Dear Editor,

I read a Gleaner report, ‘Arnaldo, The Big Spender; MP says $3 billion spent under his watch’. I am surprised and disappointed that the reporter did not see it fit to further investigate whether the projects listed in the article were actually done and completed and whether the country and, more importantly, the people of St Catherine East Central got value for money.

I would love for MP Brown to state where, exactly, $31 million was spent on housing and the nature and scope of the housing projects, and in which communities were zinc fences removed. Why was such a massive expenditure of $800 million spent on one school (Cedar Grove Academy), which is a new high school? What about the other schools in East Central? What exactly was the $800 million spent on: grants, repairs to school plant? Also, how much has been spent or allocated for the trucking of water, since communities in East Central have not been immune to the severe drought? And what of the fogging and eradication of mosquitoes? Was any of the billions allocated for that?

It cannot be that the journalist simply regurgitated information from a constituency report without doing some investigative work to see if work was actually done in said projects, and ask questions like why $800 million was spent on a new school and what exactly was the money used for. Journalists must raise the transparency and accountability bar of politicians and public servants, and be the guardians of how public funds are allocated and spent.

I trust the MP will provide Jamaica with specific information on the expenditure of this whopping $3 billion.

Aaron Knight

Greater Portmore, St Catherine

rich_yute@live.com

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Arnaldo Brown