The 2011 Jamaica Health Care Fact Finding Mission convened this week with health-care professionals from the diaspora meeting to discuss the needs of the island's hospitals. In an opening ceremony at The Knutsford Court Hotel, Kingston, Monday morning, a panel consisting of distinguished health-care professionals and diaspora representatives outlined the objectives of the five-day long forum in the context of the wider initiatives set out in the Vision for Jamaica 2030 manifesto.
Dudley Thompson, Icon of Ja's and African Independence Struggle, Gaan to Myal!
Hon. Dudley Thompson, Q.C.Commander of the Order of Jamaica
THE Hon Dudley Thompson OJ, QC who died on Friday in New York at the age of 95 was a genuine Jamaican hero whose important contributions extend beyond this island to the Third World, Africa and the African diaspora.
Indeed, his years of service and advocacy on behalf of the African people influenced the Organisation of African Unity to name him an ‘African Legend’.
War veteran, lawyer, politician, government minister and Ambassador, his stature is not fully appreciated because he was a controversial politician associated with the Green Bay operation in which he said “no angles died”. However, he later issued a public apology, a precedent which others who have far more to apologise for should follow.
He was a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force during World War II, a rare distinction for a black man from the colonies. After his war service he returned to Jamaica, joined the People’s National Party and was among the leaders who championed the cause of the disgruntled returning servicemen.
He was a graduate of Mico College and his academic brilliance won him the coveted Rhodes Scholarship which he took up at Oxford University, graduating with an MA in Jurisprudence and was called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn in London in 1950.
While in England, Mr Thompson was a colleague of Messrs George Padmore, CLR James and Kwame Nkrumah.
Ambassador Thompson, who was president of the Jamaican Bar Association and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1963, established his early legal practice in Tanganyika (later renamed Tanzania) and Kenya where he defended Messrs Jomo Kenyatta during the trials for leading the Mau Mau rebellion and Julius Nyerere.
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Agriculture in Jamaica
Agricultural production is an important contributor to Jamaica's economy, accounting for 7.4 percent of GDP in 1997 and providing nearly a quarter of the country's employment. Sugar, which has been produced in Jamaica for centuries, is the nation's dominant agricultural export, but the country also produces bananas, coffee, spices, pimentos, cocoa, citrus, and coconuts. In addition to legal agricultural production, Jamaica is also a major producer of marijuana, known locally as ganja , which contributes a great deal of money to the informal economy . Agricultural production of all sorts has been subject to the region's tumultuous weather, which includes seasonal hurricanes and occasional drought. In addition to cash crops , Jamaica also produces a wide variety of produce for domestic consumption.
In 1996 the country produced 237,943 metric tons of sugar, its highest output since 1980. Of this total, 181,183 metric tons of sugar were exported, earning US$109 million. The European Union (EU) was the major purchaser of Jamaican sugar, thanks to standard export quotas granted to Jamaica. The United Kingdom was the single largest purchaser of Jamaican sugar, purchasing 86.5 percent in 1996.
