KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Opposition is calling on the Government to immediately publish a transparent expenditure plan for all outstanding disaster relief funds following a report from the auditor general indicating only 1.8 per cent of Hurricane Melissa relief funds had been spent up to February 2026.

In a statement on Thursday, Senator Cleveland Tomlinson, opposition deputy spokesperson on Productivity, Efficiency and Competitiveness, called out what he described as the Government’s attempt to hide a clear governance failure behind the convenient excuse of bureaucracy.

Tomlinson highlighted that 88 per cent of $1.44 billion in Hurricane Melissa donations remain uncommitted, with victims still waiting for relief four months after the storm.

READ: Millions Unspent

Stressing that the Amauditor general’s real-time audit is unambiguous, Tomlinson said as of February 23, 2026, four months after Hurricane Melissa made landfall, 88 per cent of the funds were not merely unspent but uncommitted entirely, meaning no plan, no contract, and no obligation existed to deploy them.

“It is unconscionable and scandalous that the Government sat on donated money while thousands of Jamaicans suffered. People were hungry. People were sleeping under damaged roofs or no roofs at all,” he argued.

“Families were struggling to rebuild their lives, and the money donated by generous Jamaicans and well-wishers to help them was simply sitting idle, going nowhere.”

“Bureaucracy slows spending. It does not prevent a government from committing funds to a purpose. The question Jamaicans deserve answered is this: why, four months after Hurricane Melissa, did 88 per cent of donated funds have no commitment whatsoever attached to them?” said Tomlinson.

Noting that the audit further revealed that $138.8 million of Hurricane Beryl donations in 2024 remained idle and were never reported to the Ministry of Finance, as required by law, Tomlinson described the issue as a failure that predates any conversation about the National Reconstruction  and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) entirely.

READ: NaRRA to dismantle bureaucratic bungling, says Duncan

The senator described it as a pattern of inefficiency on the part of the government, not that red tape prevented proper planning.

“Senator Morgan cannot credibly blame red tape for money that was never directed anywhere. These are not bureaucratic delays. This is a governance failure, and Jamaicans who donated in good faith deserve accountability, not spin,” Senator Tomlinson added.