Government adds $50 million to church repair fund amid SDC scrutiny

The administration has allocated a further $50 million to assist congregations still picking up the pieces after Hurricane Melissa struck last October, even as disagreement persists between the government and the Opposition over the body overseeing the recovery effort.

Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie disclosed the additional sum while standing up for the Social Development Commission, the state agency now running the Community Church Clean-Up and Restoration Initiative. That programme, launched earlier this year with an initial $75 million, was set up to help thousands of places of worship rebuild in the storm's wake.

The latest top-up lifts the overall commitment to $125 million. The move comes with many churches still unrestrained nearly eight months after Melissa swept across the island.

Adrian Loton, pastor of the Church of God of Prophecy in Deeside, Trelawny, said his congregation's building looks much as it did on the day the hurricane hit. Morlett Schloss, president of the Trelawny Parish Development Committee and a member of Hope Tabernacle in Wakefield, reported similar conditions at her church. Their experience mirrors a wider problem — officials estimate roughly 6,000 churches across Jamaica were affected by the storm.

The restoration programme has also become a flashpoint in a political row over how well the SDC is performing. Opposition Spokesperson on Local Government Natalie Neita-Garvey used a sitting of the House of Representatives last Wednesday to question whether the commission is adequately resourced to get the work done, suggesting the organisation is due for renewal.

McKenzie pushed back hard against that criticism. Pointing to the billions channelled through the agency in recent years and the scale of its community outreach, he argued the SDC is indispensable and among the most valuable institutions established in recent times.