KINGSTON, Jamaica – Transport, Works and Housing Minister Dr Omar Davies is scheduled to close the 2013/14 Sectoral Debate at Gordon House this evening, after four more widely anticipated contributions from both sides.

Minister of Tourism and Entertainment Dr Wykeham McNeill is to speak on the issues facing the tourism sector; his junior minister Damion Crawford will speak on entertainment; Minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Horace Dalley will address public sector employment issues; and the Opposition spokesman on Health and Quality of Life, Dr  Kenneth Baugh, will address some of the issues raised last week by Minister of Health, Dr Fenton Ferguson.

All five contributions are relative to critical areas of government, and are crucial to Parliament and the public’s understanding of the state of the economy and the quality of the social fabric.

McNeill was originally scheduled to speak on June 12 but postponed his address, with no explanation. So too did Dalley, when he should have spoken on May 22.

In the meantime, Opposition Spokesman on Tourism and Travel Service Development Edmund Bartlett has called on Dr McNeill to outline a clear strategy to move the country forward, after the sector recorded another decline in April.

Bartlett said the trend was of concern, especially given that the declines have occurred for most of the traditionally strong winter tourist season.

Crawford is expected to address what has become, surprisingly, one of the main issues of the current debate, “night noises” and the effects of the police’s enforcement of the Noise Abatement Act on shows and dances.

The issue was taken up by government backbenchers Richard Parchment and Keith Walford in their contributions, while the Opposition spokesperson on culture, Olivia “Babsy” Grange pressed for a delicate balance between the rights of the show/dance promoters to make a living and those of the public who want a peaceful night’s rest.

  — Balford Henry