Based on the foregoing, we believe that ALL Jamaican elected and appointed politicians must, on an annual basis, make a FULL public declaration of all their assets (and related expenses), income, and income tax returns (income tax returns when legally required to file).

Therefore, this petition is meant to force them to make those annual public declarations. Failure to make said declarations shall result in hefty fines (penalties and interest) with a minimum of US$50,000, and prison time (minimum of 36 months in prison). It shall also result in them being barred from any future public office (elected or appointed).

There are other important things in Jamaica that needs more attention then a prison! We need more hospital equipment, educational supplies and resources.

We also need more in the way of job creation.

We need help in elderly care, we also need financial help in a lot of departments in Jamaica we also have a lots of homeless, motherless, fatherless, and hopeless people.

We don't need a prison in Jamaica!

This petition seeks to inform the public and garner support for those individuals who, under the present archaic laws in Jamaica, are not protected by the laws that govern rape in this country.

As per the ICC (International Criminal Court) statute rape involves “invading the body of a person by conduct resulting in penetration, however slight, of any part of the body of the victim or of the perpetrator with a sexual organ, or of the anal or genital opening of the victim with any object or any other part of the body."

According to the standing Sexual Offenses Act in the UK these are legally punishable acts in any case where a person A commits these acts intentionally, person B DOES NOT CONSENT to the act, and person A does not reasonably believe that B consents. By this definition rape can only legally occur during instances of sexual contact where the ability to CONSENT is possible.

According to the Buggery Law that still stands in Jamaica: because a man CANNOT legally consent to sex with another man then he cannot legally be raped. As of 2011, sodomy laws have been repealed or judicially struck down in all of Europe, North America, and South America. However, in Jamaica (because of the outdated Buggery Law) ANY man regardless of sexual orientation could be violently sodomized by a man/men, the entire incident could be captured on videotape, and even with this irrefutable proof the man/men could not be charged with RAPE. This in total contravention of the basic notion that rape is committed where one individual coerces or forces another individual to engage in sexual contact.

Moreover, because rape is specifically defined in Jamaica as relating only to acts where a male penetrates a female, transgender individuals (e.g. males who undergo sexual reassignment surgery) also CANNOT be raped even though they have visibly female genitalia and self identify as female because there is no law in Jamaica that legitimizes their gender identity. Here again, other countries (such as the UK) have instituted laws (e.g. the Gender Recognition Act of 2004) that if instituted in Jamaica would allow ALL human beings the right to be protected under the laws that govern rape.

We are urging you to sign this petition that urges the governing bodies of Jamaica to make the necessary changes to these existing laws that are long overdue for revision in order to protect the rights of ALL its citizens as it relates to the legal characterization of rape. Rape is a traumatizing experience that can lead to disastrous consequences for individuals in terms of both their physical and mental health that has repercussions for ALL of us as a society. The inability to seek legal redress in the instances outlined above only compounds this trauma.

Let's nip this new tax in the bud before it commences on June 1, 2014.

This reinforces the stigma and related discrimination faced by children who are adopted and continues to place them in a mentally / physically uncomfortable position.

The lyrics to the song however are highly misogynistic and homophobic. The words convey the idea that being a rapist (of women) is preferable to being gay.

Lyrics may be found here (please turn off the volume on your computer as they are highly offensive)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uPEl-GC24o&feature=youtu.be

The government has been lax in creating the adequate regulatory framework to protect the interest of consumers.

Portability allows for customers to keep their original number when they switch networks. Already the Cayman Islands has implemented this following key markets like the USA and Canada.

* We are equally entitled to the resources of the State...

* Members of Parliament have no right to select who will benefit from the resources of the State...

SIGN THIS PETITION to tell the Prime Minister to remove political affiliation as a factor in employing workers for the Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP).

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[SUMMARY]

This petition is being organised by Activists, who believe that there is a better way to govern Jamaica in which all Jamaicans benefit. We are critical of the JLPNP's approach to governance, which has prevented all Jamaicans regardless of political affiliation from benefiting equally from state resources. Each Jamaican has the right to freedom from discrimination on the grounds of political opinion under the Charter of Rights Section 13(3)(i)(ii).

The distribution of state resources along political lines has resulted in the birth of garrisons and gangs in Jamaica, has undermined democracy, increased inequality, resulted in political tribalism and waste, and engendered hopelessness amongst people on the one hand, and forced others to become involved politically only to benefit from such resources. It is wrong, not only because of the negative repercussions but also because the resources are not political but rather money which belongs to the people of Jamaica in equal share.

The details of the JEEP programme revealed so far demonstrate that the resources of the people will be divided along political lines, because workers will be selected by Members of Parliament. Therefore, it is highly probably that only those who will be recognised by the Member of Parliament, who is no more than a politician who successfully ran for office, based on their service to that political party will be rewarded with work, rather than giving equal opportunity to all Jamaicans regardless of their political affiliation. Removing politicians from the process will ensure that all Jamaicans have an equal opportunity to be employed under the programme, regardless of political affiliation or opinion.

We demand that politics be removed from the Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP).

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[Background]

In September 2011, then PNP head Portia Simpson-Miller announced that if elected the PNP would implement the Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme, or "JEEP." Very few details of the JEEP were revealed prior to the election. During the campaign the PNP however revealed that the programme:

* would be implemented to provide short-term help with the current unemployment problems

* would be funded primarily from JDIP and the Tourism Enhancement Fund

* persons would be employed in labour-intensive infrastructure projects, such as the construction of retaining walls, paving of gullies, and reforestation.

* the programme would be transparent and non partisan.

To date there has been no public consultation on the JEEP or its details. The results of the meetings

On Sunday, January 22nd, Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller revealed that the first leg of the JEEP would involve a $340 million road maintainance programme, covering the northern coastal highway from Negril to Port Antonio. All details of the programme are expected to be revealed at a launch in Salem, Runaway Bay, at 2:30pm on January 24, 2012.

From statements by the Prime Minister, and Richard Azan, state Minister in the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing, the following information has been revealed:

* The programme will be funded by the IDB. The JLP released a statement that the agreement with the IDB was negotiated by them and signed on December 5, 2011 before they left office involving the same road works. Minister with responsiblity for information Sandra Falconer conceded that the programme was funded by the IDB.

* The works take place in 11 constituencies across 7 parishes, including East and West Portland, South East, Central and Western St Mary, North East and North West St Ann, North Trelawny, West Central St James and East and West Hanover. East Central St. James, which is along the same corridor, represented by the JLP's Edmund Bartlett, has been excluded from the works programme. The PNP stated that his constituency is benefiting from the Tourism Enhancement Fund.

* Nine of the constituencies were won by the PNP, and two by the JLP.

* Members of Parliament will select 600 of the 700 workers who will carry out the work.

Both major newspapers have already reported concerning the JEEP programme. Members of Parliament, including Jolyan Silvera, the MP for West St Mary, was able to identify the political allegiance of the workers he submitted, claiming 10 of the people selected are supporters of the JLP, five did not vote in the last election and 35 were PNP supporters. By granting Members of Parliament such wide powers to select workers, it is inevitable that political affiliation will determine which workers will be selected. Neither politicians nor those who supported them are entitled to distribute scarce resources, or to preferential treatment or to benefit from such resources solely on the basis of political affiliation. In the same way, persons of a different political opinion or of no political opinion should not be discriminated against during the selection process.

Communities in surrounding areas have been cut off since the main aorta through St. Mary has been closed. The sick have to be taking the alternate route which is very difficult as some people have to take taxis and incur high transportation cost to get to the only existing hospital in the parish.

This is causing hardship to residents of the parish in numerous ways.