Damion Mitchell
@DamionMitch • 9,319 subscribers
Jamaican 🇯🇲 Journalist | Communications Specialist | MC | Nature Lover | Staying above the clouds
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📍Steerfield, near Golden Grove, St Ann (⚠️ WARNING: Expletives‼️) WATCH: Police confront protesting residents after cops fatally shot brothers Ramone and Davian Henry during in an early morning operation. ▫️The North Coast Times' NorthCoastTimesJa reports that a woman who was among those who first got to the house said the men were murdered. ▫️People in the area have been insisting that the men were not involved in any criminal activity. ▫️The police say residents blocked the pathway, preventing them from taking the wounded men to the hospital. - Contributed Video
Damion Mitchell93,718 views • 1 month ago
🔘 DEVELOPING: Brace for major fuel price increases Energy Minister Daryl Vaz is warning Jamaicans to brace for what could be significant fuel price increases amid the instability in the global petroleum industry because of the war in the Middle East. Speaking at this morning's post-Cabinet press briefing, Vaz announced that, effective today, Jamaica's sole oil refinery, Petrojam, will implement a new tiered pricing mechanism. 👨💻 As part of the fuel conservation strategy, the government will consider "COVID-type" measures including work from home arrangements. ⛽ In the past four weeks, Petrojam absorbed $1.3 billion in oil price hikes that were not passed on to consumers. 💵 If the price pressures persist up to June 2026, it would cost the government $11.8 billion to absorb the increases.
Damion Mitchell72,381 views • 1 month ago
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⚠️SENSITIVE CONTENT ‼️ 🚨EXPLETIVES WATCH: An inmate at a Jamaican facility went live on TikTok earlier this evening puffing what appears to be a spliff while appealling for snacks for another inmate on remand. Cellphones and weed are barred in Jamaican lock-ups and correctional facilities. However, they are often smuggled into the facilities.
Damion Mitchell92,216 views • 2 months ago
🔘 MP Angela Brown Burke suspended from Parliamentary sitting after grabbing Mace Jamaica's Parliament decended into a near 30-minute protest late Tuesday evening after Opposition MP Angela Brown Burke was suspended from the sitting. ▫️House Speaker Juliet Holness named Brown Burke and ruled that the St Andrew South West MP be suspended for disorderly conduct after she grabbed the Mace during a committee vote on the controversial NaRRA Bill. ▫️Brown Burke was attempting to speak but was not allowed. Fellow Opposition MPs flanked Brown Burke as the Marshal prepared to escort her from the chamber. ▫️The Mace is the symbol of authority taken into the House by the Marshal at the start of each session of Parliament and removed by him when the session ends. ▫️The Andrew South West MP, eventually left the chamber after Holness announced a five-minute recess. Her failure to comply with the Speaker's ruling could have resulted in her suspension from the House. ▫️In 1969, Keble Munn of the People's National Party was suspended from the House for six months for removing the Mace.
Damion Mitchell44,036 views • 1 month ago
📍Content, central Manchester WATCH: From one disaster to another About 30 people have evacuated their homes in the community of Content near Williamsfield because of rising underground water following the passage of #Melissa. Their belongings are being stored at a community centre, which is now also being used as a shelter. Some of the evacuees are staying with friends and relatives. Underground water surfaces when the water table rises above normal levels after periods of prolonged, heavy rain. The phenomenon last happened in Content in 2005 following hurricanes Dennis and Emily. However, councillor for the Bellefield Division in Manchester, Mario Mitchell says it's worse this time round with the water now covering parts of the main road. It's expected that vehicular access will soon be restricted until the water recedes. The rising water episode first happened in Content 1977, claiming two lives.
Damion Mitchell181,947 views • 7 months ago
DEVELOPING: The acting CEO of the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), Eric Hosin, has named the four companies that were found to have corruptly used the tax-exempt status of the institution to evade customs duties. 🔘They are: 1. Supreme Laundry Services 2. Willman Sales 3. Scientific Medical Services 4. Jacden Limited 🔘 The scheme deprived the Jamaica Customs Agency of about $20 million in revenue. 🔘 UHWI and Health Ministry officials appeared before Parliament's Public Accounts Committee to answer questions about the Auditor General's findings of procurement irregularities and other malpractices at the hospital.
