How We Destroyed Air Jamaica - Part III

One evening, after a hard day's work, I put my accounting information away and made sure that I secured and checked off the thousands of dollars collected from the travel agencies. The funds were placed inside the vault. The supervisor and another staff member had access to the vault combination lock.

The next morning I arrived bright and early for another day's work. I immediately went to take the US cash out of the vault. There was no cash in the vault. My mind immediately took a roller coaster ride. Did I leave it outside? Did I put it into one of the folders? Did I put it in my drawer?

I spent the whole day discreetly searching everywhere, and the US cash could not be found. I visited the bathroom numerous times during the day. I ate no lunch. 

At the end of the day it was time to go home—not just for the day but permanently. I nervously approached the supervisor's desk, and in a voice which was barely audible, I told him that I had put the US cash in the vault, and it was not there. He just smiled and said it was OK.

I am not used to using expletives, but I went down the steps. I did not take the lift. I let out a litany of popular and colourful Jamaican words. I told my sister about the experience. I could not sleep that night.

I called the VP for Finance and the Chief Internal Auditor, and I told them about the situation in the department. It did not seem like much to them, so I left it alone.

This flight was getting bumpier. There is more to come.

Note:

I am writing this series so people can understand why some organizations fail. Young people going out to work should be very careful and be aware of what can happen in the workplace. You could end up losing your job for something that you did not do. Parents, please share these stories with your teenagers.

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Prostate Cancer

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What's Happening - August 19, 2026

Yu Want A Piece A Land Fi Capture?

For the past few weeks since this Cooper Pen demolition incident, I have seen a significant number of liars and deceptive people getting all the media time to expound on their deceptive ideas. Jamaica seems to be becoming a criminal's paradise, or it has become one. 

• We have reduced the penalty for murderers. 
• Persons who commit crimes can plead guilty and get lighter sentences. 
• Criminals can now sit in the House of Parliament. 
• Parliamentarians can encourage the people to commit illegal acts, and they are still in parliament.
• Persons rape, then come out of prison and commit rape again.

Those who supported the 'choppers' are now jumping to support those who capture land. Bark Di Trute has made many suggestions on how to deal with the problem of squatting in Jamaica, and not one of these leaders has come forward to support or oppose those suggestions. Even some church leaders have gotten into supporting the land capturers. While the politicians are looking for votes, what are these church leaders looking for?

I have a suggestion. These churches have land, and so do some of the leaders with crocodile tears. They could help by allowing these people to squat on their land. Not a bad idea. Can you imagine if they had decided to squat on Jamaica House or Kings House lands?

The question is, who encouraged the people to go on the land, and who gave them false hope that they could capture the land and get title to the land?

I wish I could make headlines like some criminals, liars, and deceptive people. Jackass say 'di worl' no lebel' Good people are not heard in this country. God bless this blog, Bark Di Trute.

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Can NWC Be Fined For This?

This is NWC water running to waste at Water Mount in St. Catherine. This is in front of MP Tufton's office. It is flowing from a tank. I wonder if we could charge NWC JAD1000 or imprison them.

Customer Expresses Thanks For Fixed NWC Main

This customer expresses appreciation to the NWC for fixing a broken main. The NWC should now ensure that the road surface is repaired. Bark Di Trute understands that there is an agreement between NWC and NWA for this to be done.

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Prostate Cancer

Remember to have your prostate checked out by the doctor, or you might see your maker earlier than he had planned.

Please add your comments at the bottom of the blog.

______________________

Click Here.

______________________

Keep abreast of the news and information in the world. Bark Di Trute, a Jamaican blog, is packed with accurate information. Click the following link and get information at your fingertips. WhatsApp link is: https://chat.whatsapp.com/C9bkP96JIN2JgHiuktY3Jj 

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Without your support, Bark Di Trute could fail to bark one day. Send your ideas, stories, and news by WhatsApp at (876) 816-5261.

You can view this blog on your computer at https://vderby.blogspot.com, and you will be able to see the various links. For example, there is a link that takes you to the calendar to see what is happening on the weekend. You can even search the site for articles. There is also a weather link, which you can use to track hurricanes.

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How We Destroyed Air Jamaica - Part II

Working with the airline was fun, although the pay was small. While I was a student at the UWI, I used to work at Air Jamaica during my holiday breaks. One day I had to take a young wheelchair passenger to the aircraft. I had a pleasant conversation with her, and I was convinced that she would walk again. She did walk again, and we have been in touch for over forty years now. I later discovered that she went to school with my ex-wife.

