Falmouth mayor hinges solution to congestion on the transport center
Falmouth Mayor, Colin Gager, is optimistic that the traffic congestion being faced by motorists in the seaport town will be significantly eased very soon.
The mayor’s confidence hinges on the Falmouth Transportation Centre, which is in the final stages of renovation.
In a recent interview, he said public transportation operators in the Trelawny capital will be required to operate from the facility upon the completion of the project.
Currently, public transportation operators largely park at a number of designated areas in the town.
“The transportation center is one that is needed in Falmouth. The facility is where we believe we can solve a lot of the problems that are in the town because one of the main reasons is that parking within the town becomes chaotic. If we can get all of the taxis and buses off the road, using the park, a big percentage of the problems will be solved,” Gager told 876Newsja.
X
He added that “This transportation center is one that we have been working on for quite some time. It is about 90 percent complete.”
He said the finishing touches are now being applied to the facility.
He is inviting small business operators to set up shops from which to conduct business on the grounds of the facility.
876newsja.COM HAS RECENTLY REMOVE THE GRAPHIC VIDEO BECAUSE OF GOOGLE’S COMMUNITY GUIDELINES.
The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) has admitted that a traffic ticket given to a woman in
St Elizabeth for failing to comply with the terms and conditions of a driver’s license during
the first 12 months was issued “in error”.
The ticket quoted a fine of $6,000 and was issued last week.
The woman, who was seemingly upset, shared a video on social media pointing out that she was
given the ticket for operating a vehicle with a “young” driver’s license without someone with
an “older” permit accompanying her.
“Mi nuh understand, mi want fi to know weh kinda rule dis yah?” the motorist said in the video.
The video has since garnered scores of comments from social media users, many also asking questions
about the JCF.
In a series of tweets on Monday afternoon, the JCF, taking note of the video, said after
investigating it determined that the ticket was issued in error and is to be withdrawn.
The JCF said it was taking steps to reach out to the woman to do so.
The police, in the meantime, took the opportunity to highlight that under Section 27 of the Road
Traffic Act of 2018, a motorist must comply with the terms and conditions during the first 12 months
of the grant of the license, namely:
The breath alcohol concentration of the holder shall not exceed 0.01 per cent or 10 micrograms of
alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath while driving;
The holder shall not drive more than 80kilometres per hour on any road; and
The holder shall not drive a motor vehicle carrying passengers or goods for reward.
876newsja.COM HAS RECENTLY removed GRAPHIC VIDEO BECAUSE OF GOOGLE’S COMMUNITY GUIDELINES.
Newsmaker… Week: New banknotes cause excitement and ‘concerns’
This week’s featured overall development as Newsmaker of the Week just ended is the overall continued
reactions to Jamaica’s much-touted new polymer banknotes, with some concerns being raised about the
durability of the notes following an assertion that the $1,000 note did not have some of the applicable
security features.
This is while there has been much excitement regarding the new notes, which people in the streets are
calling “new money”.
The new banknotes were lodged in a limited number of ATMs on June 15, and people have been trying to
Get a look at them.
Some people questioned the need for new-look bills when the value is the same as the old ones, while
Others saw the new currencies as just another part of the progress of the country.
Early last week, a new $1,000 note was flagged in a viral TikTok post by a woman, who seemingly
showed missing security features on the note’s holographic foil.
The faulty new $1,000 banknote hit the spotlight on social media last week.
This prompted the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) to launch an investigation into the matter, while some persons
carried out other experiments by scratching selected new notes to see if they would be easily defaced.
The BOJ, in a release on Wednesday, confirmed that it had reached out to the user who initially
posted the video on social media, but said all attempts to obtain the specific note in question
had been unsuccessful.
By late Thursday, the woman in question, relative to the reported faulty banknote, posted a video in
which she showed a receipt and a letter, both containing the BOJ’s logo, and stated that the central
The bank had replaced the purportedly faulty $1,000 note.
“The note received is a replacement for a $1,000 polymer banknote… which has a flaw,” read the
letter from the BOJ to the woman, which was dated June 22.
