Senate Passes Bill to Validate Winding up of Tobacco Industry Control Authority

• The Tobacco Industry Regulations (Validation and Indemnity) (Repeal) Act 2021, was passed in the Senate on April 23. The legislation provides for the validation and confirmation of all acts in relation to the winding-up of the Tobacco Industry Control Authority, including the divestment of assets, entering into contracts, and the payment of redundancies to officers and servants.
• The decision by the Cabinet is aligned to the Government’s public sector Master Rationalization Plan, which proposes a reduction of the over 190 public bodies, comprising companies, agencies, and statutory bodies, as a critical feature of transforming the public sector.
• The ongoing effort to streamline and rationalize the public sector is guided by the policy on the categorization and rationalization of public bodies which requires a leaner, more efficient, and coherent grouping of public bodies. Under the policy, public bodies have been identified for the merger, outsourcing, and integration into parent ministries, privatization, divestment, and closure.
• This transformation is expected to make the public sector more capable, effective, and economical for the government. This will help to enhance Jamaica’s competitiveness and allow the GOJ to divert current expenditure to capital expenditure to support economic growth.

(Source: JIS & NCBCM Research)