标签： Jamaica

On Tuesday, a tense sitting of Jamaica’s Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) delivered a startling new development in an ongoing audit probe of the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), as former chief executive officer Kevin Hall told lawmakers he has no explanation for his signature appearing on an official customs document dated more than a year after he stepped down from his post.

Hall was summoned to appear before the committee as part of its review of a damning auditor general’s report that has already uncovered a host of questionable operational and financial practices at the prominent public hospital. A core point of contention from the audit centered on the irregularly dated C-84 customs form, which bore Hall’s signature and was filed in November 2023 – 13 months after Hall left his CEO role on October 31, 2022, wrapping up a six-year tenure and decades of service at the institution.

The questioning began with committee chair Julian Robinson raising longstanding audit concerns that pre-signed forms may have been misused after Hall’s departure. In his initial response, Hall acknowledged that a small number of blank internal administrative forms had occasionally been pre-signed during his tenure to speed up emergency customs clearances for urgent medical imports. He told the committee that shortly after submitting his resignation, he sent a formal second letter to UHWI management explicitly ordering that his name be removed from all active official documents that required his sign-off. He stressed that any remaining pre-signed forms should never have been used after he left office.

Hall explained that all customs-related forms were typically managed by the hospital’s Department of Materials and Contracts, which liaises directly with third-party customs brokers handling the hospital’s incoming shipments. Opposition MP Peter Bunting, representing Manchester Southern, pushed back on the practice of pre-signing any official documents, asking whether the policy created unnecessary vulnerability to fraud or abuse. Hall conceded in hindsight the practice carried risk, but noted that institutional trust between senior leadership teams justified the process for emergency cases, adding that current UHWI management should update internal controls to prevent future misuse.

The entire inquiry shifted dramatically when Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis clarified that the document in question was not one of the internal administrative forms Hall described – it was an official C-84 customs form pulled directly from Jamaica Customs’ ASYCUDA database, filed for an actual import transaction more than a year after Hall’s departure.

Robinson further distinguished the two documents, noting that the C-84 form is an official authorization for Jamaica Customs to process a shipment, relying on the signature of the hospital’s chief accountable officer to confirm legitimacy, rather than an internal administrative note. Stunned by this new information, Hall told the committee he had no connection to the transaction, never signed the document, and could not account for how his signature appeared on the form.

Government MP Juliet Cuthbert Flynn, representing St Andrew West Rural, repeatedly pressed Hall on the discrepancy, noting he had freely acknowledged pre-signing internal forms but refused to claim any connection to the customs document under investigation. Hall remained firm that he had no explanation, repeating that he had not been involved in UHWI management for more than a year and had no knowledge of the transaction. Flynn responded simply: “I’m baffled.”

The irregular signature case is just one part of a broader audit investigation into UHWI’s procurement and customs practices. The audit has already flagged multiple alleged abuses of the hospital’s tax-exempt import status, which investigators say was used to bring goods in for private entities, costing the Jamaican government an estimated $23 million in lost customs duties and fees. By the close of Tuesday’s hearing, PAC chair Robinson noted that Hall’s testimony had failed to resolve existing questions – instead, it had opened an entirely new line of inquiry into how a former CEO’s signature ended up on an official post-departure customs document.

“It raises other questions about how your signature, if it was your signature, or how a signature appearing to be one like yours, came to be on those documents,” Robinson told the committee, wrapping up the day’s testimony.

HAVANA, Cuba — Cuba’s central bank announced Wednesday that all Visa and Mastercard payment operations across the island will be halted this weekend, after sweeping United States economic sanctions pushed a key international processing bank to cut off its business relationship with a Cuban state-affiliated financial entity. In an official public statement, the central bank confirmed that it received formal notification of the exit on June 2. The processing bank, which has overseen all Visa and Mastercard card-based transactions within Cuba’s borders, said it would end its contractual agreement with Fincimex SA, the entity designated to manage these international card payments for the Cuban government. Fincimex operates as the financial subsidiary of GAESA, a large military-led conglomerate that has long been targeted by US economic sanctions imposed on Cuba. This development marks another significant disruption to Cuba’s access to global financial networks, exacerbating existing economic pressures that have limited the country’s ability to facilitate international commerce and serve foreign visitors who rely on global card payments during their stay. The suspension comes as US sanctions on Cuban entities remain in place, with little indication of near-term adjustments to the long-standing restrictive trade and financial policy. Cuban financial officials have not yet announced an alternative workaround for processing international card payments, leaving many in the tourism and commercial sectors bracing for new disruptions.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – In a landmark victory for the small Caribbean nation, Trinidad and Tobago’s government has celebrated its successful election as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, a win officials frame as a transformative step to amplify the country’s influence in global diplomatic circles.

Elected during a vote of the United Nations General Assembly, the Caribbean Community (Caricom) member will hold the two-year post from 2027 through 2028. Out of votes cast, Trinidad and Tobago earned 181 endorsements, a total that easily cleared the mandatory two-thirds majority threshold required to claim the seat. As the sole candidate put forward by the Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC), the nation faced no competing challengers for the opening, and will officially take up its responsibilities on January 1, 2027.