She said she was happy that the
The issue had been rectified, and she called on her critics to highlight that the matter was resolved and
that she had not been creating public mischief.
The BOJ has since verified the authenticity
of the letter, indicating that the faulty banknote has been replaced.
Before the woman brought in the note to
The central bank, the BOJ, had reassured the public that it had invested in cutting-edge technologies
and conducted rigorous testing to ensure the durability and security of the polymer banknotes before
their release into circulation.
The BOJ advised in the process that
If a genuine banknote becomes damaged or compromised, it can be exchanged, but only at its office
in Kingston.
Finally, the BOJ implored Jamaicans to refrain from intentionally subjecting the notes to unnecessary testing, referencing a video depicting liquid being poured on two banknotes.
The Bank of Jamaica’s (BOJ) logo.
“The bank understands the curiosity and interest surrounding the new notes, and while the notes
Withstood the liquid test, it urges members of the public to desist from intentionally subjecting
them to unnecessary tests,” emphasised the statement.
That warning, however, did not stop persons, including a local media entity, from significantly
testing the new notes’ durability. In some instances, using a coin or key partially damaged the
security features on the note’s holographic foil after numerous vigorous attempts.
Overall, the views of some Jamaicans on social media relative to the new banknotes and their
durability remains largely mixed, while others have no concern over the notes, but are rather
excited about using the ‘new money’.
“Why would anyone go out of their way to damage the new money? Jamaicans are just unruly, because
Once you don’t damage them, they are fine,” opined a woman on Facebook.
“Everybody is going crazy over the new notes that have less value,” claimed a man.
Of the reactions relative to the woman with the defective note, a man asked: “All those (who)
Criticised her and wished her to be arrested for public mischief, how are they feeling now?”
Many others simply expressed joy for the new money.
“I don’t care what anyone says, I love the feel of the money, and it’s pretty bad.
Big up Nigel (Clarke, Finance Minister),” a woman said.
“The new money feels different, like Canadian money. Mi loves it bad. Jamaicans are just too negative
and don’t like new things,” a man remarked.
Another said jokingly: “A new money mi want in my barber shop, no more old money because the money nice bad.”
876newsja.COM HAS RECENTLY removed THE GRAPHIC VIDEO BECAUSE OF GOOGLE’S COMMUNITY GUIDELINES.
‘Granny’ stays behind bars for allegedly defrauding $105k in job scam
An elderly woman who is accused of collecting $105,000 from two sisters to secure jobs overseas for them, but failed to do so, is to return to court on July 21.
Despite complaining of ill health, the accused, Evon Graham, was remanded in police custody when she appeared in the St Catherine Parish Court last week on a charge of obtaining money by means of false pretense.
Graham told the presiding parish judge during the court proceedings, that she did not have a lawyer.
Further, she told the court that she needed medical attention, as her health has declined.
Before remanding Graham, the judge ordered the police to ensure that she undergoes a medical check prior to her next court date.
Police reports are that in March of this year, Graham approached the two sisters under the pretence that she could secure domestic work for them overseas.
To do so, the elderly woman allegedly requested $60,000 from one sibling, and $45,000 from the other. Both now complainants later paid the woman the fees that had been requested.
However, the sisters demanded that Graham reimburse their money after she failed to deliver the jobs to them.
The elderly woman allegedly refused to do so, and the siblings filed a complaint at a police station.
A probe was launched into the matter, which resulted in Graham being arrested and charged.
876newsja.COM HAS RECENTLY REMOVE THE GRAPHIC VIDEO BECAUSE OF GOOGLE’S COMMUNITY GUIDELINES.
Double murder in Arnett Gardens during church service
A church service in a section of Arnett Gardens, South St Andrew was interrupted by Sunday morning gunfire which resulted in the deaths of two men who were shot on the religious compound on West Road in the Zimbabwe area of the wider community.
The deceased men have been identified as 20-year-old Jaheim Walker, otherwise called ‘Jah Jah’, and Tajay O’Neil Watson, 20.
Both men were from Paradise Courts in Zimbabwe.
It was reported that around 9:35 am, Walker and Watson were sitting inside the church premises when armed men approached them.
