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Fans of Ragashanti hold up their placards in front of the BCJ office yesterday during a protest to get him back on air. – Laranzo Dacres

Supporters of Dr Kingsley ‘Ragashanti’ Stewart and his talk show, Ragashanti Live, staged a peaceful protest in front of the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica’s (BCJ) office yesterday.

The loyalists congregated in the vicinity of a central bus stop on Knutsford Boulevard, New Kingston, clad in white T-shirts and jeans, which they said was the planned dress code for the protest. The mostly female protesters were armed with tambourines and placards as they voiced their disapproval of the recent decision made by the BCJ.

“Raga mek people can enjoy dem poverty,” one infuriated protester told THESTAR.

The protest came on the heels of an order issued by the BCJ on Monday to have ‘Ragashanti Live’ removed from Nationwide 90 FM with immediate effect, based on what was said to be numerous public complaints over a two-month period, coupled with 18 breaches of the Broadcasting Diffusion Act that the commission said the radio station had committed.

“From mi hear seh dem a guh tek Raga off a di radio, all now mi nuh eat nuh more food,” said one protester, known as Jennifer Goodas.

Two police vehicles loaded with officers were parked close to the feet of the protesters to ensure that the protest remained orderly.

“Raga stand for the upliftment of poor ghetto people,” was what one of the placards held by an elderly lady read.

“Never in the history of radio has the BCJ requested a host off air, I don’t think it’s in their portfolio. Because if it were so, other radio station personnel have done stuff worst than Raga on air and got suspended and are now back on radio,” Michel Le’ a member of Ragashanti’s radio talk-show team said fervently.

She continued: “And if Raga was doing something wrong then he should have been off radio a long time ago. So, I would say Cordell Green and Hopeton Dunn have not been doing their jobs, so if Raga get booted off radio that mean they should be booted from the BCJ because they were not doing their jobs!”

When THESTAR left, the protest was still ongoing as the protesters beat their tambourines while engaging in chants of “We want Raga!”

THESTAR has also learnt that the protesters are planning on being in the same area at the same time today with much more support as well as on Thursday. On Friday, they also plan to stage an islandwide protest for the reinstating of ‘Ragashanti Live’ on radio.

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Security threat at Manatt commission

2011-03-17 17:11:45 |  with audio | (2 Comments)

Emil George, Chairman of the Manatt enquiry

Debbie-Ann Wright, Assistant News Editor

The Manatt-Dudus commission of enquiry was interrupted for a few minutes this afternoon as police personnel moved to deal with a security threat.

The police were alerted to the threat after someone passed out three brown manila envelopes toattorneys Hugh Small, KD Knight and Patrick Atkinson during the proceedings.

Knight said he proceeded to open the envelope when he noticed it had a plastic lining.

He said after tearing through that lining he noticed another envelope which contained a powdery substance.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding’s attorney, Hugh Small, said he was concerned that the security of participants in the enquiry was being compromised.

It was then that the Commission Chairman decided to take an adjournment to allow the police to ensure that security at the conference centre where the proceedings are being held was not compromised.

During an interview after normalcy had been restored to the proceedings, Knight said he was very satisfied with how the matter was dealt with by the police.

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Listen to Audio clip
People’s National Party attorney, K.D. Knight

