Caribbean News
Gov’t committed to Food Safety
#Jamaica, September 9, 2017 – Kingston – Chief Technical Director in the Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Ministry, Dermon Spence, says the Government is committed to ensuring that Jamaicans have access to safe foods.
He said focus is being placed on strengthening policy, institutional and regulatory frameworks and providing technical support for food producers in meeting global safety standards through the implementation and maintenance of food-safety quality-management systems.
Mr. Spence noted that the management programmes, which include the Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs), Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), are germane to ensuring food security and boosting trade. He was speaking at the closing ceremony of the Chile Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) Cooperation Project at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in Kingston on September 6.
The technical cooperation initiative is geared towards the strengthening of the National Codex structure in countries such as Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia and Suriname. It is focused on the establishment of a sound National Codex Committee that will assist countries to improve participation as well as their ability to discuss topics of interest for the subregion at the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC).
The international standard-setting body, with more than 180 members, is responsible for a collection of globally adopted standards, guidelines, codes of practice and other recommendations relating to food production and food safety, known as Codex Alimentarius.
The CAC was formed within the framework of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)/World Health Organization (WHO) to promote the health and safety of consumers and ensure fairness in the food trade.
Mr. Spence, who represented Portfolio Minister, Hon. Karl Samuda, at the function, noted that Jamaica has benefited tremendously from the project funded by the Governments of Chile and the United States. He highlighted, among other things, the production of an approved National Codex Procedural Manual and a Codex Strategic Plan.
The manual sets out the basic rules of procedure, the process for elaboration of Codex standards and related texts, and basic definitions and guidelines for the operation of Codex committees. It is particularly useful for national delegations participating in Codex meetings and for international organisations attending as observers. The strategic plan incorporates a list of programme areas and planned activities with a clearly defined timetable.
Executive Secretary of the Chilean Food Safety and Quality Agency (ACHIPIA), Dr. Michel Leporati, said that throughout the world, an increasing number of consumers and governments are becoming aware of food quality and safety issues.
“Consumers are now demanding that their governments take action to ensure that foods are of acceptable quality and that the risks of food-borne diseases are minimised,” he noted.
Mr. Leporati said it is important to ensure that the food needs of countries are taken into consideration in the approval of food-related standards. He pledged that Chile, as the Coordinator of the Codex Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean (CCLAC), will be working with countries to address food-safety challenges.
Release: JIS
By Deandrea Hamilton | Magnetic Media
October 14, 2025 – It’s being called political theatre — but for citizens, constitutional watchdogs, and democracy advocates across the Caribbean, it feels far more serious. Within a single week, two national parliaments — in Trinidad and Tobago and St. Kitts and Nevis — descended into turmoil as opposition members stormed out in protest, accusing their Speakers of bias, overreach, and abuse of parliamentary procedure.
For observers, the walkouts signal a deeper problem: erosion of trust in the very institutions meant to safeguard democracy. When Speakers are viewed as political enforcers instead of neutral referees, parliaments stop functioning as chambers of debate and start performing as stages for power and spectacle — with citizens left wondering who, if anyone, is still accountable.
October 6: St. Kitts Parliament Erupts
The first walkout erupted in Basseterre on October 6, 2025, when Dr. Timothy Harris, former Prime Minister and now Opposition Leader,
led his team out of the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly in a protest that stunned the chamber.
The flashpoint came as the Speaker moved to approve more than three years’ worth of unratified parliamentary minutes in one sitting — covering 27 meetings and three national budgets — without individual review or debate.
Dr. Harris called the move “a flagrant breach of the Constitution and parliamentary tradition,” warning that the practice undermines transparency and accountability. “No serious parliament can go years without approving a single set of minutes,” he said after exiting the chamber.
The Speaker defended the decision as administrative housekeeping, but critics were unconvinced, branding the move a “world record disgrace.” The opposition’s walkout triggered renewed calls for the Speaker’s resignation and sparked a wider public discussion about record-keeping, accountability, and respect for parliamentary norms in St. Kitts and Nevis.
October 10: Trinidad Opposition Follows Suit
Four days later, on October 10, 2025, the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) in Trinidad and Tobago staged its own walkout from the House of Representatives in Port of Spain.
The UNC accused the Speaker of partisan bias, claiming she had repeatedly blocked urgent questions, ignored points of order, and allowed government members to breach standing orders without consequence.
“The Speaker has failed in her duty to act impartially,” the Opposition declared in a statement. “Parliament is not the property of any political party or Presiding Officer.”
The dramatic exit was seen as a culmination of months of rising tension and frustration, with opposition MPs arguing that parliamentary rules were being selectively applied to silence dissenting voices.
Political analyst Dr. Marcia Ferdinand described the twin walkouts as “a warning sign that parliamentary democracy in the Caribbean is teetering on the edge of performative politics.”
“When chairs become political shields rather than constitutional referees,” she said, “democracy becomes theatre, not governance.”
A Pattern Emerging
While St. Kitts and Trinidad are very different political environments, both incidents point to the same regional fault line: the perception that Speakers — the guardians of parliamentary order — are no longer impartial.
In Westminster-style systems like those across the Caribbean, the Speaker’s authority depends not on power but on public confidence in fairness. Once that credibility erodes, parliamentary control collapses into confrontation.
Governance experts say the implications are serious: eroded trust between government and opposition, declining public confidence in state institutions, and growing voter cynicism that “rules” are flexible tools of political advantage.
Why It Matters
Parliamentary walkouts are not new in the Caribbean, but what makes these recent events different is their frequency and intensity — and
the regional echo they’ve created. Social media has amplified images of lawmakers storming out, with citizens from Barbados to Belize questioning whether the same erosion of decorum could be happening in their own legislatures.
Analysts warn that if this perception takes hold, it risks diminishing the moral authority of parliamentary democracy itself.
“Once opposition MPs believe the rules are rigged, and once citizens believe Parliament is just performance,” said one Caribbean governance researcher, “you’ve lost the most valuable currency in democracy — trust.”
Restoring Balance
Political reformers across the region are calling for tighter Standing Order enforcement, independent parliamentary service commissions, and training to strengthen Speaker neutrality. Civil society leaders say the public must also play its part by demanding transparency and refusing to normalize partisan manipulation of parliamentary procedure.
Whether these twin walkouts become catalysts for reform — or simply another episode of Caribbean political theatre — will depend on what happens next inside those chambers.
For now, democracy watchers agree on one thing: when opposition leaders feel the only way to be heard is to walk out, the entire democratic house — not just its Speaker — is in danger of collapse.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
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