“Donated funds will be used to purchase building materials. It will be used to purchase things that are tangible, traceable, and for which it is easy to account.” -Prime Minister Holness
Prime Minister Dr. the Most Honourable Andrew Holness has outlined the Government’s strategic approach to managing Hurricane Melissa recovery funds, emphasizing that donated monies are being deliberately directed towards tangible reconstruction efforts such as roofing repairs and building materials, rather than short-term expenditure that cannot be properly accounted for.
Speaking today during Labour Day activities at the Lewis Town Early Childhood Institute in St. Elizabeth, Prime Minister Holness addressed recent public discussion surrounding the Auditor General’s report on Hurricane Melissa recovery spending, noting that while the criticism may appear reasonable “on the face of it,” the Government took deliberate decisions to ensure accountability, transparency, and long-term value for affected Jamaicans.
“Not everything that appears urgent is wise and not everything that is wise appears immediately. The Government wasn’t being inefficient. The Government was being very strategic and very efficient,” the Prime Minister stated.
Prime Minister Holness explained that Jamaica is projected to spend approximately J$67 billion on hurricane relief and recovery efforts, including restoration of electricity, roads, schools, hospitals, clinics, and debris removal operations, while the cash donations received totalled approximately J$1.4 billion.
He noted that nearly J$10 billion has already been deployed through the Government’s ROOFS programme, supporting close to 50,000 Jamaicans.
The Prime Minister stressed that the Government made a deliberate policy decision that donated funds would primarily be used to purchase building materials and support visible, measurable recovery works.
“Donated funds will be used to purchase building materials. It will be used to purchase things that are tangible, traceable, and for which it is easy to account,” Prime Minister Holness said.
He continued: “When we fix a roof, the roof is there. You can go and measure it. You can see it. … We are not spending the money on anything that anybody can say, ‘Boy, it melted.’”
He reported that close to 500 roofs have already been restored under the programme, with additional works projected as materials are replenished.
Importantly, Prime Minister Holness also provided critical context on issues raised in the Auditor General’s report regarding administrative weaknesses in inventory management, explaining that the findings related to procedural documentation gaps between ODPEM and the JDF during the intense logistics operations following the hurricane.
“It didn’t say the materials were stolen. But there was an administrative accounting failure,” the Prime Minister explained, noting that materials were often delivered overnight to avoid congestion, at times when ODPEM officers were off duty, but JDF personnel remained operational.
The Prime Minister underscored that in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, Jamaica received substantial humanitarian supplies, including food, generators, and tarpaulins, and the Government’s challenge was not the absence of relief items but ensuring efficient logistics, proper targeting, and accountability in distribution.
“We’ve made strategic decisions that the funds will be used not in the relief phase but in the recovery and rebuilding phase. We want to be able to say to those people who contributed: Jamaica has put on 1,000 roofs; this is the material; this is what your funds helped to purchase. That’s something you can see. It’s tangible, accountable, and traceable.”
Prime Minister Holness reaffirmed that the Government remains committed to prudent management of donated resources while ensuring recovery efforts deliver lasting benefit to affected communities across Jamaica.
