ODPM forms disaster fund oversight panel as Manchester shooting leaves two hurt

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management has established a National Disaster Fund Committee to oversee policy and management of the fund, addressing Auditor General concerns raised in the review of Jamaica’s Hurricane Melissa relief effort.

ODPM Commander Alvin Gale said the panel responds to findings that included the lack of a dedicated National Disaster Fund account and the appearance of mixed funds. He said the money was not blended with ordinary recurrent or capital budgets; instead, surplus cash from a separate project was held temporarily in a dedicated disaster account. Talks with the Ministry of Finance and Public Service and the Accountant General are under way, with a resolution expected soon.

Separately, two men were hospitalised after a Sunday shooting at the entrance of Bellefield High School in Manchester. Shortly after 5:00 p.m., gunmen fired on a group gathered at the school gate for a football match, wounding one man in the face and another in the shoulder before fleeing. Police said a third man was bruised while seeking cover.

On the political front, Opposition Leader Mark Golding told the People’s National Party’s National Executive Council at UWI Mona that leaked voice notes allegedly discussing moves against the government’s NAR recovery mechanism did not come from an official party forum. He said no party officer took part in the chat and that the PNP has no official NEC or executive WhatsApp group. Jamaica Labour Party Communication Task Force chairman Senator Abka Fitz-Henley called Golding’s remarks shameful and misleading, arguing the opposition leader failed to strongly condemn alleged delay tactics and that the group includes many PNP executive members.

Egg farmers are also under pressure from extreme heat, especially along the south coast. Jamaica Egg Farmers Association president Mark Campbell, who runs Campbell’s Egg Farm in Falmouth, Trelawny, said some producers have lost up to 60 dozen eggs a day, with one farmer reporting more than 700 laying birds dead. Temperatures of about 105 to 106 degrees have been recorded in St. Catherine, Clarendon and St. Elizabeth. The association is advising farmers to wet roofs, use sprinklers and adjust lighting, noting brown layers cope poorly with heat. National egg output rose from about 120 million eggs in 2008 to a peak of 255 million in 2023 before weather-related setbacks.

In other developments, principals are being urged to tap a $75 million Education Ministry allocation for school-designed literacy and numeracy interventions, Parliamentary Secretary Senator Marlon Morgan said. D Burns won Jamaica’s Festival Song Competition with “I Love Jamaica,” taking home $3 million plus $200,000 for best performer. Ninety-six-year-old Aileen Chin of St. Mary was recognised by Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest living female cooking YouTuber, and reggae icon Rita Marley marked her 80th birthday on Saturday.