Dear Editor,

Two church organisations joined a chorus of critical analysis of the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) Act, bringing to a grand total some 30 civil society groups and individuals that have voiced serious concerns.

The Jamaica Umbrella Group of Churches (JUGC) and the Watchman Church Leaders Alliance (WCLA) asked pointed questions about oversight, transparency, financial accountability, and the limits of executive power — as they should.

Lest we miss the weight of who they represent: The JUGC alone represents seven major denominations, including the Seventh-day Adventists, Church of God in Jamaica, Full Gospel churches, Pentecostal, New Testament denomination, and independent churches. Together they speak for roughly 94 per cent of all churches in Jamaica and have the potential to mobilise over 1.6 million Jamaicans. That is not a fringe voice. That is serious and unbiased representation of probably the largest voting block nationally.

Now it must be noted that there is context for caution in matters in which billions of dollars and extraordinary powers hang in the balance. In 2017, this same Administration championed the National Identification and Registration Bill. The Government was confident it was good for Jamaica. It pushed the Bill through Parliament over the objections of civil society, protests, and thousands who signed a petition, ignoring calls for a joint select committee and refusing to slow down.

In April 2019, the Supreme Court struck down the entire Act, unanimously, declaring it “null, void, and of no legal effect”. Despite Prime Minister Andrew Holness’s declaration that his Administration do not intend to abuse the rights of the people, the Supreme Court found the Act contained unconstitutional provisions that violated the fundamental rights of Jamaican citizens.

The lesson from the National Identification and Registration Act is not that Government is always wrong. The lesson is that confidence is not the same as correctness and sincerity and speed cannot replace oversight, accountability, and the appropriate consultation.

Recent studies, including a 2026 report by Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) and the Mico Foundation, confirm that Jamaica operates as a low-trust society characterised by a significant lack of confidence in formal State institutions, such as the Government.

We did not arrive here by accident. Decades of political patronage, corruption scandals, and governance failures have made citizens rightfully cautious when power is concentrated in too few hands. In this kind of environment, the answer to complex national problems is not less oversight, it is more. More transparency, more whistle-blower provisions, more financial accountability, and more consensus-building. Speedily passed Bills that avoid meaningful consultation only create more distrust and betray a lack of understanding of the cultural context in which we operate.

This is what the JUGC and WCLA are communicating. The churches and civil society are not standing in the way of progress, they are standing for the kind of progress that lasts. As the JUGC said, “True resilience cannot be built on weakened accountability, but on the firm foundation of integrity, transparency, and justice.”

I sincerely hope these unbiased and well-reasoned cries do not fall on deaf ears, but are treated with the appropriate attention required by a healthy democracy.

Dr Daniel Thomas

President

Love March Movement