The gunmen, the police said, opened fire, hitting both young men.
They were rushed to the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH), where they were both pronounced dead on arrival.
The police said initial investigations have suggested that Walker was the main target of the attack.
Information is that he was an affiliate of the top Sunlight Street gang, and was the target of members of the bottom Sunlight Street gang.
The Kingston Western police are probing the double murder.
876newsja.COM HAS RECENTLY REMOVE THE GRAPHIC VIDEO BECAUSE OF GOOGLE’S COMMUNITY GUIDELINES.
Man catches his woman cheating with his child in the bed
SCROLL DOWN AND CLICK THE RED BUTTON TO WATCH THE LEAK VIDEO
A video has gone viral on social media with a woman who was caught red-handed cheating on her man while their teenage daughter was on the same bed sleeping.
The man came home from work late at midnight and caught his woman in bed with another man and started recording them.
As seen in the video below, their teenage daughter was on the bed while her mother was sleeping with her side man.
‘Pathologically mendacious!’ KD’s pungent political barbs over the yrs
Former People’s National Party (PNP) Member of Parliament (MP), Senator, and Cabinet minister, KD Knight, is, without doubt, a master of delivering political quips, using his incisive wit and humor over the years to make serious political points while criticizing his opponents both on and off the political platform.
Knight’s comments have become almost legendary on the Jamaican political scene – from him telling former Prime Minister Bruce Golding to “pack his bag and go”, to labeling the said former Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) leader as being “pathologically mendacious”.
However, some persons have viewed Knight’s purposeful political comments over the years as being frankly distasteful, citing examples of when he seemingly questioned the academic capabilities of his own PNP colleague, Portia Simpson Miller, who would eventually overcome the embarrassment and create history in becoming Jamaica’s first female prime minister.
Many political observers will agree that Knight’s sharp tongue has earned him an infamous reputation for being able to provide a good sound bite on any given day.
That has resulted in comrades and even some members of the wider population referring to him as the ‘Sheriff’ or ‘Star Boy’, names he earned for his perceived ‘Oscar Award-winning’ performance during the 2011 Manatt-Dudus Commission of Inquiry, which was held to determine the circumstances that led to the extradition of the Tivoli Gardens strongman, Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, a year earlier.
Knight’s latest slang, ‘Buy a bag!’
Though he has retired from representational politics and the Senate, Knight’s use of humor has not died, and he showed proof of that at a recent political rally in the South East St Catherine constituency, where medical doctor Alfred Dawes is vying to represent the PNP in the next general elections, which is constitutionally due by September 2025.
Knight, of course, endorsed Dawes on the night, but it was his swipe at Prime Minister Andrew Holness that stole the show.
“I am telling Andrew (Holness) from this platform tonight; Andrew, buy a bag… Yuh going need it!” declared Knight, whose comment lent the suggestion that Holness will lose the next general elections.
Knight, a former National Security Minister and Foreign Minister, in his usual spontaneous mood at the political meeting, reminded the audience that he told former Prime Minister Bruce Golding to “Pack your bags (and go!).”
Prime Minister Andrew Holness
Knight also told the other JLP MPs to “buy a trunk” and “rent a bus” to leave Gordon House together, a clear forecast that the Holness Administration will lose whenever the national elections are held.
But some JLP supporters have since labeled Knight’s comments as a mere bluff, hinting that the senior attorney, like the rest of the PNP, is still feeling the sting of the shock 49-14-seat victory the JLP registered against the PNP in the September 2020 General Elections.
Bluff or not, over the years, Knight has, in fact, made a number of witty remarks that have definitely caught the attention of the media and the public alike.
He has notably been also very critical of his own party leaders, especially former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.
Knight questions Portia’s education?
In the lead-up to the PNP presidential elections in 2006, Knight seemingly took aim at the eventual winner of the race, Portia Simpson Miller, by hinting that she was not bright enough for the job, as there were some far more academically qualified candidates in the race.
While Knight’s comments were seen by some as a legitimate concern, others felt they amounted to an attack on Simpson Miller’s character and competence.
Years later, in a newspaper interview, Knight, with a slick tongue, sought to clarify his comments.
