Opposition Leader Mark Golding has recommended that Members of Parliament (MPs) be allocated at least $50 million to undertake Hurricane Melissa clean-up and relief activities in their respective constituencies.

Golding’s suggestion, if accepted, would cost the Government $3.15 billion.

Addressing a media conference at the Office of the Leader of the Opposition in St Andrew on Monday, Golding argued that prior to Hurricane Melissa making landfall in Jamaica last week Tuesday, MPs were allocated $1.5 million to carry out preparatory activities.

While expressing gratitude for the allocations, Golding said that a lot more funds will be needed for hurricane response.

“If you were to give MPs $50 million each, we would be able to make that money count for the people who need it. I am throwing that out as a number because we require many multiples of the figures being discussed now. One has to bear in mind the resource capacity of the country as well,” Golding, the MP for St Andrew Southern, said.

He said the $1.5 million was allocated to each of the 63 MPs on the Saturday before Melissa hit Jamaica.

“That needs to be replenished. That was useful and we did our best to prepare ourselves, but the scale of damage is so much greater than we were anticipating. I believe there will be an announcement of another $1.5 million for relief purposes. Three million dollars when we are faced with thousands of people who are homeless is not the answer,” Golding said.

Golding said that the Opposition was not seeking any political mileage from the disaster facing the island, but argued it was important to point out areas of need and where response mechanisms are weak.

“We must provide constructive, well-intentioned suggestions to help navigate this country through this disaster. We must also encourage transparency and fairness in the distribution of all relief. The relief must get to those who need it most, no matter their political colour or demography.

“They are Jamaicans and should be treated equally in this time, without any form of discrimination or tribal politics. There can be no place for profiteering by political insiders at a time like this,” he said.

The Opposition leader also said that from last Wednesday he sent a list of proposals to Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness that could possibly help the Government manage certain response systems post-Melissa.

Among his proposals, he said, was the establishment of a broad-based task force to be given the responsibility of governance oversight over the relief coming into Jamaica.

“I also think there should be a clear command structure for the actual day-to-day management of the response and that should be led by professionals in disaster management and not by politicians who do not know the ins and outs of responding to a disaster of this magnitude,” he said, adding that the country will need a martial plan, which is well-founded and broad-based, to accommodate the rebuilding and reconstruction of large sections of Jamaica which were ravaged by the hurricane.

Golding added that he welcomed the Government’s decision to suspended duties on disaster relief items coming into Jamaica, however he lamented that the window allotted was too short a period.

“The time to mobilise funding and make the necessary procurement abroad, the logistics of getting it shipped, will take some time. To have it cut off by the end of the this month is too short. It is still not clear whether goods in transit will get the benefit even if they haven’t landed here at the time of the expiry window. I am suggesting that we recast that window on a way that is more realistic, given the situation we face,” he said.

Opposition Leader Mark Golding (right) speaking with hurricane victims in Whitehouse, Westmoreland, last Friday. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)