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Never be surprised when you hear that not only was there a motor vehicle crash along Red Hills Road in the vicinity of St Richard’s Primary School, but that someone died as a result of the dangerous, careless and reckless driving by a taxi driver.

Most mornings of the week, maybe every morning as long as schools are in operation, there is a common practice by taxi drivers to use sections of the two-way thoroughfare as a one-way speed zone.

The nonsense speeds up near the entrance of popular wholesale store PriceSmart, coming from the Meadowbrook and Havendale communities and heading toward Half-Way-Tree. That pace steps up a notch, when they should be slowing down, as they approach St Richard’s Primary School on the left, and breeze past the school crossing as if there is no legitimacy in having one there.

Funnily, there was a head-on crash at that spot involving a taxi, and a motorist exiting St Richard’s last year, with both vehicles written off the books by insurance companies. Luckily, there were no fatalities.

There was a time when police personnel from Constant Spring Police Station would gather at the location and give an eye on the behaviour of the drivers, but nowadays, except for at the start of a new school year, that does not happen.

And it’s very simple, if the taxi drivers know that even one uniformed member of the constabulary is on the spot, they would not dare endanger the lives of people, especially the hundreds of children who attend St Richard’s, and their teachers. At one time, there was a full-of-himself sergeant, based at Constant Spring, who always operated like he had changed his name by deed poll to Dr Kevin Blake … he was more there, on the mornings that he turned up, to powder his nose, push up his chest and insist that his subordinates keep things under control. But he, and the others, later vanished and now things are in disarray again.

All it takes to prevent a certain tragedy is for the police at Constant Spring to put away their phones in their offices, thus postponing the watching of those Nigerian tales on TikTok showing women faking pregnancies, or spiking their husbands’ drinks, and head down to St Richard’s in the mornings to take up positions between 6:15 and 9:00. 

Their mission would be two-fold – to use their presence to deter the loose drivers from overtaking and forcing drivers coming from the opposite end to run off the road sometimes; and not just to write up tickets for offenders, but to charge them, and lock them up until they come to their senses, even if it takes two years for that to happen.

My friend Dr Paul Wright has been bawling out for the police to get serious about the behaviour of taxi drivers along Red Hills Road, and save for a few who gather near to, or opposite Calabar’s gate, there is no other presence along that roadway. No one has heard him.

There is a very bright man, a rather nice fellow who heads the Traffic Department of the Jamaica Constabulary, Dr Gary McKenzie. Now, he needs to step from behind the boardroom, and advance a more practical approach to doing business.

Jamaica has surrendered a large part of the road to rouge drivers. They cannot be allowed to take away all of it.

Those tax hikes

Strange in some ways, it seems, that the Government decided to rely on more revenue from the tax window to prop up the 2026-2027 fiscal budget.

There is no problem on my part with additional taxes being applied to cigarettes, largely because of the danger that the commodity poses to mankind and the need to price it put of the reach of smokers, although that will not work for some. 

I mean no disrespect to all my friends who have agreed a Memorandum of Understanding with the tobacco industry, as I am sure, for example, that my schoolmate from Kingston College days, and bona fide friend for life, William ‘Lu Lu’ Lewis, who lives in the United States, would agree; nor would the sprightly Earl Witter Esq, object to either. It’s just that smoking is the kind of assassin whom you wouldn’t expect to have breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper with for life.

There is mention of a digital services tax, on what? Nobody seems to know, and there has still not been a clear explanation, which is not a good look, as there is no need for anyone to speculate.

As it regards tax on sugary drinks, there are mixed feelings here. In Jamaica, eating healthy is an expensive activity, which is sad, as the capacity exists for there to be a solid path for boosting the agricultural and agro-processing sector that can redound to the benefit of all. The thousands of pounds of mangoes, Otaheite apples and other fruits that are wasted annually, with limited options for processing, puts the country to shame. There is only talk, but no substance behind it.

So, with natural fruit juices, some imported, costing much more than artificial drinks, the parents and children will, naturally, go after the cheaper option, without thinking of sugar content. That is where Jamaica is at now.

As an occasional consumer of liquor, there is mixed feelings again about increased taxes. But, with alcohol consumption on the rise, and party promoters, night club operators and other drinking outlets offering liquor that sometimes compares with mortgage rates, the Government must have felt inclined to put something on, maybe with the thinking that drinkers will forget about the increase in two weeks anyway. 

Although the new measures on drinking and smoking take effect in May, I am certain that some of the increases have been implemented immediately after the announcement in Parliament by Minister of Finance Fayval Williams last week.

The Government, aside from focusing so much on increased taxes, could have opted to go the other way, by offering incentives to businesses to grow the economy, because that is what it calls for. The economy has to grow. And it looks kind of tacky that so soon after the most devastating hurricane to have struck, that few seem to care about the welfare of the suffering thousands, that those in State authority could have been driven to hike the pressure on the suffering ones.

Remember, it’s the same Government that slapped its chest and loaned the US$150 million to the Jamaica Public Service to fix up the place as it was said, although it will not bring down the cost of electricity to consumers, who face the highest bills this side of the world. Do not be surprised if the Government, during this fiscal year, decides to increase taxes on motor vehicles, driver’s licences, and fitness fees, to find an excuse to do corrective surgery on the growing number of potholes that continue to haunt motorists. Wait for it.

The world cannot allow Cuba to die

Is the world going to sit by and allow Cuba to be destroyed? Where are the global voices? Where are the powerhouses who are prepared to take on the foolishness that the United States, through Donald Trump and Marco Rubio have been dishing out to the world’s kindest country?

There is now a humanitarian crisis in Cuba, caused by men who have no love, no caring whatsoever, for anyone who dares to disagree with their sorry behaviour and dictatorial approach. This is something that I have never seen before. And in all the stories about tyrants of the world, even Hitler in Nazi Germany, and fascist pioneer Benito Mussolini of Italy, were saints, compared to what is happening now.

Things have gone too far. The world must wake up and stand up for what is right. There are 10 million lives at stake in a Caribbean country that, even in its poor state over decades, caused mainly by an economic blockade by the US for over 60 years, has built more lives in other places for its size and availability of resources than any other.

Cuba does not deserve how it is being treated by the United States, for the only ‘crime’ that it has committed is that of always caring for, and looking out for others, Jamaicans included. Will countries of the world wake up, finally, and do their part in putting and end to this horrible and horrific act of injustice?

Good to see Elaine back

When great Jamaican sprinter Elaine Thompson Herah was struggling with injury after injury two years ago, many wrote her off, which was an unwise thing to have done.

The five-time Olympic champion, who won back-to-back 100 and 200 metres titles in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016, and the Japanese capital of Tokyo in 2021, is back, though not to full fitness and sprinting ability, but, the important thing is that she has shown the emotional and physical courage to get back into fast lane and see what more she can achieve from her exploits. She is 33, and therefore has time to gain further success.

There is a tendency in Jamaica to give up on athletes or sports personalities whenever it seems like they have dipped in performance, having already represented the island with distinction, as Elaine has done.

Some will say that she has an attitudinal problem, but there is a thing called style, and everybody has one – original or copied. They should be allowed to conduct themselves as they wish, under the law of course.

Her performance at the annual Camperdown Classic at the National Stadium on Saturday, when she finished third in the 60-metre season opener in a time of 7.24 seconds, was not her best, but there is hope.