“I said when persons ask me (about the) qualifications of each (candidate), I say, Dr. Peter Phillips Ph.D., I say, Dr Omar Davies PhD, I say, Dr Karl Blythe, medical doctor, and I say, Comrade Portia, so and so, and there was a pregnant pause.
“That was interpreted to mean that I said that you have to have a Ph.D. to be prime minister,” he said.
“The one criticism that I smile about to myself…, was (about) anti-woman. I said to myself, ‘When people don’t know your background, don’t know you, they say all sorts of rubbish’,” Knight added.
He said it was under his tenure as minister of national security that a woman rose to the rank of assistant commissioner in the police force, and more women graduated from the police academy.
Knight calls Dorothy Lightbourne ‘stupid’
To this day, Knight is viewed in some quarters as having been somewhat rude with some of his remarks.
For example, in March 2010, he was censured for calling then Leader of Government Business in the Senate, the JLP’s Dorothy Lightbourne, “stupid” during a shouting brawl with the latter in the Upper House of Parliament.
A week after the tongue lashing by the then PNP senator, he was suspended from two sittings of the Senate through a motion that was crafted by the Government senators, who all accused him of breaking the Senate’s Standing Orders when he called Lightbourne “stupid”.
Responding to the suspension at the time, Knight said it was a “sideshow”.
He added that: “What they do is use the occasion to rush through legislation, and when we ask them to delay legislation for a week, the leader of Government business gets up and says we are trying to derail the legislative agenda.”
Knight, speaking in a radio interview at the time, contended that the Government senators did not follow due process, and he was never given a chance to respond to concerns raised in the Upper House about his actions.
“Nobody asked me any questions, nobody sought my response, and I don’t believe I heard what the (then) Senate president said, which was that, ‘Oh, is he denying what he said?’
“If he thinks that the denial of the word is the only way one can defend oneself, that is pathetic, but I’m not surprised,” declared Knight.
KD vs Bruce re ‘pathologically mendacious’
There were several verbal clashes between then Prime Minister Bruce Golding and Knight, who was the attorney representing the PNP, at the 2011 Dudus/Manatt Commission of Enquiry.
None, however, superseded the April 2011 showdown between the two political titans, which led to a near collapse of the sitting after Golding refused to answer any more questions from Knight.
This was after Knight accused him of withholding information from the commission.
“You are a pathological, mendacious person,” Knight taunted.
“You have a pathological condition when it comes to telling the truth, and I’m suggesting to you that you have misled, conspired, and deceived the Parliament, the people of this country, and this commission, the diaspora, and every Jamaican and that you, Mr. Prime Minister, should pack your bags and go,” Knight infamously stated.
Bruce Golding
Clearly fuming, Golding told then-commission Chairman, Emil George, that he would no longer answer questions from Knight.
“I am not prepared to answer any further questions from Mr. Knight, and I am prepared for any consequence,” declared Golding.
But Knight scoffed at the remarks, saying Golding was full of “big talk”, and that the then prime minister had seen him turn off his microphone and knew that he had already ended his cross-examination.
Following Knight’s suggestion that Golding was purportedly a frequent liar, the phrase took off in the early days of social media and was heavily rotated on street corners nationally.
‘Kibbah yuh mouth,’ Knight tells Holness
While serving as the St Elizabeth election coordinator for the then Opposition PNP in December 2011, Knight took to the platform in Black River and told Holness in his first stint as prime minister, following the resignation of Bruce Golding, to “kibbeh (close) yuh mouth!”
Knight made the comment as he urged Holness to stay quiet in relation to the Trafigura scandal which dogged the PNP in the final year of its then administration, ending in 2007.
Knight said while Jamaicans knew that the PNP had received “a donation” from Dutch oil trading company, Trafigura, in 2006, the JLP had remained quiet about the source of funding for the party to acquire the services of law firm Manatt, Phelps, and Phillips.
The US law firm reportedly lobbied the US Government in relation to the 2010 US extradition request for former West Kingston don, Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.
In light of those circumstances, Knight said Holness should “kibbeh (close) yuh mouth; don’t talk about it again, (because) if you talk about it again, there is more I have to say.”