Damion Mitchell59,471 views • 2 months ago
#UHWIscandal 🔘 Jacden reportedly pays evaded customs duties Chairman of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Julian Robinson says Jacden has reportedly paid the University Hospital of the West Indies the $10.1 million it evaded in customs duties when it benefitted from the misuse of the hospital's tax-exempt status. Julian Jay Robinson told Dionne JacksonMiller on RJR's #BeyondTheHeadlines that his was reported to him by Jacden's boss Dennis Gordon. Gordon, is also the Member of Parliament for St Andrew East Central and a member of the PAC. His firm is among four that benefitted from the misuse of the hospital's tax exemption to import goods. The breaches resulted in about $20 million in unpaid customs duties.
Damion Mitchell57,468 views • 2 months ago
🔘 Burchell begins advocacy for Jamaican language in House Opposition spokesperson on Culture #NekeishaBurchell wants Parliament's Standing Orders to be changed to allow legislators to make presentations in the Jamaican language patois (patwa). Her attempt to use the language on Tuesday in her first contribution to the Sectoral Debate was halted when House Speaker Juliet Holness cited the rules governing the sitting. ▫️Burchell told Dionne JacksonMiller on Radio Jamaica 94 FM's #BeyondTheHeadlines that, already, she has consulted with Opposition Leader Mark Golding and Leader of Opposition Business in the House Phillip Paulwell about the need to amend the Standing Orders which require parliamentary presentations to be made in standard English. ▫️The legislator says at the next sitting of parliament's Standing Order Review Committee, the Opposition will raise the matter of the restriction on the use of patois in parliamentary presentations. ▫️If the review committee, chaired by the House Speaker, does not not accept the recommendation to lift the patois ban, Burchell says she will bring the matter to Parliament through a Private Member's Motion often used by Opposition lawmakers to raise issues.
Damion Mitchell19,639 views • 27 days ago
#UHWIscandal 🔘 Who approved the use of the UHWI's tax-exempt status to import goods for private entities? Permanent Secretary in the Health Ministry Errol Greene says a signature purported to be that of a former UHWI CEO appears on one of the approval documents. That CEO separated from the UHWI more than two years before the date of the "approval". Another approval document bears what appears to be the signature of the current CEO who is now on leave. The acting CEO, Eric Hosin, says in both instances, Jacden was the benefiting company.
Damion Mitchell40,521 views • 2 months ago
(WARNING: Expletive) Everald Warmington, identifying himself as the Minister of Works, declares that no PNP councillor will spend his money after the Jamaica Labour Party incumbent Lloyd Grant was unseated by PNP Jamaica's Kurt Waul in the Old Harbour South Division in #LGE2024.
Damion Mitchell306,217 views • 2 years ago
WATCH: It's going to be war! Prime Minister Andrew Holness says the government will fight back against false information in the Melissa recovery. "Mi Nuh fraid a nobody," he said Friday during the opening of the new Little London Police Station in Westmoreland. The previous structure was destroyed by fire.
Damion Mitchell79,276 views • 6 months ago
🔘 Lawyer wants GG to pardon music producer imprisoned for fake guns Senior attorney Bert Samuels believes Jamaica's Governor-General should pardon the 47-year-old music producer sentenced to 15 years in prison for possession of imitation firearms and life in prison for stockpiling them. ▫️Ewayne Pryce will become eligible for parole after 10 years behind bars. He had told investigators that the toy guns were being used in music videos. ▫️The producer was sentenced on Friday under the controversial Firearms Act in relation to a December 2023 police-military operation at his Grants Pen Drive, Kingston 8 home where eight imitation firearms were found in a bag. ▫️Bert Samuels said the law is a travesty of justice. "This man been sentenced by the parliament, not the judge," he said. The government has indicated that the law criminalising imitation firearms will be reviewed.
