Bus operators decide next move in latest battle with JUTC

Transport operators will today determine their response to what they claim is the Jamaica Urban Transit Company’s (JUTC) decision to remove coaster bus operators from its sub-franchise system come March 2015.

President of the Jamaica Association of Transport Operators and Owners (JATOO), Edgerton Newman, says operators were told of the JUTC’s decision at a meeting with the company last Thursday.

But he says the transport operators’ response to the JUTC’s move will be dependent on the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case filed by operators against the Government. The judgement is to be handed down today at 2 p.m.

Filed suits

The Rural Transit Company Limited had filed suits against the Transport Authority, the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), the Office of Utilities Regulations, the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney General.

The operators claimed, among other things, that the Transport Authority acted illegally when it barred rural operators from picking up passengers in the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region (KMTR). They are also challenging the decision of the JUTC to commandeer a section of the Mandela Highway for exclusive use by its buses.

In addition, they are contesting JUTC’s decision to discontinue the sub-franchise licences of some operators in reclaiming routes in the KMTR.

Newman says operators will be holding a meeting at the Caenwood Centre in Kingston today to discuss the JUTC’s decision that was announced on Thursday. He says JATOO will earnestly fight the decision, which will affect some 10 per cent of its membership.

According to Newman, operators who were granted sub-franchise licences were told that they would receive contracts for up to four years.

He says JATOO will be seeking the intervention of the Minister of Transport and Works Dr Omar Davies and Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.

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Bus operators decide next move in latest battle with JUTC

Court to decide if ... FEMALE COP STEALS BABY

Rasbert Turner, Star Writer

A policewoman who is alleged to have tried to register a baby that wasn’t her own as her biological child was granted bail in the sum of $150,000 when she appeared in the Spanish Town Resident Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

She is Andrea Bryan of the Harman Barracks in Kingston.

When the matter came up in the Spanish Town Resident Magistrate’s Court, attorney-at-law Churchill Neita successfully applied for bail.

He told the court that his client was not a flight-risk and had a fixed address.

Bail was subsequently granted on condition that she reappears in court on November 25,

Allegations are that in August of last year, the accused went to the Registrar General’s Department and applied for a birth certificate for a child.

She reportedly told attendants that she was the child’s biological mother and that the child was delivered at home.

Initial investigations by the RGD revealed that the child was not hers and that the biological mother had registered it earlier.

The matter was subsequently reported to the Central Village police.

An investigation was launched and a file compiled and sent the Director of Public Prosecutions.

A ruling was handed down that the accused be charged with child stealing and possession of forged documents.

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Court to decide if ... FEMALE COP STEALS BABY

Court to decide if ... MAN BREAKS COP"S FINGER AT AIRPORT

There was high drama at the Norman Manley International Airport recently, after a man allegedly broke a policeman’s finger because he did not want him to search his luggage.

Twenty-one-year-old Joel Bailey, of a Greater Portmore, St Catherine, address, was charged with assaulting the police, assault occasioning grievous bodily harm, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, along with abusive and calumnious language when he appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

It is alleged that on September 9, about 1:45 p.m., Bailey arrived at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, to board a COPA airline flight to Panama.

security checks

While the police were making their security checks, the accused was stopped, interviewed and a search was requested for his luggage.

According to reports, Bailey refused to observe the procedure and allegedly uttered, “yow mi nuh like police enuh. Unuh a …, unuh a sodomite, unuh think unuh can do me nuttin!”

He was then told by the lawman to desist the abusive language, however, he allegedly continued to be verbally abusive to the officer.

The officer then warned him about his behaviour, to which he reportedly approached the officer and at arms length, proceeded to point his finger in the officer’s face and allegedly said, “police bwoy, mi wi tump yuh inna yuh face.”

arresting him

Afterwards, the officer informed Bailey that he would be arresting him for the offences committed and attempted to arrest him, to which the accused allegedly used his right hand to hit the lawman on his ring finger, breaking it.

After injuring the policeman, Bailey reportedly began to behave in a boisterous and disorderly manner, and a crowd gathered shortly after.

Bailey was subsequently restrained and arrested with the assistance of other police officers and members of COPA Airlines and taken into custody.

Senior Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey ordered Bailey to surrender his travel documents, a stop order was also made. He is to return to court on October 2.

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Court to decide if ... MAN BREAKS COP"S FINGER AT AIRPORT

Court to decide if ... MAN BITES LOVER FOR CHEATING

A man, who allegedly bit his lover, after accusing her of being unfaithful to him during a fight, was hauled before the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.