In an official statement released Wednesday, the Ministry of Foreign and Caricom Affairs emphasized that the Security Council seat will create expanded opportunities for Trinidad and Tobago to contribute meaningfully to high-stakes global conversations spanning peacebuilding, international security, sustainable development, and cross-border cooperation. Beyond bolstering the country’s participation in global governance, the ministry noted the appointment will strengthen Trinidad and Tobago’s diplomatic standing, boost its clout among the international community, and unlock new pathways to build strategic partnerships and deepen engagement with nations across the globe.

This is not Trinidad and Tobago’s first turn at the Security Council table: the country previously held a non-permanent seat for the 1985–1986 term. Notably, the government confirmed that the nation earned the full support of all five permanent members of the Security Council – the United States, United Kingdom, France, China, and Russia – in its campaign.

Trinidad and Tobago is the latest Caricom nation to claim a spot on the powerful UN body. The most recent previous holder from the regional bloc was St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which served the 2020–2021 term from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2021.

Jamaica’s Opposition spokesperson for agriculture and fisheries, Dr Dayton Campbell, is pushing the government to establish a permanent dedicated fund to deliver rapid relief to farmers and fishers whose livelihoods are damaged by natural disasters and extreme weather events. Dr Campbell, who also serves as the Member of Parliament for Westmoreland Eastern, laid out this proposal during a sectoral debate session in Jamaica’s House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Campbell emphasized that Jamaica can no longer rely on ad-hoc relief mechanisms created after disaster strikes. Too often in the past, disaster support for agricultural producers has only been assembled following major events like hurricanes, floods or droughts, requiring rushed cabinet approvals and dependent on last-minute budget reallocations from the Ministry of Finance. By the time emergency funding is approved, many small producers have already lost their entire livelihoods, he argued.

Instead of this reactive model, Campbell proposed a standing national disaster recovery fund that receives annual allocations through the regular national budget, keeping it ready for immediate activation whenever the agriculture or fisheries sectors are hit by a climate event or disaster. Jamaica has long known it faces consistent climate risks including hurricanes, prolonged droughts, severe flooding, landslides, storm surges and outbreak of livestock and crop diseases, he noted. It is irresponsible to continue responding to these predictable, recurring risks with improvised, last-minute systems, the opposition lawmaker added.

Given the critical role that agriculture and fisheries play in upholding Jamaica’s national food security, Campbell stressed that the government cannot afford to delay planning until after damage is already done. A proactive, rather than reactive, approach is needed, and a permanent fund will shift the country’s disaster response from chaotic reaction to structured readiness, he explained. With a pre-funded permanent mechanism in place, the government will be able to deliver timely support to affected producers without forcing them to wait months for special budget allocations, supplementary funding approvals or public emergency appeals.

To guarantee operational accountability and readiness, Campbell proposed that the fund’s activation be guided by clear, pre-defined eligibility and trigger criteria. For example, the fund would automatically be unlocked when a verified extreme event causes sector damage that exceeds a pre-set threshold, with damage confirmation provided by official bodies such as the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management or the relevant government ministry. Having clear protocols and damage thresholds in place will give agricultural and fisheries producers greater confidence that support will arrive quickly and predictably through a transparent, established system when disaster hits, Campbell said.

Outlining five core objectives for the fund, Campbell first called for it to provide targeted emergency grants to small-scale farmers and fishers that have verified losses. One-size-fits-all support is inadequate, he noted: a farmer losing grain crops faces a different set of losses than one losing livestock, irrigation infrastructure, greenhouses or farm buildings, just as a fisher losing traps has different needs than one losing an entire boat, engine or full set of fishing gear.

Second, the fund should cover the replacement of critical productive assets required for producers to restart their work. For farmers, this would include tools, irrigation systems, water storage tanks, fencing, greenhouse building materials, livestock housing, farm machinery, seeds, seedlings, fertilizer, animal feed and livestock medication. For fishers, covered assets would include boats, engines, nets, traps, required safety equipment, coolers, storage containers and all other gear needed to return to fishing safely and in compliance with national regulations.

Third, Campbell recommended the fund provide temporary livelihood support to producers whose incomes are fully disrupted by disaster, while the fourth core objective would be to support rapid replanting of crops and restocking of livestock to speed up the sector’s recovery. The fifth and final objective would be to subsidize affordable insurance products for small farmers and fishers, including parametric insurance coverage tailored to common climate risks like hurricanes, drought and excessive rainfall.

Campbell stressed that for the fund to deliver on its promises, it must be well-structured, fully transparent and earn the trust of the producers it is designed to serve. It must not become another vague, discretionary programme plagued by delays or political favoritism, he said. Instead, it must operate according to clear rules, public timelines and formal accountability frameworks. Eligibility criteria must be published publicly, so that all farmers and fishers can understand who qualifies for support, what types of losses are covered, what documentation is required to file a claim, and what forms of support are available to them. The public must also have clear information on whether assistance will come in the form of grants, subsidies, low-interest loans, or a mix of these options, with an application process that is simple, accessible and responsive to the needs of struggling producers, Campbell added.