New watchdog committee to track cost, progress of recovery projects

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness on Tuesday launched the Jamaica Reconstruction and Resilience Oversight Committee (JAMRROC), charging its members to provide “real-time, direct and independent accountability” as the national reconstruction effort continues.

JAMRROC will provide oversight of the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA), the body leading Jamaica’s recovery and rebuilding programme following Hurricane Melissa.

The seven-member committee draws its membership from the Government, the parliamentary Opposition, the private sector, the trade union movement, academia, and western Jamaica.

Among the commitments announced at the launch, JAMRROC will publish quarterly public reports and operate an online platform through which Jamaicans can access information on the reconstruction portfolio, including what is being built, at what cost, when it is expected to be completed, whether milestones are being met, and where delays or corrective action may arise.

“JAMRROC adds independent, public-facing scrutiny. Its conclusions must be its own, and its reports must reach the Jamaican people directly and unfiltered,” Holness said. “You could say that JAMRROC is the real-time accountability and the direct accountability to the people, and, in a sense, you could also say it is the independent accountability.”

The prime minister noted that JAMRROC is modelled after the Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC), which provided regular independent reports on the country’s fiscal position under successive economic reform programmes, but said the new committee will go further.

TRANSPARENCY

“JAMRROC must operate in the tradition of EPOC, but it will be far more intense in its scrutiny,” he said. “The public should be able to know what is being built, what is the expected cost, when it is expected to be completed, whether milestones are being met, and where delays or corrective action may arise.”

Cabinet Secretary Audrey Sewell urged permanent secretaries and heads of public bodies to treat the launch of NaRRA and JAMRROC as the model for a “system of delivery” across the public service.

“Efficiency in project delivery and robust accountability need not be at odds or enemies. They must complement each other to facilitate a system of delivery,” she said. “Let us use the opportunity presented by NaRRA and JAMRROC to demonstrate to the Jamaican people that the State apparatus can deliver, while being accountable and transparent.”

JAMRROC Chairman Professor Peter Blair Henry committed to strengthening public trust in the reconstruction effort.

“There must be speed, but there must also be vision and foresight. Jamaica needs a reconstruction project with speed, foresight and trust,” he said. “Trust in the process will be enhanced by transparency and communication. JAMRROC’s goal is to create an environment where everyone has access to the same information.”

JAMRROC members

• Professor Peter Blair Henry – Chairman

• Senator Keith Duncan – Government representative

• Dr Christopher Burgess – Opposition representative

• Patrick Hylton – Private sector representative

• Ambassador Professor Dale Webber – Special envoy for climate change

• Helene Davis-Whyte – Trade union movement representative

• Pastor Glen Samuels – Western Jamaica representative