Not a dollar missing

PRIME Minister Dr Andrew Holness has vowed to give full transparency of the expenditure by his Administration of the Hurricane Melissa donations that have been acquired. As of October 26, donations towards the Hurricane Melissa response totalled approximately $1.7 billion. However, the Administration has since received scrutiny about the management of donated funds. Speaking at the Radar Commissioning Ceremony and Hurricane Melissa commemorative book launch at Coopers Hill in St Andrew on Wednesday, Holness pushed backed at critics, arguing that the Government “will be able to point to what the donations have done”. “I have seen some comments made...when you compare what was donated, which was about $1.7 billion, it would amount to less than 1.5 per cent of the total spending of Government,” Holness said. “So this business about people not getting grants and us not spending the donations, or us taking away the donations or whatever nonsense they want to say about it, it doesn’t make sense.” He added: “What we have done, and for the first time ever, and I challenge anyone to, in any way, bring alternative perspectives on this; this is the first time that we have gotten donations and we will be able to point to what the donations have done. The donations have gone to support our shelter restoration programme. We have gone now almost 600 roofs restored and repaired...” He said the donations are also being used to support the deployment of semi-permanent containers to hurricane victims. “Ultimately, there will be about 50 semi-permanent units there, which will benefit those persons who were living in shelters months after the hurricane. So you can literally go and see it, touch it, that is what the donations have done. So I say to those who are ignorant, they don’t know. I forgive you.” The S-band Doppler weather radar, the first in the English speaking Caribbean, is a radar tracking system used to determine the location and velocity of storms, clouds and precipitation. The US$2.45 million system, according to Principal Director at the Meteorological Service of Jamaica, Evan Thompson, is not just a forecasting tool, but will give forecasters lead time, and is essential to the country’s early warning system.