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Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness has condemned the triple murder and arson attack in Kidd Lane, last night.

He issued a statement a short while ago.

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Prime Minister condemns gruesome and deadly attack on St. Andrew community

I express my deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the three victims (two women and a child) of this morning’s heinous attack on residents of Kidd Lane in south west St. Andrew.

This attack is an assault on the sensibilities of the entire nation, spreading fear through criminal terror. The police and other agencies of the government will be fully mobilized to provide emotional and material support to the families and communities.

No innocent citizen should have to flee their community because of gangs and organized violence. It is the gunmen who must flee!

While we have come a long way in cutting our murder rate in half and cutting the number of active gangs by more than half, there are still organized criminals and violent individuals with guns and the intent to take lives.

We must not stop or relax our fight against crime, criminals and illegal weapons until they are separated from our society. While we understand that the community is in fear at the moment, this is an opportunity for residents to take back their communities and secure real peace by sharing information on the incident through established protected channels.

I have asked the minister of national security to treat this matter with intense attention, and I have no doubt that the perpetrators will be caught and justice will be served!

The public is being reminded that the demerit points system is not yet fully implemented.

Transport Minister Daryl Vaz said that while the legal provisions under the Road Traffic Act 2018 and Road Traffic Regulations 2022 are technically in force, the administrative and business frameworks required to facilitate the assignment of points and suspension or revocation of licences are still incomplete.

The demerit point system is a structured mechanism through which points are added to a driver’s record for specified traffic offences which may result in suspension of the driver’s licence where prescribed thresholds are exceeded.

It was initially scheduled to roll out on October 1 but implementation has been postponed while the necessary processes are being put in place.

Minister Vaz says the delay allows for stakeholder consultations and gives motorists more time to pay outstanding traffic tickets before the system launches.

Works Minister Robert Morgan is questioning the Kingston and St. Andrew Municipal Corporation’s (KSAMC’s) decision to use Municipal funds to patch major roads managed by the National Works Agency (NWA).

He is also demanding that KSAMC Chairman and Kingston Mayor Andrew Swaby disclose the full cost and list of roads targeted under the Corporation’s recently announced road-patching programme.

While welcoming the initiative, Mr. Morgan argued that the decision raises questions about the KSAMC’s spending priorities, particularly as Municipal leaders from the People’s National Party have repeatedly cited financial constraints in maintaining community and parochial roads under their statutory responsibility.

The Minister is calling on Mayor Swaby to publish the exact financial value of the programme and a complete, searchable list of the 20 to 25 roads scheduled for patching.

Mr. Morgan insists that Jamaicans must be able to scrutinise how public funds are allocated and spent.

According to Morgan, the Mayor has established a pattern of announcing multi-million-dollar road programmes without providing basic information for public verification.

He says in March, the Mayor announced an expenditure of $90 million to repair 33 roads across 17 divisions. Then in June, $31.4 million was earmarked for road and sidewalk works.

Mr. Morgan is calling on the KSAMC to publish comprehensive project information to accompany such announcements, including the specific roads selected for repairs and details of the associated expenditure.

He is urging Mayor Swaby and the KSAMC to adopt the open data standards established by the Central Government.

He outlines that through the SPARK website and the interactive Jamaica Road Register, the Central Government publicly maps roads, publishes work orders, identifies the authorities responsible for each road and tracks reports of road defects submitted by citizens in real time.

Morgan also notes that the Central Government is prepared to share location-verified resident complaint data from the Jamaica Road Register with Mayor Swaby, highlighting the streets in the corporate area where taxpayers are demanding urgent repairs.

The Kingston and St. Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) is undertaking a rehabilitation programme for several community and main roads, particularly in New and Downtown Kingston.

The aim is to repair some of the Municipality’s more deplorable thoroughfares to help ease gridlock in sections of the Corporate Area.

The repair works follow mounting public pressure and concerns from the police regarding the state of roadways across Kingston and St. Andrew.

