标签： Jamaica

It has been 16 weeks since Hurricane Melissa tore through Jamaica’s Westmoreland parish, leaving a trail of destroyed homes and damaged infrastructure in its wake. Today, hundreds of residents remain trapped in a prolonged state of displacement, their dwellings still capped by makeshift tarpaulin roofs—some frayed by months of harsh tropical weather, others newly placed after failures, all standing as quiet markers of a glacial recovery process. For most homeowners waiting to fully repair their properties, the path to reconstruction is blocked by two common bottlenecks: delayed insurance settlements and slow disbursement of government relief funding. But an unforeseen barrier has emerged as the most frustrating obstacle for many: restricted access to building materials through the island’s flagship relief scheme, the Restoration of Owner or Occupant Family Shelters (ROOFS) Programme.

Designed to deliver targeted financial assistance via vouchers to homeowners based on the assessed level of damage to their properties—categorized as minor, major, or severe—the initiative has been thrown into chaos by growing allegations of opaque and potentially biased supplier selection. Local residents and business owners alike are raising alarms that political patronage may be shaping which hardware stores are approved to participate in the programme. This screening process has locked out multiple well-stocked, locally established suppliers, creating a crippling imbalance across the parish’s construction supply market: approved vendors are overwhelmed by demand and facing crippling stock shortages, while non-participating outlets sit with full inventories but cannot accept the government vouchers that most recovery-dependent residents rely on.

One of the largest excluded suppliers is Clarke’s Hardware, a decades-old staple serving communities across western Jamaica and based in George’s Plain. Owner Lorna Clarke told reporters that her team took proactive steps well in advance to ramp up inventory ahead of the post-hurricane construction boom, diversifying their supplier network to avoid the shortages plaguing other businesses. “We have different suppliers, so we don’t have that problem. If one has none, we contact the next,” Clarke explained to the Jamaica Observer. Despite having consistent stock of all required building materials, Clarke’s has been locked out of the programme, leaving both the business and its long-term customers strained.

Clarke, who has been working nonstop since the hurricane to both serve customers and repair her own storm-damaged home, says that the exclusion has left local residents deeply frustrated. Many of her regular customers must now travel long distances to reach the nearest approved vendor, only to find that those outlets have no materials in stock. “When they go to those locations they are not getting through because they have no supplies. They have to be checking all over,” she said. What makes the exclusion even more confounding, Clarke argues, is that her business is equipped to deliver materials to remote, hard-to-reach communities across Hanover, Bluefields, Beeston Spring and other areas where access to construction supplies is already limited. The lack of access to a nearby well-stocked supplier has pushed some residents to drain personal savings to pay for materials out of pocket. Shauna-kay Malcolm, a registered farmer, told reporters she opted to use her own cash at non-approved Nepaul’s Hardware in Savanna-la-Mar rather than wait for relief, while other customers reported no delays getting materials from the same non-participating outlet.

Central Westmoreland Member of Parliament Dwayne Vaz has pushed back against claims that his office influenced the selection of participating vendors, placing full responsibility for the list with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. “The choices were made directly from the Ministry, I had nothing to do with it,” Vaz contended, noting that he has directed excluded suppliers to the ministry, and several have been added to the programme after reaching out directly to Minister Pearnel Charles Jr. Even so, Vaz acknowledges that the current supplier list is deeply flawed, forcing residents to travel excessive distances to redeem their vouchers and driving up delivery costs unnecessarily. He also highlighted a second critical flaw in the programme’s implementation: once a voucher is scanned at an approved vendor that lacks stock, the full balance is deducted immediately, leaving residents unable to use the voucher at any other location even while they wait weeks for materials to arrive.

For local residents like Angela Green of Georges Plain, the logistical failures add unnecessary cost and delay to an already stressful recovery. Green told the Sunday Observer that she is forced to travel five miles to Savanna-la-Mar or 52 miles to Retreat to redeem her voucher, while Clarke’s Hardware—her closest local option—sits just three miles from her home, fully stocked and unable to accept her voucher. As weeks stretch into months with tarpaulins still covering damaged roofs and residents waiting for materials to rebuild, a growing sense of abandonment has taken hold across the parish.

