There is an “F” word being spoken across Jamaica. I shall not print it. A Christian pulpit should not need profanity to tell the truth, and a national argument should not require obscenity to make itself heard. But there is another reason for my restraint: the unprinted word is less important than the material breakdown that has produced it. The word is being generated by frustration. By fear. By favouritism. By failure... Read More Online

Why, despite decades of policy recognition, legislation, licensing and official declarations, does the ordinary Jamaican still experience beach access as a contested privilege rather than an unquestioned component of citizenship? That question cannot be answered by blaming one hotel. Nor should it be reduced to a crude argument against tourism or private investment. Jamaica needs tourism. But JM does not need a tourism model in which the profitable natural asset is progre

I learned to swim in Portland. Not in a hotel pool. Not behind a resort gate. Not after producing a credit card, booking a room, or asking permission. My grandfather, Lester Maylor, taught me to swim in Jamaica’s sea. I was Jamaican. The sea was there. I went to the beach. Six decades later, I find myself asking a question that my grandfather never needed to ask: WHO OWNS JAMAICA’S BEACHES? Tourism is vital. Investment is important. Visitors are welcome. But tourism can

The question is not whether the enslaved created wealth. They did. The question is whether the beneficiaries of that wealth ever fully compensated its unwilling producers. They did not. And if the debt was never repaid, then the moral and institutional question remains: Who still owes—and what would genuine repayment look like?

Who supplied the energy and intelligence that made the extraordinary accumulation of wealth from chattel slavery possible?

A democratic State requires institutions, experts, journalists, academics, civil servants, opposition politicians and citizens willing to identify danger before danger becomes disaster. Their responsibility is not simply to possess information. It is to interpret it honestly and communicate it intelligibly. A trumpet that makes an uncertain sound defeats its very purpose... Read More Online

Britain compensated slave-owners £20 million at emancipation. The formerly enslaved got nothing. That compensation became public debt—only finally repaid in 2015. This is not inherited guilt. It is unfinished justice.... Read Online

“If the judges cannot get along, how can we trust them to settle our disputes?” That question may be unfair. But it is real. And public confidence is not built by telling citizens that they are foolish for asking difficult questions. It is built by answering those questions. I therefore write this not as an opponent of the CCJ but as a Caribbeanist who desperately wants it to succeed. I want the CCJ to become the trusted final court of the Caribbean. I want our child

I have known many rivers, and I remember the stellings of Guyana and Suriname: crowded ferries, diesel-scented air, brown currents, shared food, laughter, prayers—and strangers becoming family before the opposite shore appeared. I also remember the shiver beneath the laughter: those anxious moments when a vessel stalled upon a Corantijn River bar and we were reminded, quietly, of the awesome power of the water. Today, that memory becomes a dirge for those lost... Read More

Her immediate objective should be admission to the strongest affordable undergraduate institution she can realistically enter, preferably one possessing excellent science programmes, research opportunities, medical-school preparation, accessible professors, and sufficiently generous financial aid that her mother is not financially crippled by the undergraduate years. During university, Kerlene can discover whether she is primarily... Read Online

For Caribbean families planning medicine, the question is bigger than “How do we make our child a doctor?” It is: How do we prepare that future doctor to choose where — and how — she wishes to serve?

Guyana’s grief reverberates across every bay, gulf, and inlet of our shared world. It touches the shores of Suriname, reaches across the sea to Jamaica, whispers through the hills of Haiti, and rests gently on the quiet beaches of Nevis. Wherever people live by the mercy of the waters, wherever men and women step onto a deck with trust in their hearts, this pain belongs to us all. We grieve for the souls who never saw the wooden planks of the landing stelling again, nor felt

Consider the case of British historian Orlando Figes, who admitted using aliases to praise his own work as ‘fascinating’ while rubbishing that of his rivals. A senior editor at The New Republic used a sockpuppet to offer extravagant praise to himself on his own blog. These were not harmless deceptions; they were calculated attempts to distort professional judgement and public perception. ECONOMIC DIMENSION Now, consider the implications for financial markets. In an era where

There is a fundamental difference between systemic corruption and state capture. Corruption ordinarily involves an individual bending or breaking a rule for private advantage. State capture is far more consequential: it occurs when powerful private interests, commercial cartels, or political networks become sufficiently influential that they can shape the rules, institutions, appointments, and public narrative by which everyone else must live. Corruption distorts the game;

State capture rarely arrives with a grand proclamation. It advances through normalisation: one exceptional arrangement, one opaque contract, one bypassed safeguard, one exhausted watchdog, and one collective shrug at a time. The charge, therefore, is not that Jamaica is proven to be captured. It is something far more urgent: Jamaica is displaying enough classical warning signs that failing to investigate the hypothesis would itself be an act of civic negligence.

By Dennis A. Minott, PhD. August 6, 2026 This is not an entirely hypothetical Jamaican problem. Readers of the country’s online newspaper discussions will recognise recurring identities such as V/X Truth, Insight4Sight, Xamyca, Cldray or Clirey, Micchael, Really, Mark Chue and Peter Wright—who has been presented as an electrical engineer. Some appear repeatedly beneath articles concerning government, energy, political accountability and criticism of public policy. Insight4Sig

“Dr Minott is truly passionate about what he does, and Dajanae Dawkins’ testimonial is a true reflection of his work and stewardship.” Mrs Kimberley McInnis Nish shares how A-QuEST helped her son, Najeer Nish, explore every available opportunity and position himself to seize each one. When financial circumstances threatened to prevent his participation, Dr Minott recognised Najeer’s academic promise and personally supported him. Today, Najeer is at university—a powerful rem

Six times I have wept for Jamaica: for the Federation we abandoned, practical solutions we overlooked, expertise we undervalued, scientific breakthroughs we failed to finance, and brilliant nation-builders such as Dr Cynthia E. Lewis, whose work showed what Jamaica could become. Yet my six times of tears carried hope. My daughter herself, understood that history’s broken Caribbean pieces may still remember the larger shape they were meant to form. The seventh time, God will

The Caribbean’s scattered geography need not condemn us to scattered power. Malaysia shows how culturally diverse territories, separated by sea, can operate within a serious federal structure. The Philippines demonstrates that thousands of islands can still function as one national market and one international force. Meanwhile, CARICOM remains rich in declarations but poor in enforceable unity. Jamaica struggles within the confines of a small economy; Haiti’s agony is treate

"During application season, there were late-night texts, early-morning messages, conversations during holidays, and countless rounds of feedback on essays and supplemental responses. Every draft became stronger because Dr Minott and Dr Thomas were willing to invest so much time and care in us. What stood out most was how personal the guidance felt. Dr Minott encouraged us to prepare a personal inventory—a detailed reflection on our achievements, experiences, interests and id