Another day, while working in the customs hall, I saw a man who was very annoyed because his bags were delayed. I offered him some water, but he was too annoyed for that. His wife encouraged him to have the water. I told him that I was willing to do anything to make him happy. He gave me a number to call. I was to tell someone at his office to send a plane for him. I went to my office and told the supervisor about the man's strange request. The supervisor looked at me and smiled and said, "That is the president of Kaiser." On my birthday, I was summoned to the president's office. Walking to his office seemed like a walk forever. Why did the president want to see me? He only calls the pretty girls to his office. Oh yes, he loved the young girls. His ex-wife used to make the bouquets for his girlfriends.

I am normally an intrepid person, but being summoned by the president of Air Jamaica made me shake in my boots. He quickly informed me about the incident with the president of Kaiser, and he said I would be given a complimentary trip. In those days, as holiday workers, we would work one day less than the qualifying time for a trip.

I was now with the company as an accounts assistant, and my job was to reconcile the largest account, the Scotia account. I spent days trying to reconcile it, and I could not. The supervisor reprimanded me as a UWI graduate because I could not reconcile a simple bank account. I told him that something was wrong with the accounts for the previous year. He advised me that the accounts were audited and nothing was wrong with the accounts. Without the supervisor's authorization, I decided to reconcile the accounts for the whole of the previous year. It meant working late into the mornings and then taking a taxi home in the early morning to East Kingston at my own expense. Things were getting hot in East Kingston in the 1980s.

Eureka, there it was: cheques totalling over JAD300,000 were put through the system twice, and that is how they managed to balance the accounts for the previous year. I went to the supervisor and reported my findings. He said to me, "The man is a genius." My interesting flight had just begun.

________________________

Prostate Cancer

Remember to have your prostate checked out by the doctor, or you might see your maker earlier than he had planned.

Please add your comments at the bottom of the blog.

______________________

Click Here.

______________________

Keep abreast of the news and information in the world. Bark Di Trute, a Jamaican blog, is packed with accurate information. Click the following link and get information at your fingertips. WhatsApp link is: https://chat.whatsapp.com/C9bkP96JIN2JgHiuktY3Jj 

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It's best to view this blog on your computer at https://vderby.blogspot.com.

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Without your support, Bark Di Trute could fail to bark one day. Send your ideas, stories, and news by WhatsApp at (876) 816-5261.

You can view this blog on your computer at https://vderby.blogspot.com, and you will be able to see the various links. For example, there is a link that takes you to the calendar to see what is happening on the weekend. You can even search the site for articles. There is also a weather link, which you can use to track hurricanes.

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How We Destroyed Our National Airline - Part !

There is so much misinformation that we are bombarded with that I believe the Jamaican populace is confused. Political leaders are also helping to create the confusion. Many have very little respect for the truth. The traditional media houses seem to have adopted this 'eat a food' mentality due to the harsh economic realities of the time. Those in the intellectual class seem to be busy hustling to make a dollar, so they have very little time to think about what is happening to our beautiful country.

Years ago, sugar was king, banana was carrying the swing, and bauxite was an excellent weapon in the economic fight. What is now bringing in the gold? Tourism brings in numbers of people, but I don't see any gold being left behind.

No country can succeed where there is a high level of crime and corruption. The challenge with how we deal with corruption is that the emphasis is on political corruption, which I believe is at a low level. Very little attention is given to corruption in the private sector and the public sector. It would be interesting to know what percentage of our schools have been audited during 2025. Yes, we need to audit the Auditor General's Department and the Integrity Commission.

We have lost many entities that could make money for our country. One such entity is our national airline. The majority of revenue earned by that airline was foreign exchange. I will spend some time in this article and future blogs looking at Air Jamaica, the little piece of Jamaica that flew. We can learn from that experience in order to deal with our current challenges.

Let's look at some of the practices that cost us our national airline. Many extra pieces of luggage were put on the flights that were not paid for. There was no control over the number of tickets given by executives to their friends, business associates, and relatives.

At the airport, thousands of dollars were lost compensating passengers for lost luggage and lost items from luggage. When the plane landed, much of that luggage ended up in the garbage bins behind the carousel. The 'so-called' owners came for them after. Inside the baggage area, where customers' bags were supposed to be safe, people took things out of the passengers' suitcases and threw them in the rubbish bin to be retrieved later when the bins were removed. There was also a scam with the travel tax. I am told that the travel tax went into pockets.

Many of us cannot understand why we literally gave away those valuable slots in London. BA is still on that route, and they must be doing well. We had flights going to LA with a handful of passengers, and you wonder why. Were there other valuable commodities on board? We were dubbed at one time as 'Ganga Air'. At one time, we went as far as Germany. I wonder why? The airline had to pay thousands of US dollars when the planes were detained for carrying drugs. I wonder who those people were who used the airline to carry drugs.