Calls are now mounting from community stakeholders and residents for urgent intervention, including greater transparency in supplier selection and independent oversight of the ROOFS programme. Stakeholders argue that government officials need to conduct on-the-ground assessments to adjust the supplier list to match local needs, noting that the controversy is not just about access to construction materials. For the hundreds of Westmoreland families still waiting to rebuild their lives after Hurricane Melissa, the crisis is also a test of fairness, efficiency, and the government’s commitment to ensuring relief reaches the communities that need it most.

In St James, Jamaica, law enforcement officials have published a composite drawing of a suspect linked to a deadly shooting that unfolded earlier this month in the parish’s Somerton District. The fatal attack, which claimed the life of a local auto mechanic, took place on March 5 at a residence on Easy Street in the Bullock Heights neighborhood.

The victim has been formally identified as Rohan Green, who was also known by two local nicknames: ‘Blacks’ and ‘Ockra Bud’. Green worked as an auto repairman and resided at the Easy Street address where the incident occurred.

According to official statements from the Adelphi Police Division, the violence broke out at approximately 11:25 a.m. that Thursday. Green was in the process of repairing vehicles at his home when he was suddenly ambushed by one or more unknown attackers. The assailants opened fire multiple times, striking Green before they fled the scene quickly to avoid capture.

Local residents immediately alerted police to the shooting. When first responders and investigators arrived at the location, they found Green lying motionless on the ground. He had sustained multiple gunshot wounds to his upper torso and head, which proved fatal.

Investigators have since worked to build a clearer picture of the attacker, using detailed witness descriptions to generate the official composite sketch now released to the public. St James police are now launching a public appeal for information to help move the case forward.

Authorities are asking any member of the public who has details related to the murder, the suspect’s identity, or the events of March 5 that could assist the investigation to reach out to law enforcement immediately. Tips can be submitted anonymously or directly through several contact channels: the Montego Bay Criminal Investigations Branch (CIB) at 876-953-6191, the independent Crime Stop hotline at 311, the national 119 police emergency line, or any nearby local police station.

CLARENDON, Jamaica — On a somber Saturday in central Jamaica, dozens of people spanning two connected communities — fellow law enforcement officers from the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), and the late detective’s loved ones — came together at Grace Baptist Church, located on Sewell Crescent in the busy town of May Pen, to pay their final respects to a decorated decades-long servant of Jamaica’s public safety.

The honoree was retired Detective Inspector George Washington Williams, who was widely known to colleagues and friends by his warm, affectionate nickname “Greybeard.” Williams passed away on February 2, 2026, while residing in the United Kingdom, following 12 years of retirement after an extraordinary four-decade career in policing.

After the farewell service, Williams’ remains were laid to rest in the family burial plot in Somerset, a quiet community in the parish of Manchester, not far from where he served much of his later career.

Speaking on behalf of Jamaica’s top law enforcement official, Commissioner of Police Kevin Blake, Area 3 Police Division Commander Assistant Commissioner of Police Christopher Phillips delivered a moving tribute that highlighted Williams’ far-reaching impact on policing across Jamaica. Over his 37-plus years of service, Williams held assignments across nearly every major branch of the JCF, leaving his mark on units from Kingston Western and St Thomas Criminal Investigation Bureau to the Security Intelligence Branch, the Narcotics Division, and the elite Major Investigation Task Force. He also held operational posts in the parishes of Clarendon, Manchester, and St Catherine’s South, building a reputation as a reliable and dedicated officer across the island.

“Throughout his entire tenure, he served the people of Jamaica with unwavering diligence and deep passion,” Phillips shared during the service, noting that Williams’ contributions were repeatedly recognized by the force over his career. The retired inspector collected an extraordinary 73 professional commendations for his work, and was awarded the Medal of Honour for Long Service and Good Conduct in 1995, with a second bar to the medal granted in 2006 to mark his continued distinguished service.

Photographs from the service, capturing Williams’ family members in attendance and Phillips delivering his tribute, were captured by photojournalist Llewellyn Wynter, who also documented the event in on-site video.