Blood for my Tears

My name is Natalie I am now 16 years old I have never met my fahter. I live with my mother and I have a sister . My life is rough and always was. I lived in conditions that I cannot will not explain because you will not understand. When things got bad with my mother her head couldn’t manage and we still had to live with her at age six I already missed two years of school. The yard that I live in was mainly family, some good, some bad and some should be dead. My mother was the poorest in the yard and was not respected at times. “Dman” my cousin was the don fi di yaad, although he was only 22, he was wicked and he was not from around ther but he saw where he could do his deeds without interfernace. “Dman” did not know his father either like almost all of us, he died when his mother gave birth. As a young girl nobody showed interest in me and if they did it was for the wrong reason. Mommy was getting better but couldnt manage and gave me to “Big Mother” who lived at the top of the lane Big Mother had a decent house and she had a shop and everything but she was not kind to me. Her daughter had a job and it was decent not common where I lived and would drive too but they still lived in a place where a lot of people would not go freely. I complained to my mother several times of the beating and illtreament and my mother took me back. I was happy but still life was still not good but I was happy to be with my mother. During this time my mother had a friend she met while the girl would come and by “Ganja” I thought the girl was very brown. And she would talk to my mother and everybody else. Sometimes she would bring food and clothes. She did not live in Jamaica but when she came she she would bring me to her house and she baked me my first birthday cake. I did not speak to her much because I could not speak like her. Anyway she like everybody else did not really know what was going on. One night when I 12 years old my friend came to me and told me that she was going to a nine night I agreed to go with her at a place called Doom Town. My mother said no but I agreed to go I thought I am twelve and I can go where ever I want. While we were there my friend and her man left me when she came back I was being raped she ran when she saw what was going on. I bled and bled someone my mother new gave me some paper and tried to clean me off. My mother saw me and started crying “Dman” was called alerted as he was for everything. He came around the back running and said to me ” A who do dis? A yu gi him? A wah gwaan? Tell mi a who ? Dem nuh know mi ? My mother told him. He told my mother to bring me to “Big Mother” to check mi out. I was ashamed to admit that I was raped so I said that he used his finger, clearly I was lying. Big Mother said “mi buss up” and the message was passed on to Dman. Dman fly down the gully and beat di bwoy to a pulp and made him eat dirt. I was not taken to the doctor and and Dman told my mother to avoid “babylon” cause dem a problem. Lucky for di “waste bwoy” it was broad day light so no machine neva rise. Days passed and my life was not the same and I did not see my friend for a long time and to add insult to injury. My mother would curse my friend saying”if yu neva go wid dah whoring gyal deh yu would neva get touch, di gyal an ar waste mumma ova a deh a tek man like trouble. Dman’s baby mother came to visit and she was also a teenager. Shi called me and said ” Yu know seh a violate dem bwoy deh violate, an him luckee seh him neva dead ova deh caw him a gwaan like him nuh know yu a who fa fambily ova yah”. I had to go on because it was just one of those things, time went by and now I have to wipe my tears and smell the blood

SHELDON WILLIAMS, STAR Writer
A female teacher from a homework centre in Kingston who was allegedly attacked and beaten severely by the father and uncle of one of her students is now recovering from brain injury and whiplash.

“Two of dem come fi dominate one likkle teacher, the man gimme some head and face lick, till me get dizzy,” she explained to THE STAR.

“I had to fight off this man while the other beat me in my head with his fist,” she added.

THE STAR understands that the incident took place on February 16 at the institution, after the teacher intervened in a dispute between two boys who had a fight at the school.

According to the woman, she had attempted to speak to both boys who had a disagreement but both seemed uninterested in quelling the dispute.

However, she proceeded to discipline the boys by speaking sternly to them before she advised them to go home. She then returned to the staffroom. Shortly afterwards, the teacher’s attention was drawn to a loud noise coming from the schoolyard.

piece of board

When the teachers responded, they saw that one of the boys had the other pinned to a wall with a large piece of board held at his neck.

The female teacher acted swiftly and retrieved the board from the youngster and told both of them to leave for their respective homes again.

She said that she then returned to the staffroom under the impression that the matter was settled.

However, moments afterwards, two men barged into the staffroom with one of the boys who was involved in the conflict.

One of the men then reportedly shouted, “A who lick me pickney?”.

When no answer was forthcoming, the son is said to have been instructed to point out which teacher had beaten him. To the woman’s surprise, she said that the boy pointed to her.

She explained that all she remembered after that was receiving blows to her face and head while she was been restrained by the other man.

“The man all knee me inna mi belly,” she said.

Since the incident, she explained that she has suffered loss of memory, frequent blackouts, and dizziness. She also had to do a cerebral scan.

She also added that none of the other teachers came to her assistance because they seemed fearful.

The teacher is now considering a change of career because of the attack.

“Me feel fi change me profession,” she emphasised. The coordinator for the centre confirmed the incident. All efforts by THE STAR to obtain the police report were unsuccessful.