Fitz-Henley says 924 modular homes for Hurricane Melissa victims already landed in Jamaica

Government Senator Abka Fitz-Henley told the Senate on Friday that 924 modular or containerised dwellings earmarked for victims of Hurricane Melissa have already arrived in Jamaica, with several hundred more in transit.

The disclosure came during the ongoing debate on the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) Bill, moments before the chamber broke for lunch. Fitz-Henley was responding to a pointed question from Opposition Senator Dr Floyd Morris, who serves as the Opposition spokesman on housing and sustainable living.

Morris, who is visually impaired, pressed the Administration over the whereabouts of the 5,000 container homes it had pledged. “I want to know, weh di house dem deh. Where are the houses for the people that you (Government) have promised; the 5,000 container homes?” he asked, adding, “I look down at the wharf and I caw find dem.”

In reply, Fitz-Henley said Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness, who carries the housing portfolio, had convened a meeting on Thursday with several state agencies — among them the National Housing Trust, the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management, and the Social Housing Programme — and confirmed that thousands of the units had been purchased, with 934 already on the island.

“An additional 700 are on the way and 700 additional will follow,” he told the chamber.

“Senator Morris engaged the vernacular and asked ‘weh di house dem deh’. The answer is hundreds of houses are right here in Jamaica and the Administration will fulfill its commitment to make whole Jamaicans, who have been dislocated by the ravages of Hurricane Melissa,” Fitz-Henley said.

Drawing a contrast with a previous housing scheme, he told Morris that “The modular homes programme will not be plagued by the corruption that was embedded in Operation Pride where hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money were pilfered and a PNP activist was taken into custody.”

“In the Administration of Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness, we take matters of accountability and probity seriously. The modular houses programme is subject to rigorous oversight,” he added.

Closing the exchange, the Government senator told his Opposition counterpart, “So Senator, yuh asked weh di houses dem deh, you have had your answer within a few minutes.”