Hurricane gift audit shows $1.4b mostly uncommitted as patois clash and health reforms dominate week

Four months after Hurricane Melissa struck southern and western Jamaica in October 2025, a real-time audit tabled in Parliament on Tuesday found the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management had paid out only $26 million of roughly $1.44 billion in cash donations received from the public—less than two percent—as at February 23.

Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis reported that ODPEM told her office the low spending reflected a lack of Ministry of Finance approval to release the funds. The hurricane killed at least 45 people and left more than US$12 billion in damage. The review also noted unspent balances linked to Hurricane Beryl in July 2024 and gaps in delivery verification, including nearly $34 million in building supplies sent to Jamaica Defence Force sites without signed proof of receipt.

Parliamentary Secretary Senator Malden Morgan acknowledged the finding but cited more than $11 billion in government-funded relief and recovery work, and said the audit supports the case for the proposed National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority. Opposition Senator Cleveland Tomlinson rejected claims that red tape alone explained the delay. “It is unconscionable and scandalous that the government sat on donated money while thousands of Jamaicans suffered,” he said, stressing that 88 percent of Melissa donations remained uncommitted, with no contracts attached.

Speaker Juliet Holness stopped opposition MP Nekeisha Burchell from opening her sectoral contribution in Jamaican patois on Wednesday, citing standing orders that require proceedings in English. Burchell later pressed for structured cultural programming, pointing to influencer IShowSpeed’s recent viral visit. Broadcaster Fay Ellington criticised vulgar reworkings of the revived heel-and-toe rhythm associated with producer Steven “Genius” McGregor, while promoter Ibrahim Konte argued folk heritage should be taught in schools rather than policed on stage.

Kingston Mayor Andrew Swaby said a suggestive Rude Boy billboard removed in Rockfort last week breached planning rules in a sterile zone, not public backlash; St. Catherine plans an ethics committee to vet advertising. Health Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton announced that from June 1 internal audit units in public health must report directly to the ministry, alongside tighter contracting checks, a national fertility strategy as the birth rate falls to about 1.3 children per woman, and new infrastructure funds. Former University Hospital of the West Indies board chairman Wayne Chai Chong told the Public Accounts Committee he resigned in December 2023 after Dr. Tufton overruled a board decision on the chief executive.

Thirteen-year-old Excelsior High student Camellia Paul remains in a coma at Kingston Public Hospital after an alleged stabbing in Bayshore Park, Harbour View; relatives named Kemar Mitchell as the alleged attacker and are appealing for blood and surgical supplies—contact Josephine Mitchell at 876-590-7998. U.S. court filings allege dancehall entertainer Flippa Mafia, born Andrew Davis, was monitored during a multi-state drug conspiracy. Two St. Catherine residents, Joan Betty and Richard Williams, were each fined $200,000 for transporting 180 pineapples without Rural Agricultural Development Authority receipts. President Donald Trump has nominated former Arizona broadcaster Kari Lake as the next United States ambassador to Jamaica, subject to Senate confirmation.