We will talk more about Air Jamaica in the future and why it crashed. Our people must learn that when we tear down entities, it affects future generations and our country. Today's youngsters' hope of becoming a pilot or an avionics engineer has been dashed. He has to find a call centre job to earn a little pocket money. We no longer have a national airline. It's a shame.

________________________

Prostate Cancer

Remember to have your prostate checked out by the doctor, or you might see your maker earlier than he had planned.

Please add your comments at the bottom of the blog.

______________________

Click Here.

______________________

Keep abreast of the news and information in the world. Bark Di Trute, a Jamaican blog, is packed with accurate information. Click the following link and get information at your fingertips. WhatsApp link is: https://chat.whatsapp.com/C9bkP96JIN2JgHiuktY3Jj 

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It's best to view this blog on your computer at https://vderby.blogspot.com.

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Without your support, Bark Di Trute could fail to bark one day. Send your ideas, stories, and news by WhatsApp at (876) 816-5261.

You can view the blog with your computer at https://vderby.blogspot.com, and you will be able to see the various links. For example, there is a link that takes you to the calendar to see what is happening on the weekend. You can even search the site for articles. There is also a weather link, which you can use to track hurricanes.

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Slogans Cannot End Squatting

By Michael Spence

Michael Spence

It is time we admit a hard truth: Ending squatting and housing every Jamaican cannot be achieved by slogans alone. "Easier said than done" is not an excuse, but it is a warning.

For decades, the National Housing Trust has functioned less like a savings vehicle and more like a housing tax—what some have called a National Housing Pyramid Scheme.

Only a fraction of contributors ever see a draw-down. Worse, successive governments have dipped into the NHT fund for projects only marginally related to housing. 

That money should have been used to regularize informal settlements and eliminate squatting. We cannot afford to forget our history.

From 1834 to 1838, the formerly enslaved were freed into pennilessness and pushed onto marginal lands. We are, in many ways, the Black descendants of that forced squatting. The cycle should have ended long ago.

The economic data show why urgency matters. According to World Bank and IMF figures, Jamaica’s real GDP per capita remains among the lowest in the Caribbean:

Haiti: $2,694  

Jamaica: $8,003  

Dominican Republic: $11,059  

Trinidad and Tobago: $18,967  

Barbados: $28,335  

Guyana: $32,414  

Bahamas: $40,005  

Cayman Islands: $104,293  

Only Haiti ranks below us. That is not a position a proud, independent nation should accept.

Our trade imbalance tells the same story. In 2025 Jamaica imported US$7.6 billion while exporting just US$2 billion. If this continues, we risk becoming more than an “irie dancehall” — we become global socio-economic squatters. Dependent on borrowing, remittances, and, for too many, on the illicit economy of scamming and other crime.

This must change. Jamaica needs more production, more exports, and real import substitution. We need jobs that build wealth, not debt.

We need a housing policy that delivers on its promise and fiscal discipline that protects contributors’ money for its intended purpose.

We have the culture. We have the lyrics. Now we need to ride the rhythm of productivity.

Only then will Emancipation and Independence carry their full meaning. No more economic squatting. It is time to build.

Michael Spence

Michael Spence is a graduate of Cornwall College and the University of the West Indies. He is a trained teacher, a sociologist, and a writer for Bark Di Trute.

Micspen2@hotmail.com 

________________________

Prostate Cancer

Remember to have your prostate checked out by the doctor, or you might see your maker earlier than he had planned.

Please add your comments at the bottom of the blog.

______________________

Click Here.

______________________

Keep abreast of the news and information in the world. Bark Di Trute, a Jamaican blog, is packed with accurate information. Click the following link and get information at your fingertips. WhatsApp link is: https://chat.whatsapp.com/C9bkP96JIN2JgHiuktY3Jj 

________________________

______________________

It's best to view this blog on your computer at https://vderby.blogspot.com.

_________________

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Subscribe Now!

• Subscribe to my YouTube Channel.
• Subscribe to my Emergency News Advice Service.
• Make a financial donation now.

Without your support, Bark Di Trute could fail to bark one day. Send your ideas, stories, and news by WhatsApp at (876) 816-5261.

You can view the blog with your computer at https://vderby.blogspot.com, and you will be able to see the various links. For example, there is a link that takes you to the calendar to see what is happening on the weekend. You can even search the site for articles. There is also a weather link, which you can use to track hurricanes.

_____________________