Gov’t pockets 70% of $1 billion allocated to poor under Solidarity Programme

A revelation by Dione Jennings, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, that about 77 per cent, or $$770 million, of the $1 billion set aside for the Government’s Solidarity Programme has been “returned for debt reduction” triggered grave concern among some members of a parliamentary committee on Wednesday.

The Solidarity Programme, which was announced in June 2025 targeted at vulnerable segments of the population, was intended to provide a one-time grant of $20,000 to 50,000 individuals as part of the country’s social protection efforts.

Under the programme, grants are provided to applicants who meet the criteria, such as the elderly, the disabled and vulnerable persons who are not in school or employed and are not benefiting from other social programmes.

Jennings, who was appearing before Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC), said of the 18,000 applicants to the Solidarity Programme, 11,521 had been approved for payment, totalling $230.42 million. This means that 63 per cent of the applicants were selected for disbursement.

Quizzed as to the plans for spending the balance of the money, Jennings replied: “We are at the end of the financial year, so the money unspent would have been returned for debt reduction.”

She told members of the PAAC that there were applicants who were not eligible to receive a benefit as they did not meet the criteria.

“We are also looking at the persons who had submitted their applications and met the criteria after the end of the financial year,” she added.

But PAAC member Dr Alfred Dawes was not satisfied with the explanation given by the permanent secretary as to why about 77 per cent of the money was not allocated to vulnerable Jamaicans.

According to Dawes, the country “is still reeling from revelations that the $1.44 billion of donor aid was barely spent, and now we are being informed that there is $770 million unspent [which was] earmarked for the most vulnerable in our society”.

A real-time audit by the auditor general had revealed that the Government spent only $26 million or 1.8 per cent, of the $1.44 billion in cash donations for those displaced by Hurricane Melissa. The report also found that funds from Hurricane Beryl which impacted Jamaica in 2024 were still unspent up to April this year.

Dawes argued that the conceptualisation of the Solidarity Programme was wrong from the outset “if people are suffering and we are sitting on $770 million that went back into Consolidated Fund for debt payment”.

However, Jennings pointed out that the Solidarity Programme was a one-off initiative that was “interrupted by the general election and by Hurricane Melissa”. She said the ministry had made every effort to accommodate persons who applied for the benefit under the programme.

Committee Chairman Peter Bunting said a number of students from his constituency, who are attending tertiary institutions, had applied for the benefit but were told they did not qualify.

“I couldn’t understand the logic of that. Why, by virtue of you attending a tertiary institution, were you disqualified from the assistance? Maybe the criteria could have been loosened somewhat to allow the full use of the $1 billion,” he said.

Given that the Government only used 23 per cent of the funds, Bunting said a decision should have been taken to widen the pool of beneficiaries.

However, Jennings stressed that the Solidarity Programme had a specific criteria in terms of the target group that the Government was trying to reach. 

“The aim was to address persons who did not have any support at all,” she added.

She said the Government had other suites of programmes to assist students at the tertiary level.

But Bunting argued that the suites of programmes for tertiary-level students are woefully inadequate and the quantum of assistance was very small relative to the cost of tertiary education.

editorial@gleanerjm.com