Senate Begins Debate on NaRRA Bill

The Senate commenced debate on the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) Act, on Friday (May 1).

NaRRA will serve as the central coordinating authority for post-hurricane reconstruction, designed to eliminate bureaucracy, fragmentation, and project delays.

It will also function as a centre of technical excellence for project preparation and delivery, ensuring that the quality of national plans matches the scale of the country’s ambitions.

Piloting the legislation, Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator, Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon, argued the necessity of having a NaRRA in place to lead reconstruction efforts.

Dr. Morris Dixon noted that year after year, a significant portion of the capital budget goes unspent, noting that the system is not designed to deliver capital projects at pace.

“The procurement requirements, the inter-agency approvals, the fragmentation of responsibility across multiple ministries and agencies, the absence of a single coordinating authority are the structural features of the existing framework that has produced consistent underperformance in capital budget execution,” she stated.

“Now, if the existing machinery cannot consistently spend its annual capital allocation, then the question answers itself. Why do we need a NaRRA? A framework that cannot reliably deliver what is budgeted in normal times cannot be expected to coordinate and execute the post-Melissa reconstruction and resilience building programme,” she added.

The Minister also addressed the concern that NaRRA does not have a board of governance, such as an advisory board.

“NaRRA is similar to an executive agency but it’s not an executive agency under the Executive Agencies Act. It will be a statutory body established under its own special-purpose legislation but the governance philosophy it embodies, which is clear CEO (chief executive officer) accountability to the responsible minister without a governing board that diffuses responsibility, reflects the very principles that Parliament has already legislated through the Executive Agencies Act, for some of the most consequential public bodies Jamaicans interact with daily,” the Minister said.

“So, in place of a governing board, public accountability and oversight for NaRRA will, in part, be provided by JAMROC (Jamaica Reconstruction and Resilience Oversight Committee) and the already existing accountability and oversight framework that exists within the Parliament, that includes the Auditor General, and that includes the Integrity Commission,” she added.

Dr. Morris Dixon also explained that JAMROC will be modelled on the Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC), while adding that a member nominated by the Leader of the Opposition will also be included.

She also informed that Cabinet sits at the top of the project approval architecture, as Cabinet issues the official list of approved reconstruction and resilience projects and also the strategic investment projects.

“Whatever plans NaRRA has developed have to be approved by Cabinet before implementation. The Minister will also oversee NaRRA through directions and required reports. NaRRA, based on our Bill here, will be required to submit reports every six months to the Minister and those reports are required to be tabled in Parliament,” Senator Morris Dixon said.

Regarding financial oversight, NaRRA’s accounts must be audited annually by an external auditor, which is chosen by the Cabinet Secretary and approved by Cabinet.

“So, this external auditor will be appointed independent of NaRRA’s management, and I have to note that the Parliament will also receive the annual report and audited statements of NaRRA. Also, you have the Auditor General who is expressly entitled to examine the authority’s accounts and records,” Dr. Morris Dixon said.

Debate on the Bill is set to continue in the Upper House.