Caribbean News
JAMAICA: Hazard Primary to Benefit From Road Improvement to Protect Children
#Kingston, October 20, 2018 – Jamaica – Students of Hazard Primary School in Clarendon will shortly benefit from road improvement, under the Jamaica National (JN) Foundation ‘X Marks the Spot’ Road Safety Campaign. These include a pedestrian crossing, bus lay-by and 
sidewalks to ensure the safety of children at the school. The campaign was developed based on the findings of a report commissioned by the JN Foundation, which found that child pedestrians represent the most vulnerable group of road users.
Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, and Member of Parliament for Central Clarendon, Hon. Mike Henry, said the improvements being made to the school are critical. The Minister was speaking to JIS News following a briefing with stakeholders involved in the campaign, at the Office of the Prime Minister in Kingston, on October 17. He noted that it takes into consideration the protection of the disabled community and prevents the haphazard setting down and picking up of students at the school.
“The students will more than benefit. What was there was a hodgepodge of the way things were not supposed to be done. [People] would drop off anywhere, pick up anywhere and cross anywhere. So, this is a step in the right direction in the continuity of development,” he said.
Implemented in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and UK-registered charity, the FIA Foundation and other partners, the campaign is expected to last for approximately three years. It will include approximately 18 schools in total, which will likely benefit from the same interventions as Hazard Primary or based on needs. It will be funded at a cost of approximately $135 million.
Quality Education Specialist with UNICEF, Dr. Rebecca Tortello Greenland, said as part of the implementation of the project at Hazard Primary, consultations were held with students, teachers and the community. She said once completed, the school’s safety ratings will improve significantly.
Meanwhile, JN Foundation Grants Manager, Rose Miller, said Hazard Primary School was chosen, because “we believed we could make a tremendous impact there because of the safety measures implemented”.
She said that the JN Foundation likes to align itself to programmes that “seek to bring a resolution” to certain challenges, and the road-safety campaign is one that does.
“We want to empower both motorist and pedestrian to raise the awareness of children to use the corridors correctly. We believe that will assist with many of the challenges we face on our roads,” she said.
Mrs. Miller indicated that in a previous study conducted on domestic violence and road safety, it was identified that the cost of care totalled millions of dollars and had a negative effect on the country.
“If we were able to use the roads better, then we would not have so many crashes, and we would not be spending all of this money to take care of persons who have had accidents,” she said.
Release: JIS
Contact: Chad Bryan
Photo Caption: Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, Hon. Mike Henry (at head of table), speaks at a briefing with stakeholders about road improvement works to be done at Hazard Primary School in Clarendon, at the Office of the Prime Minister on October 17. Listening (from left) are JN Foundation Road Safety Coordinator, Yanique Brent-Harris; United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Quality Education Specialist, Dr. Rebecca Tortello Greenland; JN Foundation Partnership and Development Manager, Shauna-Kaye Rowe; Constituency Executive, Daphne Taylor; and Councillor of the May Pen East Division, Kenneth Davis.
Yhomo Hutchinson photo
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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