Caribbean News
JAMAICA: JISCO/Alpart giving back to communities
#Montego Bay, November 1, 2018 – Jamaica – The Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company (JISCO)/Alpart bauxite company, located in Nain, St. Elizabeth, is giving back to the various communities in which it operates.
Public Relations Officer, Julian Keane, tells JIS News that the company supports more than 70 districts in St. Elizabeth and Manchester through education, sports, healthcare, agriculture, and general community development.
“We have our mining operations that go through various communities – our conveyor system that takes the bauxite to the refinery here (in Nain)… our rail line and our port, so that’s why we are heavily involved in community development,” Mr. Keane notes.
He says the company believes that it is important to give back, which is why it undertakes programmes that benefit the communities in which its operations are located.
“It [community development programme] is basically a continuation of what we did in the past… . Since JISCO/Alpart took over in (June 2017), we have continued with a number of community programmes, and we have expanded them,” he notes.
In highlighting the support, he informs that some 1,800 students at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels benefited from over $13 million in scholarships for the new academic year in September.
The assistance was provided through the two community councils – Alpart Community Council (ACC), which serves St. Elizabeth; and the Manchester Plateau Community Council.
In addition to the back-to-school assistance, Mr. Keane says that the plant “continues to work with over 40 primary schools that are involved in our safety programmes. We have schools also participating in sporting activities and quiz competitions, and we also give assistance to farmers in our area”.
Mr. Keane says that opportunity is also provided for semi-skilled and unskilled persons to gain employment.
“Apart from the over 700 direct employees, we have approximately 500 persons from the communities, who are rotated through a programme [led by the] Essex Valley Community and Associates (EVCA) via the Alpart Community Council. What that does is, it provides employment for persons in the direct operating areas, and the profit that the community council gets from that is channeled back into community projects,” Mr. Keane explained.
Sewage plant operator at JISCO/Alpart, Monaire Maitland, who is a beneficiary of the programme, says “it is good working here”.
“You learn a lot of things… even plumbing, and other skills. By moving around with persons here with those skill sets, you learn a lot. I would love to [work] here for a lifetime. You can work here and make a life; (the company) is like a university,” he expresses.
Mr. Maitland also lauds the company’s work atmosphere, stating that “coworkers encourage you while you are working, and look out for each other.” Mr. Maitland also highlighted the company’s strict safety guidelines, which he says he finds admirable.
Small business personnel, who operate within the vicinity of the JISCO/Alpart head office in Nain also praise the company as they have seen increased profits since the reopening last year.
Higgler, Tashee French, who has been selling in close proximity to the office for the past five years, said “Alpart (reopening) has helped me a lot because sales, as well as our children’s attendance to school, have improved. Before (they reopened) sales and everything was very slow”.
Meanwhile, Mr. Keane also tells JIS News that the company will be expanding its production capacity as it looks 
to move to two million tons of alumina in the near future.
“We are also looking at moving from heavy fuel oil to liquefied natural gas in terms of the energy that will drive the operations here at JISCO/Alpart,” he says.
The company will also expand its shipping port in order to accommodate larger vessels, which will take alumina to other countries.
“Right now, we can only accommodate up to 35,000 tons in terms of vessels, and we are looking to increase that,” Mr. Keane explains.
JISCO also plans to invest billions to develop the Jamaica-Gansu Industrial Park and Special Economic Zone, which is expected to, among other things, generate tens of thousands of jobs for Jamaican.
The reopening of JISCO/Alpart in 2017 has contributed to an upturn in the bauxite industry, with 15 per cent growth recorded in the mining sector for the October to December 2017 quarter.
Release: JIS
By: Serena Grant
Photo Captions:
Header: A section of the Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company (JISCO)/Alpart Jamaica plant in Nain, St. Elizabeth.
Insert: Public Relations Officer of Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company (JISCO)/Alpart Jamaica, Julian Keane.
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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