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Cabbie gets new house

Fifty-nine-year-old Collington Graham, a taxi driver from Seaview Gardens in St Andrew, is thankful to be the beneficiary of a new home after the house in which he lived for 24 years was razed by fire in 2020.

The keys to the two-bedroom unit, valued at $5.8 million, was handed over by Prime Minister Andrew Holness during a ceremony in the community last Friday. The dwelling was built under the New Social Housing Programme.

The cabbie said that he lost his house in October 2020, when a candle that was left unattended sparked the blaze.

"After losing my house, it was hard driving past the remains; some people would've gone mad. But I thank God, the prime minister, and my member of parliament (Anthony Hylton)," Graham said.

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Former Morant Bay mayor dies

Former mayor of Morant Bay, Hanif Brown, died at hospital following a long battle with illness.

Brown served as councillor for the Bath division from 1981 to 1990, and then the White Horses division from 2007 to 2012. He was island supervisor of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union until his passing.

Brown is one of two former St Thomas councillors who died recently. The other is Seymour McKenzie, who represented the Port Morant division between 1990 and 1998.

"Former Councillor McKenzie will always be remembered as a consummate community development advocate," Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Desmond McKenzie said yesterday.

The minister said McKenzie and Brown gave "tireless service to the people".

"I want to place on record my personal gratitude for their selfless service, and extend to their families not only my sorrow at their passing, but also my confidence that they will always be fondly and favourably remembered by the people of their divisions and the wider community. I pray for comfort and peace for those they leave behind at this difficult time," McKenzie said.

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Teachers' colleges to get music course

Student-teachers may soon have the benefit of a degree programme that will equip them with the tools to use music in academic curriculum delivery.

The programme - Associate of Arts degree in Music - was fashioned by lecturers on the Academic Board for Music, under the Joint Board of Teacher Education. The degree programme is awaiting accreditation from The University of the West Indies.

"We complain daily about the power of dancehall artistes. But we can see the influence of the music reaching all over and we're having bad behaviours because of that. That is the power of music ... so why not use it as a tool to teach?" commented Everton Clarke, chairman of the Academic Board.

Clarke said that once approved, all teachers' colleges [under the board] would have the opportunity to offer the programme, he informed.

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More fathers' names on birth certificates

The Registrar General's Department (RGD) is reporting a significant increase in the number of birth certificates that are now being processed with the names of both parents.

Chief Executive Officer Charlton McFarlane said that of the total number of births registered over a one-year period, 80 per cent of them include the mother's and father's information.

"We have had instances where a mother would register a child and does not mention who the father is. That is a statistic that we monitor closely at the RGD," he said.

McFarlane said that the existence of a father's name on the birth certificate is required for "the complete registration of a child". He also said that it plays a vital role in instances where a "father residing overseas may want to file for his child or take out benefits and insurance for the child. A complete birth certificate also helps in the settling of estate matters, among other things," he said.