Caribbean News
JAMAICA: Nutrition and Medical Support During Pregnancy Critical says Senator Reid
#Montego Bay, October 26, 2018 – Jamaica – Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, has highlighted the importance of access to proper nutrition and medical care for expectant mothers in ensuring the healthy development of children.
He informed that officials from the Ministries of Education, and Labour and Social Security have been engaged in dialogue aimed at providing nutritional support for pregnant women.
“We have to support those mothers, who themselves need good nutrition. We have to ensure that once you get pregnant you have to get certain medicinal services,” he said.
He was speaking at the opening of the Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College Diagnostic and Early Intervention Centre in Granville, St. James, on October 23.
Minister Reid cited Cuba as a good example of a country that has made the link between the need to give support to pregnant mothers, so as to increase the chances of having healthy babies.
“Cuba has done that very well. There, every parent gets good support from the State… to ensure that they get good nutritional support, so that, on average, children are born healthy,” he pointed out.
Senator Reid hailed the opening of the diagnostic and early-intervention centre, noting that it will provide early detection and treatment for children with special needs.
Mr. Reid cited a 2004 report, which showed that as high as 24 per cent of Jamaican children had serious intellectual and cognitive deficiencies.
“There is also a study that shows that one in every 42 of our boys is autistic… and one in every 167 of our girls is autistic… between mild and severe,” he noted.
The Minister further hailed the country’s special needs teachers, noting that “the nation owes them a debt of gratitude”.
“People who go into the teaching profession… all the great teachers we have in this country… they don’t go into it f
or the money,” Senator Reid pointed out.
“They go in it for the love. We know it takes cash to care, and we will continue to do everything to ensure our teachers are among the best paid professionals in this country,” he added.
Ground was broken on April 5, 2017 for the construction of the Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College Diagnostic and Early Intervention Centre through partnership with the Ministry’s Programme for the Advancement of Childhood Education (PACE) and Food For the Poor, Jamaica.
The centre, through the Ministry, will identify children with learning challenges and employ the best intervention strategies for each child.
Release: JIS
Contact: Garwin Davis
Photo Caption: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, speaking at the opening of the Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College Diagnostic and Early Intervention Centre in Granville, St. James, on October 23.
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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