Kingston, 3 February 2020 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has welcomed home the Jamaican Grammy-winning artiste, Koffee.

Minister Grange met the artiste at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston on Monday (today). It was the singer’s first time returning to Jamaica since winning the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in Los Angeles, California on 26 January 2020.

Minister Grange said:
“I’m really very happy to welcome Koffee home after she made history as the first female solo Reggae artiste to win the Grammy. I’m as excited as when I was Shabba Ranks’ manager and we won the Grammy. I feel so good about Koffee’s success.”

The Minister described it as a blessing to be celebrating Koffee’s success during Reggae Month.

Minister Grange said she was delighted that her Ministry provided a platform to showcase Koffee’s talent. In December 2017, Minister Grange selected Koffee — who was 17 at the time — to perform at the unveiling ceremony for the statue of the Jamaican track legend, Usain Bolt, at the National Stadium.

“She performed for Usain Bolt and, for the first time, had major exposure at the national level [and] the rest is history. She has just moved from success to success and what is so beautiful about her — she’s young, she’s bright, and she’s humble,” said Minister Grange.

Koffee also paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister, the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, at Jamaica House.

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Kingston, 25 January 2020 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has hailed volunteers across the island who are participating in the three-day national dengue clean up activity.

Minister Grange was speaking at the New Day Primary and Junior High School in St Andrew where the Prime Minister, the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, officially launched the clean up campaign this morning (Saturday).

The Prime Minister observed and participated in the search for and destruction of mosquito breeding sites in the Grants Pen community. The Prime Minister also participated in the treatment of water containing mosquito larvae, and covered water storage container with nets.

The Prime Minister was accompanied by the Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Honourable Christopher Tufton; the Opposition Spokesman on Health, Dr Morais Guy (who represented the Leader of the Opposition); Member of Parliament for North East St Andrew, the Honourable Delroy Chuck; Deputy Mayor of Kingston, Councillor Winston Ennis; and Minister Grange.

Minister Grange thanked volunteers who worked on Friday — the first day of the national clean up — for their effort towards protecting schools and business places across the island against the mosquitoes that spread dengue.

Minister Grange, who is leading the coordination of the national clean up in collaboration with Minister Tufton, as well as the Minister of Local Government and Community Development, the Honourable Desmond McKenzie said the level of participation in the clean up activity shows that more Jamaicans are beginning to understand that “dengue is a serious disease can affect every single one of us.”

Minister Grange said:

“The mosquitoes that spread dengue do not care who we are or where we come from, so it means that each one of us must join the effort to find and destroy the mosquitoes and their breeding sites.”

The national clean up — from January 24 to 26 — is being held under the theme: Mosquitoes wanted dead, not alive!

Minister Grange said the activities over the three days “must be treated as a launch because the fight against mosquitoes will continue. We have made the decision to carry the theme through to Labour Day. And so, I’m asking everyone to continue to search for the breeding sites and to kill the mosquitoes.”

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Kingston, 16 January 2020 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has received the all clear from the Jamaican Olympian Asafa Powell to move forward with plans to erect a monument in his honour at Independence Park at the National Stadium.

The sprinter and his wife, Alyshia, signed off on the maquette during a recent call on Minister Grange.

The Powells remarked that the sculptor got the details “just right.”

Minister Grange said the “sign-off by Asafa is an extremely important part of the process” which has included months of discussions and review of models between the sculptor, Basil Watson, and the athlete.

Having received the all clear, Minister Grange says she will now move ahead with the unveiling of the statue at the National Stadium on Sunday, February 9, 2020 at 4:00pm.

The bronze statue — to the scale of one and quarter life size — is the last of four monuments in tribute to outstanding Jamaican sports stars that have been commissioned by the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport under the Jamaica 55 Legacy Programme.

The statues of Usain Bolt, Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce and Veronica Campbell Brown have been completed and installed.

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Kingston, 23 October 2019 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, says that the statue in honour of Veronica Campbell Brown at the National Stadium is a fitting tribute to an outstanding athlete.

The Prime Minister, the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, unveiled the statue of the Olympic and World Champion sprinter on Sunday.

The statue was commissioned by the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport as a Jamaica 55 Legacy Project to celebrate the country’s glorious heritage in track and field.

In her tribute to Veronica Campbell Brown at the unveiling of the statue, Minister Grange said that “VCB will always be remembered as a young woman of no mean order, one who was always able to draw on her inner strength and come through with literally flying colours when her country and fellow athletes demanded it.”

Since 1997, VCB has won 49 medals, including 27 gold, representing Jamaica in international competitions. During her glittering career, she became the first Jamaican to win a global 100 metres title, the first woman to win the sprint double at the IAAF World Junior Championships, the youngest Jamaican woman to win an Olympic medal, the first Caribbean woman to win an Olympic sprint title, among other achievements.

