“I call on all citizens to stay home and use the day to labor in their personal spaces instead of engaging in the public activities as outlined by the Government,” Bailey said in a release.

Bishop Dr. Alvin Bailey

Bishop Dr. Alvin Bailey, head of the Holiness Christian Church, Chairman of Jamaica CAUSE, and leader of the Jamaica Evangelical Alliance, has issued a call for Jamaicans to boycott the 2023 Labour Day activities that the Government scheduled for Tuesday, May 23, in protest against the Government’s insistence on granting hefty salary increases to parliamentarians.

He added that this action would send a strong message to the political directorate that they should not exploit or take the Jamaican people for granted. And reinforce that serving in the interest of the overall society and the well-being of all Jamaicans is the primary reason the people elected them to office.

In a previous statement, Bailey promised to lead a public campaign, with the support of the church community, the private sector, and other well-thinking Jamaicans, to speak out against what he described as an injustice to the citizens and to keep protesting until the new salary package has been reviewed.

According to Bailey:

“The unconscionable, disgraceful, and insensitive salary increases that the minister of finance announced were to benefit a select number of privileged public servants. To my mind, this is an insult and a slap in the face of the average working-class Jamaican.”

Bishop Dr. Alvin Bailey

He went on to indicate that the significant salary increases for elected politicians symbolize an acceleration in moral decay aimed at widening the class structure while paying little or no attention to the plight of the Jamaican people, who generally continue to suffer from economic hardships.

JDF Coast Guard seized Ganja and arrested 4 Nicaraguans.

The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) Coast Guard members seized a quantity of Ganja and arrested four Nicaraguan nationals in a boat intercepted about eleven nautical miles from Cabarita Point, Westmoreland.

On Friday, May 19, 2023, at 11:57 pm, members of the JDF Coast Guard acting on intelligence from the narcotics division intercepted and boarded a blue and white 28-foot Eduardona fishing boat with one Yamaha 75HP engine. Four men who identified themselves as Nicaraguan nationals were on board the vessel.

During a vessel search, the Coast Guards seized three knitted bags containing 30 parcels of compressed Ganja.

The Coast Guards also found seven plastic containers of marine diesel fuel and an unattached 40HP Yamaha engine on board. 

The Coast Guards towed the boat to the JDF Coast Guard base in Black River, where the contents were processed by members of the Scene of Crime Area 3.

The police have not yet charged the men. So, they have withheld their identity. 

Taxi passengers injured in Manchester two-vehicle crash.

MANCHESTER, Jamaica — Several passengers of a public passenger vehicle were hospitalized Saturday night following a two-vehicle crash on the Winston Jones Highway near Mandeville.

Reports are that the crash involved a Toyota Isis operated as a taxi and a Toyota Prado. It reportedly happened at about 7:30 pm.

The taxi driver told OBSERVER ONLINE that he was traveling uphill toward Mandeville when the crash happened.

“The car [Prado] was turning in the corner, and as me bend the corner, a [it] me a look up inna. Me hold down me horn try take the right [lane] and it still come over there and hit the back of the vehicle and it flipped about three times and slide,” he said.

He added that the passenger in the taxi’s front seat was severely injured.

Mangoes and slippers littered the road following the crash.

Taxi operator

A female security guard from Gregory Park has gone missing in St Andrew.

Thirty-two-year-old Natasha Taylor, a security guard of Gregory Park in Portmore, St Catherine, has been missing since Friday, May 19, 2023.

She is tall, has a brown complexion, a stout build, and is about 168 centimeters (five feet six inches).

Reports from the Portmore police are that at about 6 am, Taylor was last seen on Molynes Road in St Andrew wearing her uniform, a white shirt, and a pair of black pants.

Efforts to locate her since then have yet to be successful.

The police are asking anyone knowing the whereabouts of Natasha Taylor to contact the Portmore police at 876-989-8422, the police 119 emergency number, or the nearest police station.