To date, there has been no clear indication of who paid for the services of Manatt, Phelps, and Phillips.
JLP stands for ‘Just Lose Power
Another of Knight’s more famous quips came in 2012, during a debate in the Senate.
In responding to a member of the then Opposition JLP, who had accused the PNP of being a part of “Poverty and Poor People,” Knight retorted that: “If PNP stands for Poverty and Poor People, then JLP stands for Just Lose Power.”
The comment drew laughter and applause from the PNP benches, and quickly went viral on social media.
Bridges to nowhere
In 2016, Knight made another memorable remark during a speech at a party rally just before the February 2016 Elections, which were eventually lost by the PNP.
In referring to the JLP’s promises to fix the country’s infrastructure, he quipped:
“They’re building bridges to nowhere and highways to hell”.
No plans to get us out of poverty
In a 2017 interview with a local newspaper, Knight criticized the Government’s handling of the country’s economy, saying: “The Government seems to have a plan to get us out of debt, but not a plan to get us out of poverty.”
He also took aim at the Government’s infrastructure plans, saying: “They’re building highways that lead to nowhere, and bridges that don’t connect anything.”
Sticky fingers
In commenting on the heavily lauded departure of the PNP’s Damion Crawford from the Senate in March 2019 to face a subsequent defeat in a by-election in East Portland, in comparison to the forced exit of a then Government senator from the chamber as a result of corruption allegations against him, Knight charged that the Upper House of Parliament is not the place for dishonorable politicians.
Knight was even more strident, telling the Senate that person must serve the country without harboring thoughts of ….
“They must keep their sticky fingers off the people’s money,” Knight said, adding that the level of corruption at the Governmental level, perceived or real, must no longer be allowed to fester.
Holness is said to be surrounded by ‘sycophants’
Knight, in his final stint as a senator during a hotly contested debate in February 2020, during which the Government’s use of states of emergency (SOEs) was being debated, rustled the proverbial feathers of a few Government senators when he claimed Holness was surrounded by “sycophants”.
He used the phrase to make allegations that those surrounding Holness were fearful of challenging his approach to fighting crime because of their own self-interests.
“As one who has been in Government, I can empathize with you; I didn’t cause it to happen to me, but if you are surrounded by sycophants… what they are thinking about more than anything else is their self-preservation, then they are going to agree with you and cause you to feel as if you are omniscient,” declared Knight.
“They think you are omnipotent,” he said, adding, “You have become all wise because they think you are all powerful and their status depends on the exercise of your power, so they don’t help you.”
But Government senator Ransford Braham would have none of it, arguing that the murder rate has been high even under past PNP administrations.
“I have to repudiate the suggestion that was made, tongue in cheek as it was, that the prime minister surrounded himself with sycophants, and all that they do in order to eat food is to say, “yes, yes, yes’,” Braham said.
“Not true, and you shouldn’t say it because you know better,” Braham lambasted Knight.
Bitter KD?
In a now infamous voice note purportedly of Knight after the PNP suffered a landslide defeat to the JLP in the September 2020 polls, the former senator alleged that the JLP stole $14 billion from Government coffers and used the money for the party’s election campaign.
“Much of the money that the Labourites spent in this election was money that they stole from the people themselves. They stole that money and stored part of it to use in buying votes,” according to the voice note which was heavily circulated on social media.
“This is a return to slavery, that’s what it is. But this time it’s not the white man buying the black man, it’s the black man putting up himself for sale to anybody, whether black or white. My brother, we are going to regret this,” the voice note said.
File photo of Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supporters celebrating an election victory.
In refuting the allegations that were made in the voice note, Young Jamaica (YJ), the JLP’s youth arm, said it found the accusations to be the highest levels of blatant disregard for a fair and democratic electoral process.
It said the claims offended the sensibility of the Jamaican people and is “yet another ineffectual attempt to discredit the political severity of the loss (that had been) dealt to the PNP” in the election that year.
876newsja.COM HAS RECENTLY REMOVE GRAPHIC VIDEOS BECAUSE OF GOOGLE’S COMMUNITY GUIDELINES.