Minister Grange said:

“Not many of our athletes can speak to the longevity and consistency of VCB. From her earliest days as a teenager blazing on the tracks of the regional championships and then at the National Stadium, representing her school, Vere Technical, in Girls’ Champs, to even this point in her life, she has had a long and distinguished career for which she must be justly proud. Some of us have been able to watch her grow through junior, youth and professional athletics.
In every sphere of competition, VCB stood out. She stamped her class in every arena of local, national and global sport.”

The statue in tribute to Campbell Brown — to the scale of one and quarter life size — has been mounted at Statue Park in the National Stadium beside the statue of her role model, Merlene Ottey.

The VCB statue is the third of four designed by Basil Watson for the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport.

The first two statues of Usain Bolt and Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce were unveiled in 2017 and 2018 respectively. The statue of Asafa Powell, the last in the series, will be unveiled in 2020.

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Kingston, 19 September 2019 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has given the following statement on the compensation of victims of the Coral Gardens Incident of 1963.

Minister’s Statement:

As representatives, we have two main obligations: to do what is right and to do it in the right way. I returned to government in 2016 on a mission to do the right things for culture, gender, entertainment and sport.

It was in this spirit that we started and completed the process of clearing the records of our National Heroes and other freedom fighters. It was the right thing to do. It was in that same spirit that we began a process of reconciliation with our Rastafari brothers and sisters.

There is no doubt that what happened in Easter, 1963 at Coral Gardens to members of the Rastafari community is a stain on Jamaica’s development. For 54 years, our Rastafari brothers and sisters lived with the physical, psychological and emotional scars of that incident and the feeling that successive governments had let them down by not sufficiently acknowledging what they had been through.

That changed in April, 2017 when Prime Minister Andrew Holness decided to do the right thing by taking responsibility and apologising for what happened in Coral Gardens in 1963 — before he was even born.

Doing the right thing is not always simple, popular or expedient; reconciling with our Rastafari brother and sisters is none of those things. It is, however, the right thing to do and we must do it in the right way.

Included in the Prime Minister’s apology in 2017 was a commitment to establish a Trust Fund in the amount of J$10M to the victims of the Coral Gardens incident. The amount was recommended by the Office of the Public Defender, which had started an investigation into the Coral Gardens incident in May, 2011. The Public Defender proposed a Trust Fund of no less than J$10M subject to review if further analysis suggests the need for a greater sum. By the end of the 2017/18 financial year — in keeping with the Prime Minister’s commitment — my Ministry forwarded, not only the promised J$10M, but an additional J$2M to the Administrator General’s Department as Trustee to establish the Fund.

We needed a fair mechanism to determine how and to whom compensation should be paid and turned again to the Office of the Public Defender to continue its work at locating survivors and getting information on their current socio-economic and living conditions. In its earlier report in 2015, the Office of the Public Defender said it was “unable to find a yardstick by which to recommend individual monetary compensation.” However, at our request to continue its work, the Office of the Public Defender underwent a careful, detailed and lengthy search and compilation of data (since 2017) and finally submitted a report to the Prime Minister in April, 2019.

While the Office of the Public Defender was conducting its comprehensive survey of socio-economic and living conditions of the survivors, my Ministry had been working with the Administrator General’s Department and Jamaicans for Justice, which represents the Rastafari Coral Gardens Benevolent Society, on establishing the terms which will govern the Trust Fund. We anticipated the report of the Office of the Public Defender to finalise the Trust and move to begin making payments.

However, in its 2019 report the Office of the Public Defender concluded: “Even after our survey of socio-economic and living conditions of the survivors, the material gathered still fell below that which was sufficient to allow us to make any reasonable estimate of damages.”

Therefore, the issue of a fair mechanism to determine compensation continues to occupy our attention in light of the conclusion of the Public Defender. I recognise that the survivors of the Coral Gardens incident have waited a very long time for acknowledgment, an apology and compensation from their government and I am determined to work day and night to expedite the process so that they will not have to wait much longer.

The official apology and the establishment of the Trust Fund are part of a broader programme of reconciliation with the Rastafari community.

The Government alongside the Rastafari Coral Gardens Benevolent Society has identified land that will ultimately be used to house a permanent Elder Care Home for the victims. In the interim, we are taking steps to make ready temporary facilities to serve as the Coral Gardens Elder Care Home. Through the efforts of my Ministry, wheelchairs, furniture and furnishings have been provided to survivors by Food for the Poor, the Ministry of Labour & Social Security, and private donors.

Additionally, my Ministry has pursued making other provisions for the welfare of the survivors and the Rastafari community in general, in consultation with the Rastafari Coral Gardens Benevolent Society and Jamaicans for Justice from time to time. At our last meeting at the end of August, 2019 we agreed that we would work towards actioning additional initiatives in October, 2019.

