Day 25 - Post Submission | Interactions with the Office of the Prime Minister
Dear Friends,
Today is the 25th day since we submitted our petition to our Government of Jamaica on April 4 and 5th, 2019 (electronically and by hand delivery) respectively.
It is also the 44th day since we started our petition on March 9th, 2019.
To date 16,704 of us have united to petition our government to Increase the Subvention to the University of Technology, Jamaica, Commensurate with Need.
[Do continue to share the petition. Let's get to 20,000!]
As you know, since submission, I had not seen an acknowledgement from the Office of the Prime Minister or the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information.
I have found the non-response of both government agencies puzzling. So today I decided to call the Office of Prime Minister, to learn more.
In sum, the relevant person I spoke to was not aware of receipt of the petition package delivered electronically and hand delivered. I was informed that the email: opmnews@opm.gov.jm which I used, as noted on the Office of the Prime Minister website, was governed by another department. It was also recommended that I speak to another person who could address receipt of hand delivered mail.
I was informed that the following email is recommended when addressing our Prime Minister i.e. primeminister@opm.gov.jm
I asked whether the Government's Jamaica House Petition Website https://opm.gov.jm/participate/jamaica-house-petition/ was still working? The person was unable to say and recommended that I research that with the relevant department.
Given that the person who could speak to receipt of hand delivered mail was not available, my name and number were taken so that I could receive a follow up call to verify my hand delivered submission of April 5th, 2019.
As discussed with the person who took my call, today I re-directed the Petition Data email of April 4th to the primeminister@opm.gov.jm email address, and also copied the person. Having re-sent the email, I called the person back to say that I had redirected the email as discussed. I also reminded the person about facilitating the follow-up call re: Receipt of hand delivery of the petition data.
Later today I received an acknowledgement of receipt of the email. See below (edited).
--------- Forwarded message ---------
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2019 at 13:56
Subject: Re: Petition Submission 15K+ Signatures - GOJ Increase Subvention to UTech, Jamaica...
To: Coach Cheryll Messam <cheryll@youinmindjamaica.com>
Dear Ms Messam,
This mail serves to acknowledge receipt of your email.
Best,
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Friends, do continue to be attentive to this very important education and national development issue as we continue to wait for our Government's resolution of the under-funding of our national university, the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech, Jamaica)
Thanks for your support!
~Cheryll
Cheryll Messam
cheryllrm@yahoo.com