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OFFICIALS FROM The University of the West Indies (UWI) are due to appear before the Jamaican Parliament next week amid news that Vice Chancellor Sir Hilary Beckles is investigating the chancel- lor, Robert Bermudez, the ceremo- nial head of the regional institution. THE UNIVERSITY team is expected to face the Human Resources and Social Development Committee on January 12. A previous meeting was set for November 16. Lawmakers invited The UWI to dis- cuss the damning 2020 governance report commissioned by Chancellor Bermudez, and which Education Minister Fayval Williams tabled in the House of Representatives last June. The report is viewed by some critics as an effort to discredit the steward- ship of Beckles, a historian and lead- ing global voice on reparation from European enslavement. The UWI is facing financial ruin and maintains a“dysfunctional”corporate governance structure beset with con- flicts of interest and weak accounta- bility mechanisms, the report argued. It has proposed a series of major changes, some of which would weaken the pow- ers of the vice chancellor, who is the executive head of the regional university. At a meeting last April, the University Council re- newed Beckles’contract for another six years despite objections from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago – the two most powerful contributing coun- tries – that argued that the university needed new leadership to fix the fi- nancial and governance problems. The council is the highest deci- sion-making body and includes gov- ernment representatives. The Sunday Gleaner broke the news over the weekend that Beckles, a Barbadian, established a six-mem- ber committee, chaired by Jamaican lawyer Milton Samuda, to probe his contract renewal and then report to him. It means Beckles’committee is investigating not just Bermudez, but also the council, that is chaired by the chancellor. 7 NOTICE OF PROCEEDINGS IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE OF JAMAICA CLAIM NO. SU2021ES00809 IN THE ESTATE of OLGA JANE GORDON late of 4 Alphanso Avenue, Kingston 10, in the parish of Saint Andrew, retiree, deceased, testate. BETWEEN SYLVESTER MORGAN CLAIMANT/APPLICANT AND ZANA RUSSELL FIRST DEFENDANT/RESPONDENT AND CHRISTOPHER THOMAS THIRD DEFENDANT/RESPONDENT (Executors, estate Olga Jane Gordon, deceased) TAKE NOTICE that an action was commenced against the First Defendant ZANA RUSSELL in the Supreme Court of Jamaica Probate Division, King Street, Kingston Jamaica. In Claim No. SU2021ES00809 in which the Claimant, SYLVESTER MORGAN claims an Order that the Defendants give an answer as to whether any funds were left in any financial institution in the name of the late OLGA JANE GORDON and an Order that the First Defendant undertakes to pay and/or reimburse the estate for funeral expenses of the LATE OLGA JANE GORDON . It has been order by this Court that personal service of the Amended Fixed Date Claim Form and Supplemental Affidavit in Support of Amended Fixed Date Claim Form on the First Defendant, ZANA RUSSEL be dispense with and that instead, service on her be effected by an insertion of this Notice of Proceedings in the Gleaner North American Online and Specialty Publication. Note: IT IS REQUESTED that the attention of the said ZANA RUSSELL may be drawn to this Notice by anyone knowing the whereabouts of the person whom it is addressed. Filed by LAWrence Legal, Attorney-at-Law of Suite 27, Winchester Business Centre, 15 Hope Road, Kingston 10, in the parish of St. Andrew, Attorney-at-Law for and on behalf of the Claimant, whose address for service is that of his Attorney-at-Law. Email: dlegal.lawrence@gmail.com Tel: 876-545-3405 or 876-633-3875. Att: Mr. Damion A. Lawrence #6142. Parliament to hear details of UWI rift Visitors arrive at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, St James, on Wednesday, December 15, the beginning of the winter tourist season. ASHLEY ANGUIN/PHOTOGRAPHER THE HALVING of the isolation period for COVID-19 positive patients from 10 to five days is being hailed by pres- ident of the Jamaica Hotel andTourist Association (JHTA), Clifton Reader, as a game changer. The new regulation, recommended by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), kicked in on Tuesday, January 4, five days after being announced by Minister of Health andWellness Dr Christopher Tufton. The health and wellness minis- ter confirmed the start date to The Gleaner on Monday . The delay was caused by the fact the change had not been ratified by Parliament. “People will be able to quarantine for [fewer] days, and once they test out of quarantine with a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) negative test, they’re free to fly,” Reader told The Gleaner during a presentation of 5,000 COVID- 19 self-testing kits to tourism workers by the health ministry last Thursday. The PCR is widely hailed as the gold-standard test. Several tourists to the island, mainly Canadians, have been complaining about the long isolation period. Many are convinced that because they have no symptoms, they could not be car- rying the virus. All travellers departing the island must present a negative COVID-19 test in order board any airline, including those in and out of Canada. FIT-TO-TRAVEL LETTER In addition, reports are that the air- lines have been telling passengers that all they need to do is quarantine for five days, then get a fit-to-travel letter from a medical doctor to fly. Quarantine days have come from a high of 14 to 10 before falling to five Tuesday, unless the negative test re- duces the time span. “Jamaica has put in an extra layer, so if you continue to test positive, you will be quarantine,” explained Reader TELEVISION JAMAICA (TVJ) has been accepted as a full member of the Advanced Television Systems Committee Inc (ATSC), an organisation repre- senting trendsetting stakeholders who are defining the global future of the next generation of television –ATSC 3.0. TVJ’S MEMBERSHIP of ATSC Inc is but one of many moves that the station is now undertaking as it embarks on its transition from analogue to the digital ATSC 3.0 transmission (NextGen TV) of its signal as mandated by the Government in January of this year. NATIONAL AIR Cargo Holdings of South Florida. has donated 80,000 gowns to Jamaica’s Ministry of Health and Wellness for distribu- tion in hospitals across the country. The donation was part of a total shipment of some 300,000 gowns split among Jamaica, Haiti and a num- ber of other Caribbean islands. Oliver Mair, Jamaica’s consul gen- eral to Miami, who was instrumen- tal in getting the gowns, thanked National Airlines for its generous contribution to boost efforts to outfit Jamaican hospitals with the vital equipment and protective gear. “Our health system will benefit by this kind gesture,” said Mair, who also thanked Food For The Poor (FFP), which was instrumental in providing the logistical support for getting the gowns into Jamaica. 80,000 hospital gowns donated to Jamaica COVID isolation reduced to five days ALTHOUGH CONCERNED about the rising COVID-19 infection numbers locally, several of the island’s principals are happy that their students will be able to return to their physical classrooms, starting this week, al- though the eleventh-hour announcement last week has caused anxiety. Despite anxiety, principals welcome return to classrooms TVJ first C’bean broadcaster to join putting-edge global TV organisation Sir Hilary Beckles THE WEEKLY GLEANER | JANUARY 6 - 31, 2022 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | NEWS