PNP urges spending plan after audit shows most Melissa relief donations unspent

The People's National Party held a press briefing on Monday, 18 May 2026, to respond to the Auditor General's report on Hurricane Melissa relief. Senator Cleveland Tomlinson, deputy spokesperson on productivity, efficiency and competitiveness, said the review exposed serious failures in how donated funds were handled.

Tomlinson told reporters that Jamaicans at home and abroad gave $1.44 billion to support recovery after the category five storm. By the end of February 2026, only about $26 million had been spent, leaving roughly 88 per cent unspent. He said the opposition would press for a public plan for the balance and for accountability across the roofs programme and wider relief logistics.

Dr Angela Brown Burke, the party's spokesperson on social protection and social transformation, said thousands of people still lack proper shelter more than seven months after Melissa struck western Jamaica. She cited a December estimate from the Red Cross of about 156,000 damaged homes and 90,000 affected families, and argued that leaving most donations idle while need remains vast amounts to a governance breakdown.

Brown Burke said the roofs initiative was meant to be the main route to housing help. She questioned government claims that 114,000 household assessments were complete, and described complaints from constituents about wrong community data, missing payments, altered damage ratings and people absent from beneficiary lists. The Auditor General, she noted, could not independently verify any of 421 roofs said to have been repaired, found no formal completion reports, and could not confirm that materials valued at $167.3 million reached intended recipients. The Ministry of Labour and Social Security, she added, provided no written selection criteria and said verifying construction was outside its remit.

Anthony Hilfan, spokesperson on trade and global logistics, said donated goods have piled up at ports and warehouses, with donors facing rising storage fees or abandoning cargo, including items covered by charitable waivers. Perishables have spoiled awaiting clearance, he said, and the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management portal launched in November 2025 was used mainly for donor uploads rather than management reporting.

Tomlinson said more than $15.7 million in donations was withheld beyond an agreed 45-day period because no formal agreement existed with ODPM. He also cited $138 million in unspent donations after Hurricane Beryl in 2024, and Auditor General findings on the National Disaster Fund, including $163 million in a bank account and $203 million in investments as at February 2026, with years without a standalone audit and other compliance gaps under the Disaster Risk Management Act.

The opposition called for published beneficiary lists by parish, independent technical verification of repairs, fee relief for stranded relief cargo, a disaster logistics protocol before the 2026 hurricane season, and support for shelter residents. Tomlinson commended Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis and her team.

Asked by The Gleaner what the opposition would do differently, Tomlinson said it would have prepared an expenditure plan from the outset, coordinated agencies including local government, and ended fragmentation at the ports. TVJ's Jamila Maitelland asked where unspent funds should go now; Brown Burke said shelter remains the greatest need. Tomlinson said little grace is owed seven months after the storm.