Social Impact with Emma » Prime Minister : A Jamaica Gleaner Blog

A Muddle Over Masks

June 10th, 2020

Well, life is confusing these days. And, it seems, there is nothing more confusing and mysterious than the coronavirus. As we are on the verge of opening our borders to non-Jamaicans and tourists, we have finally received and hopefully perused the incredibly detailed document issued by the Ministry of Tourism. A relatively short first phase […]

COVID-19 and Talking to the Press in Jamaica

May 5th, 2020

Many of us might not have noticed it: Sunday, May 3 was World Press Freedom Day 2020. The theme was Journalism Without Fear or Favour. The day is usually observed with some kind of public forum organized by the Press Association of Jamaica. With the pandemic on, obviously that was not possible. The Prime Minister […]

Tourism’s Fragility Exposed

February 29th, 2020

I am not an economist (and I may well be corrected by my friend and fellow blogger Dennis Jones, who is!) but recent developments have given me the sense that Jamaica depends too heavily on two areas: Tourism and Bauxite Mining (an unsustainable activity – how much longer do we plan to go on mining? […]

Road Safety Seems to be More About Roads Than People. Correct Me If I’m Wrong.

January 17th, 2020

I tuned in to a live stream of a two-day conference co-hosted by the World Bank and the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities in Washington, DC this week. It is an annual event under the umbrella of Transforming Transportation 2020. This year’s theme was “Connecting People for Sustainable Growth.” So, how did the agenda look? […]

Cockpit Country: Is It Really All About the Boundaries?

November 29th, 2019

Ceiling fans whirred and night sounds crept through the windows of the Webb Memorial Baptist Church in Stewart Town, Trelawny earlier this evening. A Town Hall Meeting was in progress, streamed live on Facebook on the websites of the sponsors, the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ), the Public Access Channel (PAC) and the Jamaica Gleaner. […]

The Road Safety Problem: Are We Missing Something?

July 23rd, 2019

It’s always interesting, when you have visitors, to see aspects of Jamaica through their eyes – whether negative or positive. So when a recent friend observed that, having come to Jamaica, she is more afraid of the mayhem on our roads than crime, I quietly agreed. Not that we don’t have a crime problem too. […]

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