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KINGSTON, Jamaica — As Jamaica struggles to move forward with recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Melissa, a top opposition official is sounding the alarm over a persistent national cement shortage, urging immediate parliamentary intervention to address a crisis that threatens both reconstruction work and broader national economic progress.

Anthony Hylton, the opposition’s spokesman on Investment, Trade and Global Logistics, laid out his call for urgent action in an official press release issued Tuesday, pushing for the crisis to be immediately referred to parliament’s Economy and Production Committee. Hylton says the full parliamentary body must conduct a complete, transparent probe into the root causes of the shortage, evaluate whether the current government’s response to the disruption has been sufficient, and work out targeted policy interventions that will lock in stable cement supplies for Jamaica’s medium and long-term needs.

In the days leading up to his formal request, Hylton has held a series of consultations with core stakeholders across Jamaica’s construction sector, from independent contractors and domestic manufacturers to hardware retail operators and major infrastructure investors. Across these conversations, stakeholders have repeatedly shared urgent concerns: the ongoing shortage has already thrown construction project timelines off schedule, eroded confidence among local and foreign investors, put thousands of sector jobs at direct risk, and driven up input and consumer costs across the entire construction ecosystem.

“You cannot credibly promise to ‘build back better’ if we cannot even begin building at all,” Hylton emphasized in his statement. “Cement is the non-negotiable foundational input for every part of our work, from post-disaster reconstruction to upgrading national infrastructure and building long-term economic resilience. Relying on last-minute imports as a stop-gap is not a meaningful strategy — it is just a temporary band-aid that does nothing to guarantee long-term supply security or protect domestic Jamaican jobs down the line.”

Hylton added that the widespread destruction caused by Hurricane Melissa should serve as a critical wake-up call for policymakers to shift away from reactive crisis management and toward proactive, forward-looking planning. “Hurricane Melissa has made it painfully clear that Jamaica needs to be prepared to rebuild quickly and effectively when disaster strikes. That level of preparedness depends on planning and action today, not scrambling for reactive fixes after a crisis hits,” he said. “Parliament has a core constitutional and public responsibility to make sure the right systems and stable supply chains are in place to support national recovery and drive long-term inclusive development.”

Hylton went on to note that a comprehensive national strategy to guarantee stable, reliable cement supply is no longer a secondary policy concern — it is an urgent priority. This urgency is amplified by multiple overlapping demands: the ongoing need for post-Hurricane Melissa reconstruction, the national government’s own commitment to building back stronger and more climate-resilient infrastructure, and rapidly rising demand from major new projects spanning housing development, tourism infrastructure, manufacturing facilities, and national climate resilience upgrades.

The crisis has not come without explanation. Carib Cement, Jamaica’s dominant domestic cement manufacturer, released a public update last week confirming that weeks of unusually heavy rainfall across the island have severely disrupted its operations. The adverse weather has created major challenges for raw material extraction and processing, and contributed to unplanned equipment breakdowns and process disruptions that have pulled down temporary production levels.

While the company acknowledged that some supply delays persist, driven by both elevated post-reconstruction demand and ongoing adverse weather conditions, Carib Cement gave public assurances that cross-functional teams are working around the clock to restore full, optimal production levels as quickly as possible.

Jamaica’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) faced a striking absence of senior leadership from the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) on Tuesday, as the parliamentary panel pressed forward with its review of alarming operational shortcomings uncovered in a recent Auditor General’s report. Neither the sitting chief executive officer Fitzgerald Mitchell nor his predecessor Kevin Allen appeared before the committee, and former UHWI board chair Wayne Chai Chong also declined to attend. Chai Chong notified the PAC he was currently outside the country, and confirmed he would be available to give evidence at a rescheduled hearing on May 12.

According to PAC chair Julian Robinson, Mitchell communicated his decision to skip the hearing through the UHWI board chair, citing legal advice recommending his non-attendance. Despite repeated formal requests from the parliamentary body for a written copy of this legal guidance or a formal explanation for Mitchell’s absence, no documentation has been submitted to the committee to date. Robinson added that Allen, who had previously confirmed he would attend Tuesday’s sitting, failed to show up without offering any advance notice or clear justification for his absence.

Robinson emphasized that the failure of the sitting UHWI CEO to appear, paired with the complete lack of formal documentation explaining his absence, represents a severe disregard for parliamentary authority amid ongoing scrutiny of high-stakes audit findings. “Now, I find, particularly related to Mr Mitchell, his absence and the absence of any formal documentation indicating why he’s not here, to be contemptuous of the PAC and the Houses of Parliament, given the very serious issues that have been raised in the Auditor General report, and given that he is the chief executive officer of the hospital,” Robinson stated.

The PAC launched its review of the Auditor General’s findings on UHWI operations after multiple previous sessions failed to resolve outstanding questions about the hospital’s management and practices. During Tuesday’s hearing, Robinson drew the committee’s attention to existing provisions under Jamaica’s Senate and House of Representatives Powers and Privileges Act, which grants parliamentary committees the legal authority to compel individuals to appear and testify under oath.

