The Board of the Caribbean Estate Citizens Association (CECA) in St Catherine has rebuffed a call for its resignation “en masse” by a large number of homeowners in the upscale Bernard Lodge settlement, after an auditor’s report found $2.7 million was unaccounted for over the past three years.

Responding to the March 16, 2026 petition signed by 102 homeowners, the board, led by Cecil Gordon, referred them to several letters addressing their concerns over the management of the association, plus the imminent holding of the overdue annual general meeting (AGM).

“The Board therefore sees this request as being without merit and rejects this outright,” the nine-member body said in a letter dated March 25, 2026.

Disgruntlement boiled over into the resignation petition by the group of homeowners in Caribbean Estate, a collection of Caribbean-themed clusters in high demand for its tight security and well-manicured landscape, located along the Dunbeholden Road near Portmore.

Members lost their cool after chartered accountants Greejen confirmed March 12, 2026 it had found that $2,707,563 of association funds had been unaccounted for over three years, 2023 to 2025, during which time no financial statements had been submitted.

Citing provisions of the Companies Act, 2004 and sections of the association’s Articles of Incorporation, the homeowners demanded the holding of an extraordinary general meeting as a matter of urgency to deal with their concerns.

“Further thereto, we have noted that the Board is in breach of Section 153 of the Companies Act 2004, and as such failed to make available to members audited financial statements, along with auditor’s report as these are required by the relevant sections of the Act for the past two (2) financial years.

“This represents a serious breach of statutory obligations, flagrant breaches of fiduciary duty, and governance obligations to members, which is of serious concern,” the petition said.

Among the issues they wanted discussed are: failure to present audited financial statements along with auditor report; explanation of “inconsistencies in financial management”; disclosure issues regarding CECA funds; property management implementation concerns and Tax Administration Jamaica requirement for CECA to register for GCT payable on maintenance fees.

The group also demanded the immediate resignation of the board en masse and election of new members within 21 days of their request.

Rejecting the demands, Gordon’s board said the matters raised by the homeowners were being addressed up to as recently as March 23, 2026. It said further that the date for this emergency general meeting would be too close to the date being targeted for the AGM, and it would be wasting money to hold two meetings back-to-back.

The board also contended that the issues in contention were matters for the AGM and not an emergency general meeting.

“The request for the resignation of the board ‘en masse’ is unfounded and without merit. The manner in which this request was made lacks fundamentals for such a request,” the board insisted.