ?

1/3rd is really mekking Omar look bad.

Tufton is making Roger Clarke look like an idiot.

Ah Bwoy...

There is failure and there is failure. That we did not progress at the rate we all would have liked is a fact.

I submit that our failures had more to do with control of crime than any other thing.

In terms of expansion additions of hotel rooms and increased employment levels in the tourism and allied support sectors, water systems, arterial roads expansion and telecommunications sector expansions the greatest advances made in our history was under the Portia Miller-Simpson government.

It is fact that current levels of unemployment and underemployment has far surpassed the levels during the Portia Miller-Simpson years.

You know it is a tiresome exercise to dig for every policy paper created and approved during the Portia Simpson-Miller years. You know they are numerous and that solid work has been done based on those plans...so the nonsense about nothing done is planned...deliberately planned by to fit the image you have created about Mrs. Simpson-Miller and sold to some as her being a person unfit for leading the nation.

E.g. of a base policy document would be something such as the following created in 2005-2006 -

Policies that Currently guide operations Industry Policies Tourism Policies Entertainment Policies Development of an Entrepreneurial Culture Incentives for Attractions Entertainment Sector Policy Proposal Development of Value Added Products Hotel Incentives Act (HIA) & Resort Cottages Incentives Act (RCIA) Encouragement of Export Industries Master Plan for Sustainable Tourism Development Investment Facilitation Free Zone and Office Spaces Modernization of Industry Strengthening of SME Sector Policies that are being developed Stage Cluster Competitiveness 2 Entertainment Sector Policy Proposal Discussion Paper 2 Export Encouragement and Investment Development in the Services Sector 6 Improved Access to Small and Micro Financing Programmes 5 Policies to be developed in FY 2005/2006 Stage *Small Business Development 4 Policy to streamline and integrate the management of motorized and non-motorized water based leisure sports in marine recreational areas. 1 Policy to streamline and integrate the management of river based water sports activities in rivers designated for recreational areas. 1 *Although there are a number of ongoing programmes relative to small business development, there is currently no specific policy document (other than the National Industrial Policy) which addresses the various areas or support arms for the development of the micro and small business sector. The objective of the proposed policy is to articulate in a precise and clear way government's vision for the sector and how the vision is to be achieved.
Key

1. Cabinet Office advised of intention
2. Initial Concept paper
3. Plan of action prepared and submitted to Cabinet Office
4. Policy document being prepared
5. Public Consultations
6. Approved (a) Committee (b) Cabinet
7. Approved by Parliament

GOJ POLICY REGISTER MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY & TOURISM

TOURISM, INDUSTRY AND ENTERTAINMENT POLICIES
TOURISM DIVISION

Master Plan for Sustainable Tourism Development

Consistent with global and regional trends in tourism, the Ministry of Industry and Tourism's underlying policy thrust has been the development of a sustainable tourism industry while improving our competitive position in the marketplace. This is articulated in the Ministry's key policy document, the Master Plan for Sustainable Tourism Development in Jamaica. The Master Plan recognizes that the greater diversification of our product offering is the key to improving our competitive position both regionally and in the global context. It acknowledges that sustainability requires: greater involvement of communities in the industry, whether as entrepreneurs, or as service providers, so that there will be a better spread of the benefits; incorporation of more opportunities to showcase Jamaica's culture and heritage; forging stronger linkages with sports and entertainment; forging stronger linkages with other productive sectors and greater focus on environmental management and protection by all players in the sector. Also, there has been increased effort in events led (including sporting events) promotion and in focusing more attention on marketing and promotions in Europe.
Hotel Incentives Act (HIA) & Resort Cottages Incentives Act (RCIA)

The Ministry continues to grant incentives to the tourism sector through administration of the Hotel Incentive Act (HIA) and the Resort Cottages Incentives Act (RCIA).
Under the provisions of the HIA and the RCIA hotel/resort cottages operators are entitled to certain concessions, namely, relief from Custom Duties and Income Tax for a specified period - in the case of hotels: 10-15 years, and in the case of resort cottages - 7 years. Applications may be made by new properties or existing properties which are doing expansion, alterations or refurbishing.
Incentives for Attractions

Since April 2003, Cabinet granted approval for incentives to be made available to the attractions sub-sector. Incentives are made available for the establishment, refurbishment, conservation, reconstruction, and repositioning of attractions in the market place and in an effort to stimulate growth in the sub-sector.
The sub-sector now benefits by importing specific items free of GCT and Custom Duty up to a maximum of five years and Corporate Tax exemption if required and approved for the same time period.
ENTERTAINMENT DIVISION

