Now that the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) Act has been passed in both chambers of the Parliament, it now goes to the governor general, Patrick Allen, for his signature, thus becoming the law of the land.

This Act will guide the Government and people of Jamaica in the years ahead as the country seeks to rebuild after the devastation wrought by Hurricane Melissa. You notice that I have been deliberate in my statement that it will not guide only the Government, but, even more significantly, the people of Jamaica in this effort. At the end of the day, it is the participation and scrutiny of the Jamaican people that is important here.

The country would not have witnessed the mass deployment of capital for significant capital projects over the next three years as it will see in this rebuilding effort under NaRRA. That is why the Opposition People’s National Party and other interested parties were correct in insisting that the necessary guardrails and accountability frameworks be put in place to guide the effort.

The Government has insisted that these are in place. Its caution of not wanting the projects to be bogged down in the bureaucratic quagmire that has stymied and rendered impossible large government projects in the past is a necessary one. This caution is well registered and is born out of well-tested experience. The view that the present arrangements under NaRRA would not help must not be quickly brushed aside on the basis of partisan adrenaline.

It is, however, unfortunate that such a far-reaching legislation had to be passed on a partisan line. The bellicosity that accompanied discussion of the Bill is to be regretted, even if one can forgive the contretemps of the member from St Andrew South Western, Angela Brown Burke, for the mace incident. While some speakers spoke to the enormity and importance of the project, one could not escape the petulant behaviour of others who were elected to take care of the best interests of the Jamaican people.

I doubt that if the shoes were on other feet, and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in Opposition, we would have fared any better. They, too, would have insisted on the tight oversight being advocated by the Opposition, and many of them would also not have voted for the Bill.

They will tell you that they would, but I have been watching and writing public commentary for far too long to be hoodwinked into thinking that things would have been otherwise. The problem lies, as I said in my last piece, at the feet of the decadent politics so dismally, yet insightfully, described by former Prime Minister Percival James Patterson as a tribal battle for scarce spoils. Politics has become a zero-sum contest in which scarce resources are still seen as loot to be squandered rather than national assets to be protected.

Sadly, this instinctual predation has not evaporated from our political system. Whenever either of the political tribes behave as they did while debating the NaRRA Bill, you see the pervasiveness of this tribal psychology in our national life. This, despite the improvements that have been made over the years to cauterise corruption, such as the establishment of the Integrity Commission.

We yearn for maturity in our politics. The discussion over NaRRA has only demonstrated the extent to which many have not go the memo, and if they have, how much they have allowed tribal political instincts to trump (oops) or override their oaths to protect and defend the best interests of the people of Jamaica. The NaRRA Bill debate provided one of the best platforms to demonstrate this maturity, but, alas, we failed.

One final word. I am not too worried about general accountability and oversight in the rebuilding process as I believe we have mechanisms, though not too robust at times, to assist us, as I noted in my last piece. What concerns me greatly is the timely and efficient execution with respect to project implementation.

This is where the rubber meets the road for me, for it is through strict project control that we will see whether the desired goals are being achieved. This is the point at which waste and inefficiency can become kings and borrowed capital can be frittered away on drip, drip, drip schemes.

My message to civil society and other stakeholders is to watch what is happening on the ground once these projects are launched. They must not be afraid to be ticks in the hide of the inefficient and those who believe that they have light years to achieve the goals set.

Dr Raulston Nembhard is a priest, social commentator, and author of the books Finding Peace in the Midst of Life’s Storms; Your Self-esteem Guide to a Better Life; and Beyond Petulance: Republican Politics and the Future of America. He also hosts a podcast — Mango Tree Dialogues — on his YouTube channel. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or stead6655@aol.com.

Raulston Nembhard