Arden DaCosta is charged with unlawful wounding. He was fingerprinted.

The court heard that DaCosta picked up a woman in his motor vehicle with whom he shared a relationship. During the car ride, DaCosta accused her of having a relationship with another man.

An altercation ensued and DaCosta allegedly beat and bit her. During the scuffle inside the vehicle, she held on to the steering wheel and started to scream at a passing cop. She jumped from the vehicle and made a report to the police.

DaCosta was later nabbed and charged.

In court, the lawyer representing DaCosta asked Senior Resident Magistrate (RM) Georgiana Fraser for more time in the matter. since he was of the view that the complainant should be charged for injuring his client.

After having the matter stood down in the court, the RM told the lawyer that a charge against the complainant was not her concern at the moment.

The matter was subsequently set for mention on August 28.

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Court to decide if ... MAN BITES LOVER FOR CHEATING

JLP Standing Committee to decide delegates issue tomorow

TOMORROW night’s meeting of the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP)’s Standing Committee at Belmont Road, St Andrew, will mark the sternest test yet for the party since the hint of a challenge to its leader, Andrew Holness, became public last month.

The committee, which meets weekly to discuss internal, as well as external issues on which the party takes positions, will have to decide whether or not the 25 constituencies which failed to meet an extended deadline of May 15 for registration, should be able to send delegates to the conference in November, at which a leader might be chosen.Issues like these are not new to either of the two main political parties. In 2008, the appellate commission of the People’s National Party disbanded some 900 groups suspected of being “paper groups”, prior to the contest between Portia Simpson Miller and Dr Peter Phillips; and in 2012 barred non-paid-up members from participating as delegates, and relegated them to the role of observers.However, the passions generated by the current JLP campaign are characterised by emotional charges, such as a struggle for the soul of the party pitting the young guard against old guard, the grassroots against the elite and traditional politics against transformational leadership.Emotions have flowed over into demonstrations at Belmont Road, face-to-face clashes between senior representatives and behind-the-scene manipulations and gestures, as most party functionaries strain to keep their choices close to their chests until the last minute.In an effort to bring things under control and rev up the oversight mechanisms, Holness moved last Wednesday to get the Disputes Resolution Committee, chaired by Leslie Campbell, to start dealing with the verbal clashes, which the party felt were bringing it into disrepute; roll out the highly respected Electoral Commission, headed by tough attorney-at-law, George Soutar, and including Electoral Commission representative Senator Tom Tavares Finson and veteran parliamentarian Derrick Smith, to start the oversight process; and get the Legal and Constitution committee, headed by another attorney, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, agreed on a position regarding how to deal with the registration of delegates.It is expected that the Legal and Constitution committee will advise the Standing Committee tomorrow night to allow all 63 constituencies to choose delegates for the conference, based on normal criteria, including the number of votes polled by the candidate, as well as the margin of victory.This would be a victory for likely challenger Audley Shaw, as several MPs, including the controversial Everald Warmington (South West St Catherine), feel that only the constituencies registered by the extended deadline of May 15 should be allowed to select delegates. This would have excluded 25 constituencies, including Shaw’s North East Manchester.Inside sources told the Jamaica Observer that members of the Legal and Constitution Committee rejected an argument from Senator Johnson Smith that, although the term “registration of constituency” is used to refer to the procedure for registration under Rule 19 of the JLP’s constitution, the Constitution does not require registration of constituencies, per se.They also rejected Johnson Smith’s view that there are “no express consequences of the failure to comply with the rule, and in particular no indication that registration in accordance with Rule 19 should be a condition precedent to the accreditation of delegates”.Johnson Smith contended that the rules recognise branches, not the constituencies. But, despite rejecting these arguments, the committee felt that a reprieve should be granted to the illegitimate constituencies to participate in a poll for leadership.“We believe in the need for the registration, but we think that there is room for extending the period for registration to enable the (illegitimate) constituencies to be registered,” one member explained.However, there is still the fear that Warmington, who has been insistent that the constituencies and the deputy leaders must abide by party rules and constitution, may take the issue back to court if that advice prevails.Warmington, apparently, would have support from a number of older party stalwarts, including some passionate supporters of Holness, as well as members concerned about continued disregard for the constitution and the rules.The fact that Shaw, despite being one of the subjects of Warmington’s attempt last year at an injunction blocking him and two other deputy leaders from re-election for failing to observe the requirement for their nomination 30 days before the conference, only registered his constituency on July 22, has made matters worse.In addition, some Standing Committee members are suggesting that if the PNP could have removed over 900 groups from its formal list in 2008, and ban non-financial delegates from participating in last year’s conference, why shouldn’t the JLP ban constituencies consistently failing to observe the rules?However, JLP general secretary Dr Horace Chang believes that the Standing Committee will favour whatever advice is given by the Legal and Constitution Committee Monday night, as is the norm.As Chang told the Sunday Observer on Thursday, “it was highly irresponsible for the constituencies not to register within the deadline, but it would raise a question of the legitimacy of the process if so many constituencies were excluded”.CHANG … highly irresponsible of the constituencies not to register on time

