Caribbean News
63 New CNG Buses Arrive
KINGSTON, June 19 (JIS): The Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) fleet has been boosted with the arrival of 63 new compressed natural gas (CNG) buses.
Minister of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport, Hon. Daryl Vaz, and a team consisting of JUTC Managing Director, Owen
Ellington, and Managing Director of Stewart’s Automotive Group, Duncan Stewart, were on site at Kingston Wharves on Thursday (June 19), to witness the arrival of the Yutong buses.
The Minister noted that arrival of the buses is a fulfilment of his commitment to provide the JUTC with 100 buses per year for three years.
“We are now in year two and already the second hundred buses are due to arrive in Jamaica. Sixty-three buses arrived today and are being unloaded. Another thirty coach diesel buses for excursions/charters will arrive on July 9 and another seven CNG buses for [persons with disabilities] will arrive in August of 2025. So, I will deliver on the second hundred buses within the first three months of the new financial year,” Mr. Vaz outlined.
He pointed out that with the latest arrival of buses, the JUTC now has more new buses in its fleet than older ones.
Mr. Vaz said the new CNG buses will operate out of the Spanish Town depot, where a new CNG fueling facility is now under construction
and expected to be completed by the last week of August.
“Those buses that are now at Spanish Town will be redeployed in some instances to improve the existing service and to continue to expand the routes. So, this is a game changer for public transport in Jamaica,” the Minister said.
He noted that the JUTC has been seeing fewer complaints in recent months and commended the JUTC management for providing improved service to citizens.
Mr. Vaz pointed out that the new buses will positively contribute to service delivery, as they will reduce wait times on critical routes.
Each bus has a full capacity of up to 80 passengers distributed between seated and standing.
The Minister explained that the buses will do an average of six trips per day each, transporting at maximum capacity a total of 480
passengers per bus per day.
This means the full cohort of 70 CNG buses (the remaining seven are to arrive in August) will be able to transport 33,600 passengers per day. “That is going to improve existing routes, expand routes, and most importantly, bring the wait time for passengers down,” Mr. Vaz affirmed.
In his remarks, Mr. Ellington advised that information regarding the routes that the new buses will be placed on is to be put in the public domain shortly, so commuters can begin to anticipate the increased seats on their routes.
“We have done some service planning ahead of the arrival of these buses, so we know the routes that are currently underserved and require additional seats,” the Managing Director said.
He noted that the new CNG buses bring the JUTC’s operable fleet to approximately 350 units.
The new buses were procured by the Ministry, through the Stewart’s Automotive Group. The dealership’s Managing Director emphasised that the state-of-the-art 12-metre 51-seat CNG buses will deliver superior service to the commuting public.
“Some of the highlights of the buses are that we have more space in the bus, so the leg room and shoulder room in the bus is superior; the bus is equipped with air suspension, so it is very comfortable even on our roads and we have superior fuel economy, and this is very important for JUTC’s operations,” Mr. Stewart explained.
The buses are also equipped with air suspension, allowing them to lower for passengers to board, and charging ports for mobile devices.
CONTACT: DONIQUE WESTON
PHOTO CAPTIONS:
Photos by Adrian Walker.
Header: Minister of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport, Hon. Daryl Vaz (second right), inspects a shipment of CNG buses at Kingston Wharves on Thursday (June 19). He is accompanied by (from left) Managing Director of Stewart’s Automotive Group, Duncan Stewart; Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) Managing Director, Owen Ellington; JUTC Director of Operations, Romain-Khade Gayle and General Manager for Terminal Operations at Kingston Wharves, Ryan Peart. A total of 63 buses arrived and will be handed over to the JUTC to boost its fleet.
1st insert: Minister of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport, Hon. Daryl Vaz (right), poses with one of the new CNG buses that arrived at Kingston Wharves on Thursday (June 19). He is joined in the photo by Managing Director of Stewart’s Automotive Group, Duncan Stewart (left) and Managing Director of Stewart’s Auto Sales Ltd., Jackie Stewart Lechler. A total of 63 buses arrived and they will be handed over to the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) to boost its fleet.
2nd insert: One of the 63 new CNG buses procured for the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) is offloaded at Kingston Wharves on Thursday (June 19).
3rd insert: Minister of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport, Hon. Daryl Vaz, gives his approval after touring one of the 63 new CNG buses that arrived at Kingston Wharves on Thursday (June 19). The buses will be handed over to the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC).
4th insert: Minister of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport, Hon. Daryl Vaz, inspects a shipment of CNG buses that arrived at Kingston Wharves on Thursday (June 19). The 63 buses will be handed over to the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), to boost its fleet.
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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