Caribbean News
Transactions Made Easier With Digital Payment Wallet
#Kingston, April 15, 2022 – Access to, and use of financial services will be made easier with the use of the digital payment wallet, Lynk.
Digital payment wallets are the platforms used to facilitate transactions of the Bank of Jamaica’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
The CBDC is a digital form of central bank-issued currency and is legal tender that can be exchanged dollar for dollar with physical cash. Jamaica’s CBDC is called Jam-Dex, which stands for Jamaica Digital Exchange.
Lynk is currently the only approved wallet provider of the BOJ’s CBDC and is available through the National Commercial Bank (NCB).
Chief Executive Officer of TFOB (2021) Limited, a subsidiary of NCB Financial Group Limited, Vernon James, said Lynk is just like using regular cash, except it is in a digital form.
“Lynk will be everywhere, it’s easy to use, you’ll be able to use it in all the ways you use money now, except you don’t need to go to get it. You don’t have to go and get cash; you can just use it. It’s contactless, phone mostly…” Mr. James
said.
He noted that the company has done its due diligence to ensure that the platform is safe.
“Lynk is as safe as any other electronic platform, but in particular, the very best. What you would expect from an NCB platform in terms of safety and security, you will get that with Lynk. We built the platform to be simple, easy to use. I’m going to go a little further, it’s going to be a joy for you to use; we want you to enjoy the process of doing your transfers and making your payments,” Mr. James added.
He pointed out that Lynk is built on three platforms, safety and security, ease of use and a simple onboarding process. Onboarding refers to the process of familiarising a new customer or client with the products or services of an organisation.
“Lynk is easy to onboard. It’s a digital onboarding process, you don’t need a bank account; it takes five minutes to onboard and create an account with Lynk. We use QR codes primarily, so you’ll be able to make your transfers instantly using your QR code. It’s as easy as sending a text message. No need for cash, no need to join lines, just transfer electronically and that is the future of business,” Mr. James said.
To use Lynk, persons will need to download the Lynk app to their smart phone. The next step is to verify your identity with a Government-issued identification card. This is then followed by the last two steps, which is to connect your bank and deposit your money into your Lynk account. Then you can send and receive money with Lynk.
During the recent Budget Debate, Finance Minister, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, demonstrated in Parliament how he could pay his barber using Jam-Dex on the Lynk platform.
Mr. James noted that Lynk will partner with merchants across Jamaica so that persons can pay for services.
“Regardless of which merchants, you should be able to go and use your CBDC. Now that’s a big benefit. Because instead of using cash, you can transfer your CBDC payments to these merchants seamlessly,” he added.
Mr. James said that another added benefit of Lynk, is that persons will be able to move from Jam-Dex to cash.
“Although we want to move away from cash, you’ll be able to go from CBDC to cash easily at any of our ATMs, and from cash to CBDC easily. But if you do need cash, you can easily cash in and out at any one of our ATMs,” Mr. James told JIS News.
A key milestone to be accomplished by Bank of Jamaica and the Government during the first quarter of the financial year is to bring legislation to Parliament to facilitate Bank of Jamaica being the sole issuer of Jam-Dex and for it to be recognised as legal tender.
The BOJ expects to add four more wallet providers by June.
CONTACT: Lisa Rowe
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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