Emancipation 2025

Jamaica's Emancipation Day is celebrated on the 1st August each year and I think, this is the first year I celebrated it outside of Jamaica. 

I couldn't find anything interesting to attend in Broward, Florida so when my friend Carol told me of a street session in the parking area at a Jamaican restaurant, I told her to pick me up.

Judy, Carol, Joan.

Sure glad I did, for if I didn't, I would never have met some interesting Jamaicans, the phenomenal one being Nesta Leeloo.

Nesta.

Omg, this lady is something else. She is 108 years old.

That's right 108 and her mind in 100% and the body? Well she doesn't even use a walking stick and was so pleasant to boot!

Actually, I had never heard of Butter Flakes Jamaican restaurant before, although in the past, I have visited the strip mall where it is located.

 But back to Miss Nesta.

She was born in Mandeville, Jamaica in 1917 and was Nesta Lewis, before getting married to a Trinidadian, hence the name Leeloo. They had eight children and so far, she has outlived three. 

Yup, and she still plays the piano and does crossword puzzles everyday. 

As she walked outside to where the DJ had set up the music, she started to jig!😊 Several hours later, at 10pm, when we were packing up to go, she looked like she wasn't going anywhere for the next few hours!

Miss Nesta is definitely now my new role model.😊.

It was a nice jam session with oldies reggae music, and we met quite a few other Jamaicans who had come out to eat, listen to good music and socialize.

We even met too ladies, Gail and Diana who drove all the way from West Palm Beach to attend, as they say they always enjoy the food and vibes there.

Gail and Diana. 

Yup. It was a nice evening. Not my usual Emancipation style celebration, but I enjoyed it, as variety is indeed the spice of life.

Gail, Judy, Carol, Joan 

Simply the best❤️

 I cried as she was Simply the Best❤️

HERE WE GO AGAIN?

For in excess of forty years, Jamaica has been knocking around with the troubling issue of whether we should sever relations with the British Monarch as our head of state.

For years too, I have been a voice in the wilderness calling for us to do it before Queen Elizabeth died, for whereas I considered her quite harmless, the thought of having her son Charles as our head of state has always been for me, very repulsive. Not least because I consider that, the non-executive head of state should at the very least, be a good role model and neither Charles nor his “Queen Consort” can fill that bill.

Well, the inevitable is on us and instead of running full speed ahead to get rid of them and appoint a local person as our head, the political nonsense which has always stymied our progress, is evident again.

The more things change the more they remain the same.

In the initial stages, the sticking point between our alternating governments led by the Peoples National Party (PNP) and the Jamaican Labor Party (JLP), has always been the kind of republic we should replace our monarchial system with. For the PNP has always wanted an executive presidency and the JLP a ceremonial one.

I have no idea if that issue has been ironed out yet, but because little England (Barbados) took the step to get rid of the British monarchy in 2022, the ruling JLP, to tek shame outta dem eye, said they would follow suit and even appointed a minister of Constitution Affairs, to lead the process.

There is good reason why we should never cheer too early, for it appears now that those two idiotic institutions (JLP and PNP) are again going to stymie the country’s progress.

For the PNP has now refused to appoint members to the Constitutional Committee to discuss the extent of the constitutional reforms to take place, as getting rid of the monarchy requires serious reform and a referendum.

This time, the distraction is that the PNP wants the country to adopt the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to replace the British Privy Council as our final court of appeal, and will have no discussions unless this is agreed up front.

Omg. But shouldn’t the idea of a Constitutional Committee be that they negotiate these issues, not lay down hard lines?

I will be honest, when the CCJ was first established in 2005, I opposed it totally. For in my book, the interest of the Jamaican people was not properly represented by the Patterson regime (which led the PNP Government at the time) and it had all the appearances of being just another attempt to foist elements of a ‘federation’ though the back door.

For readers will recall that the PNP had supported the West Indies Federation but in 1961, when a referendum was called to sanction our membership, the Jamaican people said no way.