Entertainment Sector Policy Proposal

Through the Entertainment Division of the Ministry of Industry and Tourism the government of Jamaica seeks to position the entertainment sector as a national priority, in recognition of the pivotal role the sector plays in social and economic development as well as promoting the creative excellence of our people and the nation generally.
The proposed Entertainment Sector Policy Document (April 2001) emphasizes the need to create an appropriately staffed, efficient, effective and accountable public/private sector infrastructure that delivers high quality service to an enabled entertainment sector.
INDUSTRY DIVISION

Development of an Entrepreneurial Culture

To provide a policy framework and the necessary institutional support to develop enterprise skills in young people and to encourage the creation of new and innovative enterprises in order to achieve economic growth and increased productivity.
Development of Value Added Products

To provide the policy framework and institutional support to encourage the use of adaptive technology/research and development in order to facilitate the process of product innovation and material research in relation to natural resources - fibres, clays, fruits, herbs - and creative efforts in software development in order to exploit new and emerging business opportunities.
Encouragement of Export Industries

To provide the policy framework and policy interventions to promote continued expansion of exports through the growth of existing competitive industries in tradable goods and services as well as diversification into new competitive industries.
Investment Facilitation

To contribute to an appropriate framework for investment by ensuring that the business environment is more business friendly, efficient and competitive particularly in terms of the turn around period for the approval process of investment applications.
Modernization of Industry

To ensure that the policy framework and the policy interventions encourage firms to engage in the retooling of plant and equipment, technological upgrading and modernization of processes and that the institutional support is provided to firms seeking and requiring technical assistance in their operations.
Free Zone and Office Spaces

To facilitate the delivery of competitive investment and export expansion through the provision of ready factory and office space for activities in targeted sectors - ITC, light manufacturing agro processing - and in aiding such firms to benefit from reduced transaction costs through agglomeration of support services and resources.
Strengthening of SME Sector

To provide an environment that is conducive to micro and small enterprise development in order to assist in the growth and competitiveness of these firms and the employment and export opportunities they provide training, financing, technical assistance and business development services are critical support measures to the thrust.

...buried in some dark hole by the present rabid partisan fifth columnists, even as they follow along the same path.

There are documents specifically addressing plans, work - implementation and 'the how' of that ongoing implementation on areas like water supply and sewage disposal, roads, health care, education, security forces, telecommunications, agricultural development, sports, etc., etc. Because they are technical in nature and not high-lighted, you who know of the existence the activities and works by omission put out lies about NOTHING was done. You know better, you should do better.

[Reggaedoc]

The fact that she could have risen to become PM says more about the dysfuntional system of our so-called democracy, than it says about her talent or expertise. If we had a real primary system, then I am confident that the silent majority of the PNP would probably not have elected her to the party leadership in the first place. Unfortunately we have the strong-armed system that we have, and this facilitates the emergence of people like Portia. The question, however, in going forward as a nation, in the 21st century, are we better served by throw-backs like Portia, or should we seek more intelligent, educated visionaries?. This is where the problem lies. These throwbacks dont know when to quit and move on to something else. Their time, era, style have come and gone. We are in a different world. Karl said that crime was her Archilles tendon. Do you believe she has any vision about fighting crime?. In fact, do you believe that she is interested in solving the crime problem?. After all, if crime is a direct result of garrison politics, and garrison politics is all she knows, and is the only system that she can be comfortable in and can be elected through, then why should she be interested in sloving the crime problem?. She might give lip-service, but you can fool some people all the time, and you can fool all the people some of the time, but what you cant do is fool all the people all of the time. Her utterances to the tribalists in St. Elizabeth recently proves that she is divisive, and basically setting the poor agaist the police. This at a time when the our security forces need all the support they can get to combat the scurge. What she never said was that most of the people committing the rapes, murders etc seem to accidentally come from a certain social class, and there will be no excuse for that, and we will fight them whether they come from uptown or downtown. She is, and has been a miserable failure. That is why we are stuck with Golding. The people do not see a viable alternative in her. She needs to be realistic, get rid of the ego thing, and come to the realization that her time has come on gone. we are a different nation now, and we need a paradigm shift to match the changing times.