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JLP Standing Committee to decide delegates issue tomorow

Default on your credit card — banks will decide if they will lend you money again

Dear Claudienne

I had defaulted on two credit cards while I was in Jamaica.I am now living overseas and would like to know what my options are at this time and how unsecured loans are treated under the law in Jamaica.HRDear HRAccording to the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ), loan application reviews and decisions are at the discretion of the companies offering such services. The companies offering such services would perform their own risk assessment and make a determination on applications.In regards to unsecured loans, the BOJ advised Tell Claudienne that provisions in the Banking Act relate to maximum transaction limits. The BOJ said:“These limits, which are expressed as a percentage of the commercial banks’ capital base, restrict the amounts that a commercial bank may lend on an unsecured basis to certain categories of customers. For example, unsecured loans are prohibited in respect of “connected persons” (as defined in the Act) and restricted to an amount equivalent to one year’s salary in the case of bank employees. [Refer Section 13(1)(d) of the Banking Act]In terms of unconnected people, maximum limits are in place in relation to credits to a single customer (5 per cent of capital base) and group of related customers (10 per cent of capital base). [Refer Section 13(1)(f) of the Banking Act] Banks would nonetheless establish their own internal limits based on their risk assessments.”We asked the BOJ if the regulations pertaining to credit bureaus were now in force.BOJ said that the Credit Reporting Act was passed in August 2010 and took effect in October 2010.BOJ said that The Credit Reporting Regulations which serve to operationalise the Act were approved and gazetted in January 2011 and are currently in force.BOJ said that to date, the Minister of Finance has issued two licences under the Credit Reporting Act. The licences have been issued to Creditinfo Jamaica Limited – (issued March 7, 2012) and to CRIF NM Credit Assure Limited — (issued April 10, 2012) .Good luck.Dear Claudienne,I have been trying to receive Provident Fund retirement benefits from the Ministry of Finance for the past five years without success.I worked for 12 years with the Jamaica Library Service from 1964 to 1976 during which time I contributed to the Provident Fund Scheme. In 1976 when I resigned to take up a position at Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College I was informed by an officer at the Accountant General’s Department that because I was continuing in the Government Service the employer’s contribution could not be given to me. I was refunded my contribution. I concluded that the officer expected that my service would be linked and I would therefore be compensated for those 12 years. On retirement from the Ministry of Education (Sam Sharpe) in 2006, I requested that my service be linked but was told that that was not possible. I therefore received pension based on the years I worked at Sam Sharpe. I subsequently requested to receive my Provident Fund Pension benefits for the period that I worked with the Jamaica Library Service, but despite several letters, visits and telephone calls to the Pensions Department of the Ministry of Finance, all I am being told is that they can’t find the Provident Fund File. On one occasion some years ago when I called, the officer actually had the file and was able to verify that I did not receive the employer’s contribution. I should point out that I have never received a written response to any of my letters.It is my view that it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance to locate the file or find alternative means of dealing with the matter, but no one seems to care.I am asking you to take up this matter for me.CDDear CDThe Pensions Department of the Ministry of Finance has advised us that the Provident Fund became defunct in 1988. At that time those persons who had contributed to the fund were advised that it was being wound up and a number of contributors applied for a refund and got back their money. Other people were made pensionable. You were apparently one of about ten people who were not aware of the fund’s closure and did not apply at that time for your period of work in the library service to be linked to your work at the teachers’ college.There now appears to be little hope of your getting a refund as the ministry said that there is no provision for this. They said that your case is being researched in the archives, but there is only a very slim chance that the records will be found after such a long time to verify your contributions to this fund. We will continue to check with them, however.Good luckHave a problem with a store, utility, a company: telephone 936-9436 or write to: Tell Claudienne c/o Sunday Finance, Jamaica Observer, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5; or e-mail: edwardsc@jamaicaobserver.com. Please include a contact phone number.

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Default on your credit card — banks will decide if they will lend you money again