In the initial stages, the CCJ was a lopsided agreement between Jamaica and the other former British colonies. My main grouse was that although Jamaica contributed almost US$29 million of the $100 million fund established to fund the court, NOT ONE MEMBER OF THE JAMAICAN JUDICIARY WAS APOINTEFD TO SERVE ON THE COURT!

On the other hand, Guyana which contributed less than $9 million, had two judges, including the Chairman of that prestigious body.

That to me was a disgraceful insult to our judges, for by no measure could Guyanese judges be said to be twice as competent as Jamaicans.

That was my major turnoff, but over the years that situation has been rectified and the court has handed down some solid judgements and have proven themselves just as good or better than the UK privy council in terms of its competence.

So now I have no argument against us getting rid of the privy council as our final court of appeal.

But if the CCJ has to wait a while, so be it.

The refusal of the PNP to participate in the talks could mean we will be stuck in the monarchial rut again because our politicians seem incapable of sitting down together and ironing out simple issues.

In my book however, if it comes to that, the JLP needs to realize that it is the government and therefore has the responsibility to move full speed ahead with a referendum to get rid of the monarchy, with or without the PNP.

We really can’t allow political squabbles to cause this matter to drag on for another 40 or so years!

 

 

AN ARMED GUNMAN NEXT?

MONTEGO BAY, St James — The killing of prominent People's National Party (PNP) activist Kenley 'Bebe' Stephens has left the party's organisation in St James in shock.

Yesterday, party officials mourned the killing with chairman of the PNP's Region Six, Dr DK Duncan, remarking that Stephens made a meaningful contribution to the party.

"Like most persons, we are saddened by his passing. He has made significant contribution to the PNP, through the youth organisation and the West Central St James constituency," Dr Duncan reflected.

Meanwhile, West Central Member of Parliament Sharon Ffolkes-Abrahams, who expressed unease about the violent manner in which the nation's youths are dying, argued that Stephens was not only a party man, but a zealous community worker.

"We are very shocked and hurt at his sudden and violent death. We are concerned about the horrific way in which our young men are dying, not only in St James, but in the nation," Folkes-Abrahams told the Jamaica Observer.

"He was at the Regional Executive Council in Montego Bay on Sunday and the Labour Day project (on Friday) where he was there joking around and riding a horse. He has always been enthusiastic about community activities. He will be sadly missed," Folkes-Abrahams lamented.

Meanwhile, in a release from the PNP secretariat -- which extended condolences to Stephens' relatives and friends -- the need for a sustained fight on crime was articulated.

"This latest killing confirms that while strides are being made in the fight against violent crimes and all criminality, we still have a long way in the journey to victory against criminals," the release read.

Members of Stephens' native Granville community were also shocked by his tragic passing.

"It is a very sombre mood in Granville, everybody is mourning. Bebe was a very popular man in Granville and the entire St James," Michael Troupe, the PNP councillor for the Granville Division, told the Observer.

The above is a report  in the Observer of the reaction on the 27th May 2014 of the governing People's National Party (PNP) to the murder  of one of their vice presidents in the western section.

Interestingly, this governing party had no words of regret to the murder of a nine year old child days before and one wonders if his death was not regretted as he had not achieved the necessary heights of crime to be considered important to the politicians  in that part of Jamaica? For this is how the Gleaner paints the same Stevens who is being lauded by the governing party,  "The colourful Stephenson, who was quite prominent on the social circuit in western Jamaica, has had several run-ins with law over the years.

Accusations against him have ranged from illegal abstraction of electricity to lottery scamming.

Following his May 2012 arrest by the Anti-Lottery Scam Task Force, Superintendent Leon Clunie described him as a major player in the scam.

"Bebe is one of the founders of the illegal lottery scam," said Clunie, the head of task force at the time. "He has been living a luxurious lifestyle, yet he has never, from our understanding, been employed in any of the services in Jamaica."

With that type of individual being held up as a role model  by the ruling party in the west, I suppose we should not be surprised if a known gunman is elected to replace him there soon!

Thank heavens the western PNP hierarchy  disassociated itself from Jamaica by removing the green from the flag at the swearing in of their mayor for it would be a sad day for Jamaica if that lot was held up to represent the type of politicians that are acceptable in this country!