I have also appointed a Cultural Liaison with responsibility for Rastafari Affairs. The Liaison is Mrs. Barbara Blake Hannah a known expert in Rastafari heritage and matters relating to the welfare of the community.

I want a new, improved relationship with I and I Rasta brethren and sistren and with the team, including the directors of the Rastafari Coral Gardens Benevolent Society, I am working hard to achieve this new I-nity.

We will see this reconciliation process, including compensation for the Coral Gardens incident, through to conclusion. It is the right thing to do.

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Kingston, 12 September 2019 – In an effort to educate the nation on the life and work of the late Honourable Louise Bennett-Coverley (Miss Lou), Fontana Pharmacy has collaborated with the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport to distribute a ‘Miss Lou storyboard’ to over 1,700 schools in Jamaica at the Primary, Secondary and Tertiary level.

Minister of Education Karl Samuda says “I am delighted to receive & disseminate this Storyboard to our schools. It will undoubtedly raise awareness and deepen appreciation of the courage, contribution & conviction of the cultural icon that is Louise Bennett-Coverley.”

Miss Lou remains Jamaica’s greatest and most beloved cultural icon ever. The nation celebrated her 100th birthday on September 7, 2019. In her honour, a storyboard has been created to highlight important aspects of her incomparable contribution to Jamaican Culture.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange both contributed their treasured memories of how Miss Lou portrayed Jamaican culture and instilled national pride. Others such as Mervyn Morris and Tony Rebel, also discussed the impact of Miss Lou’s work on Jamaican and West Indian Culture. Their sentiments are captured in this dedication in text written by Fontana Chairman Kevin O’Brien Chang.

A framed storyboard will also be given to government Ministries, Embassies, Parish Libraries and major Jamaican Universities and Colleges. A downloadable digital version will also be available on the Fontana Pharmacy website: https://fontanapharmacy.com.

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Kingston, 12 September 2019 – All is now set for the installation of the statue of the Jamaican Olympic and World Champion sprinter, Veronica Campbell Brown.

On Thursday (today), the Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, received the all clear from Campbell Brown.

Minister Grange said:
“We’ve been in discussion with Veronica and the sculptor, Basil Watson, about the design, but today when Veronica saw the maquette she said, ‘Yes, this is it!’. She loves it!"

The statue in tribute to Campbell Brown — to the scale of one and quarter life size — will be mounted at Statue Park in the National Stadium and unveiled during a special ceremony on Sunday, 20 October 2019.

The Campbell Brown statue is the third of four statues in tribute to outstanding Jamaican athletes that are being designed by the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport as part of its Jamaica 55 Legacy programme.

The first two statues of Usain Bolt and Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce were unveiled in 2017 and 2018 respectively. The statue of Asafa Powell, the last in the series, is being finalised.

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Kingston, 7 August 2019 (JIS):  Two of the nation’s stalwarts, Alpharita Constantia “Rita” Marley, OD, and entertainer, Mr. Miguel Orlando Collins, also known as Sizzla Kalonji, have been honoured for their contribution to the development of the music industry by the Government of Jamaica.

Both were awarded with Reggae Icon Awards during the Jamaica 57 Independence Grand Gala, held at the National Stadium, on Tuesday (August 6).

Their awards were presented by Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness; Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Hon. Olivia Grange, and the President of the Republic of Kenya, His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta.

Prime Minister Holness said that Rita, widow of one of Jamaica’s pioneers of reggae, Bob Marley, was chosen for this award because of her contribution to the development of the foundation of reggae music, while Sizzla was awarded because he is one musician who has built on that foundation with positive music.

Sizzla, who gave the response on behalf of both awardees, said he is grateful to the Government and the nation, by extension, to recognise him for his contribution to nation building.

“I’m most honoured and most thankful in receiving such an award from such [a] noble nation, people and beautiful Government in the Western Hemisphere. It comes as a bit of [a] surprise,” Sizzla said.

Sizzla was born on April 17, 1976. He was raised in August Town where he still resides. He emerged on the reggae and dancehall scene in the late 1990s with hit singles, such as ‘Black Woman and Child’, ‘Thank you, Mama’, ‘Dry Cry’, ‘Just one of those days’ and ‘Solid as a rock’.

He is one of the most commercially and critically successful contemporary reggae artistes, noted for his high number of releases. As of 2018, Sizzla has released 56 albums.

Outside of the music industry, Sizzla has contributed to community development by establishing the Sizzla Youth Foundation which assists youth in August Town in overcoming their struggles and providing a haven from violence.

He also established ‘Judgment Yard’, by turning his August Town home into a Community Centre where he welcomes the community and organises community activities.