Peter Bunting, an opposition Member of Parliament representing Manchester Southern, threw his support behind the committee pursuing stronger enforcement action to secure the attendance of the absent UHWI leaders. Bunting argued that receiving private legal advice does not automatically grant an individual exemption from a parliamentary summons. He noted that protections against self-incrimination, the most common legal grounds for declining to answer specific questions, only apply in the context of active police or prosecutorial investigations. Even in those cases, Bunting added, individuals are required to appear before the committee in person to formally assert that right, rather than ignoring the summons entirely. “To just not appear and ignore the first request and then the summons, I think it would be contemptuous, as you said, and would require some action,” he added.

KINGSTON, Jamaica — As Jamaica’s House of Representatives prepares for a critical Tuesday evening vote on the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) Bill, a senior government legislator is pushing back hard against criticism that the proposed legislation contains fundamental structural flaws.

Delano Seiveright, Member of Parliament for St Andrew North Central and Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, says the bill is equipped with robust guardrails and formal oversight structures designed to guarantee full transparency and accountability for all disaster recovery work. The legislation is intended to streamline post-hurricane reconstruction efforts, nearly three months after Hurricane Melissa devastated multiple Jamaican communities.

While Seiveright emphasized that public review and robust parliamentary debate of the bill are not only necessary but welcome, he warned against allowing legitimate policy discussion to descend into crippling delays at a moment when coordinated recovery action is an urgent national priority.

“I welcome the scrutiny. This is exactly the kind of legislation that should be debated seriously,” Seiveright stated in remarks Monday. “But we must be careful not to confuse accountability with paralysis. Jamaica cannot afford to talk itself into delay while communities are still recovering. We are good at talking issues to death.”

To counter claims that the new authority would operate with unchecked executive power, Seiveright walked through a series of binding provisions outlined in the bill’s text. First, all projects undertaken by NaRRA must be selected from a pre-approved national project list, and all formal programs and implementation plans require explicit sign-off from the Cabinet before any work can begin, as laid out in Clause 17 of the legislation.

“That alone defeats the idea that this is some unrestrained body operating on its own,” he added.

Seiveright next highlighted Clause 9, which mandates that NaRRA maintain accurate, up-to-date financial accounts and operational records, and requires the authority to complete annual independent audits conducted by a registered public accountant. He noted that the bill explicitly grants Jamaica’s Auditor General the power to audit and examine NaRRA’s records at any time, with no advance notification required.

“In addition, Clauses 10 and 11 require annual performance reports and audited financial statements to be submitted to the responsible government minister and formally laid before Parliament, ensuring direct, ongoing legislative oversight,” Seiveright explained.

Transparency measures are further strengthened under Clause 20, which requires NaRRA to maintain a publicly accessible electronic registry of all approved projects. This tool will allow any Jamaican citizen to track which projects have been greenlit and monitor ongoing work, eliminating the hidden decision-making that has plagued past recovery efforts, according to Seiveright.

“If people are concerned about corruption, then they should also look at the actual safeguards in the Bill,” he said. “Cabinet approval, full independent audit, auditor general access, reporting to Parliament, a public project register — these are not small things. This is the most scrutinized reconstruction framework Jamaica has ever put forward.”

Seiveright also defended the bill’s expedited approval provisions laid out in Clauses 21 through 24, which opponents have framed as a bypass for standard governance checks. He countered that the streamlined processes are necessary to avoid the bureaucratic gridlock that has slowed disaster recovery in previous disaster events across the globe, noting that the provisions do not eliminate accountability — they restructure it to enable timely action. The bill requires all accelerated decisions to be accompanied by written documentation, expert guidance, public notice, and opportunities for stakeholder input before any approval is finalized, he added.

“These clauses do not remove governance; they structure urgency. There must be written directions, expert advice, notice, and opportunity for representation before any escalation. That is not lawlessness. That is disciplined execution,” he said.

Another key point Seiveright emphasized is that NaRRA is designed as a temporary, time-bound body, with formal dissolution requirements explicitly included in Part IV of the legislation. The authority will not become a permanent expansion of government bureaucracy, as some critics have claimed, he said.

Drawing on lessons from major international disaster recoveries, Seiveright pointed to high-profile examples including Haiti following the 2010 earthquake, New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. In each case, he noted, billions of dollars in pledged recovery funding was held up for years by fragmented leadership, overlapping bureaucracy, and a lack of centralized coordination, leaving vulnerable communities waiting for critical support.

“The lesson globally is clear: recovery usually does not fail because of a lack of money. It fails because governments cannot organize themselves to deliver,” he said.

Seiveright added that Jamaica’s existing broader democratic ecosystem adds additional layers of oversight that will keep NaRRA accountable. These include parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, chaired by Opposition MP Julian Robinson, the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee led by Opposition MP Peter Bunting, the national Integrity Commission, the independent judiciary, law enforcement, the free press, and the independent Jamaica Reconstruction and Resilience Oversight Committee chaired by Stanford University economist Professor Peter Blair Henry.

While he acknowledged that no large-scale reconstruction framework can ever be perfectly crafted before launch, Seiveright said adjustments can be made as implementation progresses, and delaying the bill in search of perfection would only harm Jamaican communities waiting for recovery.

“No major reconstruction framework will ever be perfect. There will be adjustments and improvements along the way. But perfection cannot become the enemy of progress. The urgency of now requires us to move, carefully, transparently, but decisively,” Seiveright declared.