Good morning from Kingston, where the rain that stopped JPS from fixing Westmoreland’s lights has apparently decided it lives there now.
SIX MONTHS LATER, 2,764 STILL WITHOUT POWER
Hurricane Melissa made landfall last October with 185 mph winds and a bad attitude, and nearly six months on, 2,764 customers in western Jamaica are still waiting for the lights to come back. The majority are in Westmoreland. Energy Minister Daryl Vaz told a post-cabinet briefing that torrential rains have cost the restoration effort 13 lost days of work. The irony of rain stopping the repair of damage caused by a storm is not lost on anyone in Westmoreland, least of all the people sitting in the dark.
UHWI OWES $40 BILLION IN TAXES
The University Hospital of the West Indies has a tax debt of more than $40 billion, the acting CEO confirmed to Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee. About $18 billion is principal. The rest is interest and penalties that have been accumulating while presumably everyone hoped it would sort itself out. It has not sorted itself out. The hospital’s financial situation is now under formal parliamentary scrutiny, which is either very reassuring or exactly as alarming as it sounds.
GAS PRICES DOWN 25 CENTS, BRIEFLY ENJOYABLE
Petrojam has cut fuel prices by $0.25 per litre effective Thursday. 90-octane drops to $184.08, diesel to $189.00. This is the kind of news that makes Jamaicans feel a momentary warmth before remembering that marketing companies will add their mark-ups and the net effect at the pump will be whatever it decides to be. Still, down is down.
NCB IS AUCTIONING 110 CARS
National Commercial Bank is selling off 110 repossessed vehicles, ranging from a $18.4-million 2022 Porsche Cayenne to a $500,000 2016 Nissan AD wagon. The combined asking value is $437.3 million. Whether this is a good deal or a cautionary tale about Jamaican lending depends entirely on which side of the repo you are on.
CARNIVAL WAS A RESOUNDING SUCCESS, APPARENTLY
Kingston Mayor Andrew Swaby has declared the 2026 Carnival season a resounding success that drove significant economic activity. Legend Beer, introduced to the public last year, made its debut at the Road March. The economy is stimulated. The beer is present. The Carnival is deemed successful. We move on.
HARPY EAGLES WIN OPENING MATCH
The Guyana Harpy Eagles — not Jamaica, but worth noting — beat the Windward Islands Volcanoes in the West Indies Regional Four-Day Championship opener. Jamaica’s own representative entry into the regional cricket fixture continues to be noted with regional interest.
Kingston dispatch. No softening.