Caribbean News
JAMAICA: Five charities receive $3.2 Million from Kingston City Run
#Kingston, November 19, 2019 – Jamaica – Five charities catering to homeless and marginalised persons across the Corporate Area have received donations totalling $3.2 million from the organisers of the annual Kingston City Run and Marathon. The amount represents the proceeds from this year’s staging of the event in March.
Cheques valued at $640,000 each were handed over to the Marie Atkins Night Shelter, Open Arms Development Centre, Alpha Institute, Food For the Poor, and Missionaries of the Poor, during a ceremony at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston on Wednesday (November 13), where the 2020 renewal of the Marathon and City Run was launched.
Speaking at the ceremony, road race Co-Founder and Co-Chair, Nicola Madden-Greig, said the organising committee is “very excited to be able to present these funds”, noting that the recipients have been the beneficiary charities since the event’s inception in 2013.
“We selected those charities because [they] have worked over the years to definitely help those who are most disenfranchised, especially the homeless, which is a very special effort for us as the committee members,” Mrs. Madden-Greig said.
She thanked “all our sponsors, partners and participants… all the persons who ran and walked the races… because, with their support, we were able to garner these funds”.
Chief Executive Officer for the Kingston and St. Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC), which oversees the management of the Marie Atkins Night Shelter, Robert Hill, expressed gratitude for the support. He said the donations over the years have facilitated, among other things, the construction of recently completed walk-in shower facilities at the shelter “which are absolutely essential to serving our homeless population”.
He said that support provided through initiatives like the Kingston City Run and Marathon, are welcome interventions.
More than $21 million has been raised for beneficiary charities from the Kingston City Run and Marathon over the past seven years. The 2020 staging of the event is slated for the weekend of March 13 to 15.
The Kingston City Run and Marathon, which initially comprised a half marathon, and a 5K and 10K run/walk, was expanded to include a marathon this year.
Contact: Douglas McIntosh
Release: JIS
Header: Co-Chair Kingston City Run and Marathon, Christopher Jarrett (left), shakes hands with Development Officer for the Sisters of Mercy/Alpha Institute, Charles Arumaiselvam (right), after presenting him with a cheque in the sum of $640,000, representing part proceeds from this year’s staging of the event. The presentation was made during a ceremony on Wednesday (November 13), at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston, where the event’s 2020 renewal was launched. Looking on (from second left) are Administrator at the Open Arms Development Centre, which also benefited from funds, Yvonne Grant; and Kingston City Run and Marathon Co-Chair and Co-Founder, Nicola Madden-Greig.
Insert: Kingston City Run and Marathon Co-Chair, Christopher Jarrett (left), and Co-Chair and Co-Founder, Nicola Madden Greig (right) present a cheque in the sum of $640,000 to Administrator of the Marie Atkins Night Shelter, Mavis Farquharson, during a ceremony at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston on November 13. The sum represents part of proceeds from this year’s staging of the event.
Michael Sloley Photos
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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