KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) and the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) have delivered a detailed joint submission to Parliament on the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority Bill (NaRRA), 2026, citing a lack of critical safeguards for transparency, accountability, public participation, and institutional continuity.

The submission was formally delivered to Prime Minister Andrew Holness and copied to the Leader of the Opposition Mark Golding on Tuesday.

Noting that they fully support the urgent need for a dedicated body to manage post-Hurricane Melissa reconstruction and long-term resilience, JFJ and JET warn that the Bill, as currently drafted, is overly narrow, heavily centralised and lacks critical safeguards.

“A central concern is the over-centralisation of executive power. The Bill is CEO-centric, with the prime minister given direct appointment authority over the chief executive officer (Section 5 and schedule) without any requirement for merit-based selection, independent vetting or parliamentary confirmation,” the groups said. “Ministerial directions under Section 12 are extraordinarily broad, allowing interference in operational and project-specific decisions.”

They added that the existing Jamaica Reconstruction and Resilience Oversight Committee (JAMRROC) is not mentioned anywhere in the legislation, leaving it without statutory authority or guaranteed continuity. This concentration of power risks undermining independence and public confidence, the groups said.

They noted that equally troubling are the provisions on transparency and accountability, pointing to Section 13, which imposes criminal penalties of up to a $1 million fine or one year imprisonment for unauthorised disclosure, with narrow exceptions that do not expressly protect whistleblowers under the Protected Disclosures Act.

“At the same time, Sections 15 and 16 create a sweeping indemnity regime that can cover even criminal proceedings. In a body managing nearly $2 trillion in public funds, this combination of secrecy and overly generous levels of protection is unacceptable and could deter the reporting of waste, fraud or corruption,” they said.

The submission also highlighted a range of other critical gaps including the absence of a binding Objects Clause to embed “build back better” and long-term resilience; no statutory primacy or coordination mandate over other ministries and agencies; insufficient requirements for meaningful public participation, gender and equity considerations; the lack of mandatory environmental and social impact assessments; and incomplete dissolution provisions that provide no successor resilience unit or final Lessons Learned Report.

The organisations pointed to best-practice models such as Dominica’s Climate Resilience Execution Agency (CREAD), Queensland’s Reconstruction Authority and lessons from New Zealand’s CERA, urging Parliament to incorporate stronger governance, transparency and participatory safeguards.

CEO of the Jamaica Environment Trust, Dr Theresa Rodriguez-Moodie, said, “We support the creation of NaRRA, but Jamaica deserves legislation that builds genuine, inclusive and lasting resilience — not just a temporary reconstruction vehicle. Embedding transparency, community voice and long-term institutional memory from the outset is essential if we are to avoid repeating the mistakes of other post-disaster responses.”

Likewise, Executive Director of Jamaicans for Justice, Mickel Jackson, said: “The governance structure of the authority is deeply concerning…We urge the prime minister, the leader of the opposition and all Parliamentarians to strengthen these provisions so that the Bill meets the highest standards of transparency and good governance.”