Rita was chosen for her award not only because she is the matriarch of the Marley family, but also because she has been a leading member of the Jamaican music industry from her early days as a singer, to her collaboration with Judy Mowatt and Marcia Griffiths who formed the ‘I Threes’ – the former backing vocal group for Bob Marley and the Wailers.

She was also chosen because she has pioneered the development of reggae as a musical form and for contributing to its growth and popularity in Europe, Africa and around the world.

Rita, who was born in Cuba to Leroy Anderson and Cynthia Jarrett, grew up in Greenwich Town, Kingston. Her musical career began in the 1960s. In 1986, she converted Bob Marley’s home into the Bob Marley Museum, which is currently the number one tourist destination in Kingston. She is also the Founder and Chairperson of the Robert Marley Foundation and the Bob Marley Group of Companies.

In 1996, Rita was awarded the Order of Distinction by the Jamaican Government. In 2000, she created the Rita Marley Foundation, a non-profit organisation that works to alleviate poverty and hunger in Jamaica and other developing countries.

She received the Marcus Garvey Lifetime Award in 2010, and on August 3, 2013, she was made an Honorary Citizen of Ghana by the Ghanaian Government. In November 2015, she was awarded with an Honorary Doctor of Letters Degree by the University of the West Indies.

On Tuesday, the Government also announced that Rita will be honoured with the fifth highest award in Jamaica, the Order of Jamaica (OJ), on Heroes Day in October.

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Kingston, 9 August 2019 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, says that Jamaica and Kenya have agreed to cooperate in the fields of sports, culture and heritage.

Minister Grange says the agreement was finalised during the recent State Visit of the President of Kenya, His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta.

Minister Grange signed the Memorandum of Understanding formalising the cooperation agreement with the Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Culture and Heritage, Ambassador Amina Mohamed.

Under the MOU, Jamaica and Kenya have agreed to cooperate in the organising of major sporting events in track and field, water sports, football, cycling, cricket, netball, boxing, tennis, golf, martial arts, basketball, rugby and any other discipline that both countries may mutually decide upon.

Minister Grange said:
“Jamaica is the sprint capital of the world and Kenya has a great reputation of producing some of the finest long-distance runners that we have ever known. I believe there is much that we can share not only in track and field, but in other sporting disciplines as well. And so we look forward to exchanges of coaches, administrators and physical education teachers; welcoming Kenyan athletes for training here in Jamaica among other initiatives which will benefit both of our countries.”

Jamaica and Kenya have also agreed to collaborate on sports science, the promotion of sports for people with special needs, and the implementation of anti-doping policies, procedures and practices within the World Anti-Doping Agency system.

Regarding culture and heritage, the areas of cooperation will include collaboration between the National Archives of both countries with a focus on digitisation and modernisation of the entities; cultural exchange in the cultural and creative industries; cooperation between the national museums in the field of heritage research, protection, conservation and management as well as exchange of experts.

Minister Grange said: We would wish to see visits of cultural and creative practitioners including musicians, dancers, actors, theatre groups and visual artists. And so we encourage the participation of our cultural and creative practitioners in festivals in both countries with a view to enhancing the strong cultural links between Jamaica and Kenya.

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20 July 2019 (OPM) - The Government of Jamaica is pleased to announce that His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta, President of the Republic of Kenya, will pay a State Visit to Jamaica as special guest for the nation’s 57th Anniversary of Independence celebrations. The President will be accompanied by First Lady, Her Excellency Margaret Kenyatta and an official delegation.
 
The visit also provides an opportunity to strengthen bilateral relations between Jamaica and Kenya, focused on the development of an economically strategic partnership through the fostering of trade and investment ties and the promotion of increased technical cooperation in areas such as tourism, education, sport and culture.
 
The Kenyan President is scheduled to arrive in Jamaica for the three-day State Visit on August 5.
 
Prime Minister Andrew Holness will hold bilateral talks with President Kenyatta, which will be followed by a press statement. The Kenyan President will also undertake other engagements and activities, including a courtesy call on the Governor-General who will host a State Dinner in his honour at King’s House.
 
The President is also expected to meet with the Leader of the Opposition.
 
As the special guest for Independence 57, which is being held under the theme: One Nation, One People, President Kenyatta will be fully exposed to Jamaica’s rich history and culture.
 
President Kenyatta will lay a floral tribute at the shrine of the country’s first national hero, the Rt. Excellent Marcus Mosiah Garvey at the National Heroes Park after which he will also visit the Bob Marley museum.
 
Prime Minister Holness will host the Kenyan President at the Denbigh Agricultural and Industrial Show in Clarendon on Independence Day. Later in the evening, President Kenyatta will attend the 57th Anniversary Independence Grand Gala.
 
The President will depart the island on August 7.

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