Damion Mitchell13,185 views • 25 days ago
#UWHIscandal 🔘 UHWI owes $40 billion in taxes and penalties Acting CEO of the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) Eric Hosin has revealed that the institution is now owing $40 billion in taxes, interest and penalties. Appearing before Parliament's Public Accounts Committee this morning, Hosin said the figure comprises $18 billion in taxes and $22 billion in interest and penalties dating back several years. ▫️Hosin said employees' National Insurance Scheme and National Housing Trust deductions are now current but there is not enough money to pay other tax obligations. ▫️For years, the delinquency has restricted the ability of the UHWI to obtain a tax compliance certificate necessary for importation and other businesses. ▫️UHWI had been undertaking imports through its private wing and the Health Ministry before it recently received a temporary tax compliance certificate. The certificate expires in May. ▫️The hospital will be engaging the Health Ministry with a view to approaching the Finance Ministry about a potential tax write-off.
Damion Mitchell20,707 views • 1 month ago
JUST IN: Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness has used the platform of the #CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting now under way in St Kitts & Nevis to call attention to the crisis in Cuba. The Spanish-speaking Caribbean country has been facing tightening economic pressures because of actions by the United States. Tomorrow, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will attend the CARICOM meeting. Here's Holness' take: 🇨🇺 The situation in Cuba must be addressed with clarity and courage. 🇺🇸 Jamaica supports constructive dialogue between Cuba and the United States aimed at de-escalation, reform and stability. 💵 A prolonged crisis in Cuba will affect the Caribbean in respect of migration, security and economic development.
Damion Mitchell28,272 views • 3 months ago
📍 Gordon Town Road, St Andrew 🌀 The Hope River is in spate
Damion Mitchell38,041 views • 7 months ago
WATCH: Kamla on Cuba "It can't work!" Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Kamla Persad-Bissessar Persad-Bissessar says she empathises with the "good people" of Cuba now enduring increased economic pressures but has charged that #CARICOM cannot advocate for others to live under communism and dictatorship. At the same time, Persad-Besessar has endorsed a call by Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness for a humanitarian mechanism to help Havana.
Damion Mitchell19,843 views • 3 months ago
WATCH: Prime Minister Andrew Holness has announced that over the next "few" years in a third term, the national minimum wage will be increased to $32,000 a week, up from the current $16,000. He said this is part of the intention of the Jamaica Labour Party to move Jamaica to a liveable wage system. The JLP Leader was speaking at the party's mass meeting in Spanish Town, St Catherine.
Damion Mitchell41,355 views • 9 months ago
WATCH: PNP Jamaica President Mark J. Golding has reacted swiftly to the promise by the Jamaica Labour Party to slash the income tax rate from 25 per cent to 15 per cent. Previewing tomorrow's launch of the PNP Jamaica manifesto lite, Golding said a PNP government will move the income tax threshold to $3.5 million. This means the first $3.5 million of annual salaries will not be taxed. Golding was speaking at PNP mass rally in Mandeville, Manchester.
Damion Mitchell35,312 views • 9 months ago
📍Sav-la-mar, Westmoreland 🔊 FULL AUDIO: Medical crisis looming There is an urgent appeal for medical support in Westmoreland, the parish where the category 5 #HurricaneMelissa made landfall on Tuesday. General Surgeon at the Sav-la-mar Hospital Dr Lincoln Cox says the situation is grave: ‼️Sterile medical supplies have runout 🩸Blood supply is critically low 🍃No air conditioning in the operating theatre for emergency surgeries ⚰️ Police report six bodies in one community which cannot be removed as the area is cut off 📶 Communication at the hospital is extremely poor to non-existent 🥣 Hospital staff has not been relieved since the storm and are now low on food and water 🦶 Diabetic patients unable to access the hospital to get dressing are now at risk of losing life and limbs
Damion Mitchell27,014 views • 7 months ago