Kingston Mayor Andrew Awaby noted that potholes, especially those on the main thoroughfares in the Corporate Area, are fuelling traffic congestion.

He said that over 20 roads are being repaired under the Corporation’s road patching programme.

Mayor Swaby claimed that limited funding is hampering the Corporation’s ability to fix other roads.

He reiterated that the KSAMC has no dedicated financing for fixing roads, noting that the money is obtained from the parochial revenue fund.

Labour Minister Pearnel Charles Jr. has described today’s meeting with management and workers of Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited as fruitful.

Employees walked off the job amidst a dispute over trade union representation.

Workers are seeking to switch from the Trade Union Congress to the Port Supervisors Union.

After the meeting, Mr Charles Jr said the matter was progressing.

Hundreds of employees of Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL) have gone back to work after walking off the job.

Reports are that the withdrawal of service began at 11:00 last night.

A meeting is being held this morning at the Labour Ministry to resolve the issue.

Industrial Relations Consultant Andre Duncan says the workers are pushing for a bargaining rights poll to be held, as they seek a change in union representation from the Trade Union Congress to the Port Supervisors Union.

The workers including crane operators and engineers assembled peacefully this morning before returning to their posts.

Mr. Duncan says the Port Supervisors Union last wrote to the Labour Ministry on September 21 about setting a date for the poll to be held.

Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness has stated that the Government will bring mobile consular services to Curaçao to further assist Jamaicans living in the country to be regularised.

The Prime Minister made the announcement at the Jamaican Diaspora Town Hall in Curaçao yesterday.

Jamaican undocumented citizens in Curaçao have been facing significant challenges in regularising their status.

According to Dr. Holness, the demand for the service exceeds the present capabilities.

Dr. Holness says he will be moving quickly to have the mobile consulate service in place.

The Judiciary is expanding the reach of selected court services in St. Thomas with the establishment of a customer service station at the Yallahs Out Station.

This will provide residents of Yallahs and Bull Bay with greater convenience in accessing routine court services.

The initiative, dubbed “bringing justice closer to the people,” forms part of the St. Thomas Parish Court’s service excellence project.

It was developed in response to feedback from court users about the time, cost and inconvenience involved in travelling to the Morant Bay Court House for relatively simple transactions.

Chief Justice Bryan Sykes said the initiative reflects the judiciary’s responsibility to address practical barriers to accessing justice.

The customer service station will provide cashier services, payment of maintenance fees, general court information, commonly requested forms, filing of simple matters and assistance with navigating other court services.

The station will operate Mondays to Fridays, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

The English speaking Caribbean’s premier sports tertiary institution, the GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sport, will be hosting the 4th staging Sports Heritage Symposium on Thursday October 22.

Promoted under the theme: “The GC Foster College Story – A Legacy of Excellence, A future of Posibilities”, the event will bring together practitioners, scholars, partners, stakeholders and students for the one day event on the College campus.

Chairperson and co-ordinator of the event Jollette Russell, provided Irie Fm Sports with an overview.

Russell added that there will be a number of international speakers at the event.

The caucus of People’s National Party councillors in the Clarendon Municipal Corporation will be requesting the convening of a special meeting to address issues arising from the change in party affiliation by one councillor.

Among the matters to be settled are the selection of a new chairman/mayor of May Pen, as well as a declaration of intent to switch.

The call for a special meeting, comes in the wake of the abrupt end of yesterday’s sitting of the corporation’s monthly meeting, after Jamaica Labour Party Councillor for the May Pen North Division, Tanyalee Williams declared that she would be crossing the floor, to join the People’s National Party.

The switch by Williams broke the tie in the number of councillors for each political party.

This means the PNP now has the majority.

The current Chairman is Mayor Joel Williams of the JLP.

PNP caucus leader Scean Barnswell said the abrupt end to the monthly meeting yesterday stemmed from a disagreement about the rules for announcements.

He said the corporation’s Chief Executive Officer will be contacted about setting a date for a special meeting.