Caribbean News
EAT JAMAICAN GLOBAL CAMPAIGN TO BE EXPANDED
Kingston, Jamaica, November 30, 2024 – The ‘Eat Jamaican Global Campaign’ is to be expanded into targeted markets within the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom (UK), as the Government seeks to promote the consumption of authentic Jamaican food produce worldwide.
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green told JIS News at the Eat Jamaican Month Cook Off and Farmers Market held on Friday (November 29) at the Ministry’s Hope Complex in Kingston, that the global campaign commenced this month in Florida.
“We had our first outing on this global campaign in South Florida…The plan now is to go into the other areas during the course of the year… [up to] Eat Jamaican 2025. We will be going to New York, Canada and the United Kingdon,” he said.
“Eat Jamaican Month is celebrated annually every November. Eat Jamaica Day is celebrated on the 25th of November. What we decided to do this year is to take the show on the road, and largely target our main diaspora centres to achieve a number of things,” added.
Minister Green said while the campaign promotes the consumption of Jamaican products, it will also include a public education component, to assist the diaspora in identifying authentic Jamaican produce.
“It is important that we continue to push Eat Jamaican because one of our priorities is to drive exports and the best way to drive exports is to ensure that the diaspora is supporting the items that you are growing here locally. We continue to push that message,” the Minister stated.
“One of the challenges that we do have abroad is that manufacturers claim to be Jamaican products because ours command a higher price and have a better flavour profile, and we need our diaspora members to be able to identify and differentiate our products,” Mr. Green stated.
He stated that the Ministry will be working with the Consuls “to go into those spaces that carry authentic Jamaican items, and those restaurants that use authentic Jamaican products and publish those. We are putting together a database with that information”.
Another element of the ‘Eat Jamaican Global Campaign’ is to encourage the diaspora to invest in Jamaica.
“We are seeing good uptake not just from the Caribbean diaspora, but also the African diaspora… The best way to promote eating Jamaican is growing Jamaican, so we need to see more diaspora members investing in the sector especially, as we continue to build out new agro-parks and see other emerging opportunities. The diaspora in the United States and the UK are well positioned to invest in agriculture,” he said.
Minister Green also urged interested members to contact the Ministry for guidance on investment opportunities in the sector.
The ‘Eat Jamaican Global Campaign’ was launched in June at the 10th Biennial Jamaica Diaspora Conference held in St. James.
CONTACT: ROCHELLE WILLIAMS
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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