Support Jamaica donations to be used to rebuild homes, Westmoreland being prioritised - Morris Dixon

Jamaica Gleaner | 2025-12-03 | Original Article

Information Minister Dr Dana Morris Dixon has disclosed that the millions collected by the Government through the Support Jamaica Hurricane Melissa relief website will be used to buy building materials to support reconstruction, particularly homes.

 

 

Morris Dixon today told a special Melissa press briefing at Jamaica House that Cabinet gave approval for the undertaken.

 

 

Last week, some concerns were raised when it was disclosed that none of the money raised has been spent.

 

 

Up to last week, the figure stood at US$1.68 million and J$635 million

 

 

Speaking today, Morris Dixon stated that the Government has been diligent in its actions and is committed to putting in place the right mechanisms to ensure correct spending.

 

 

She indicated that the Ministry of Labour has been in the field conducting damage assessments using geo-tagging to identify homes and other structures damaged by the hurricane.

 

 

The information minister only houses assessed and verified by the Labour Ministry will be repaired.

 

 

She said this is in furtherance of accountability to ensure that the correct persons benefit and proper accounting of funds.

 

 

“The money will be used to buy building material that then can be traced to the individuals who have gotten it. So it will go to a house, we know that that house was damaged, we know that that family is not able to repurchase the material needed to fix it. So that’s how the funds will be used,” she said.

 

 

Morris Dixon stated that the majority of the house for reconstruction will be in Westmoreland, particularly the constituency of Westmoreland Eastern, which is represented by the People’s National Party Member of Parliament Dr Dayton Campbell.

 

 

She said Campbell has already been informed about the plan, adding that he has been working on identifying persons in the constituency who lost their homes due to the Category 5 storm.

 

 

She noted that those persons would still need to be assessed by labour ministry.

 

 

The information minister added that Jamaica is to get help from Guyana in the rebuilding of homes, with the country committing to repair 200 structures and to send personnel from its engineer regiment of its army.

 

 

During his presentation, Director General of Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management Commander Alvin Gayle disclosed that some 1.6 million buildings across the island have been access using geo-tagging, with 215,000 to them having some level of damage.

 

 

Gayle further said that it is estimated that 156,000 of these structures have varying degrees of roof damage.

 

 

He said the labour ministry has so far completed 31,000 damage assessments.

 

 

Morris Dixon underscored that the Government has been working on the right framework on Melissa recovery and reconstruction, pointing to plans to establish the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NARA).

 

 

In announcing the authority, Prime Minister Dr Holness said the statutory body is to have special powers to lead, coordinate, fast-track and oversee national reconstruction. It will report directly to the Office of the Prime Minister.

 

 

Morris Dixon told the briefing that due care is being taken in establishing the authority as the Government wants an approach that works for the benefit of the country.

 

 

“We only have one shot at building back our country, one shot, and we have to do it properly. And sowe are taking the time to ensure that the legal form that NARA takes is the right one for the purposes that we have. We’re taking the time to ensure that the procurement framework is the right one that can spur action. Jamaicans can’t wait 10 years for the rebuilding, we need to move quickly,” she said.

 

 

“But while we’re trying to move quickly we also have to do so with accountability embedded in it and so we’re taking the time to make sure that we have an entity that can move speedily and without all the red tape to rebuild Jamaica in a much more resilient manner but at the same time still be accountable to the people of Jamaica,” she said.

 

 

She said details are to be shared with the public.

 

 

As part of that accountability framework, she said a system is to be rolled out soon to allow the public to track Hurricane Melissa donations and distribution, amid concerns about fairness in the relief process.

 

 

The Opposition People’s National Party has questioned equity in aid delivery and the involvement of its members in coordinations, concerns which have been rejected by Holness.

 

 

“I've seen some preliminary data that shows that this notion of partisanship is actually very, very incorrect. It may be partisanship in the other direction,” Morris-Dixon said.

 

 

She said the system may be in place within the next week or two.

 

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