SEVILLE HEIGHTS, St Ann — Siblings Carla and Jacinth Johnson have each accepted a house under the Government’s New Social Housing Programme (NSHP), paving the way for their former dwelling, the boyhood home of Jamaica’s first National Hero Marcus Garvey, to become a museum.

The negotiations to have the Johnsons relocate have not always gone smoothly and, in fact, another sibling has yet to come to an agreement with the Government. However, that did little to dampen the joy of the two sisters when they were handed keys to their houses on Monday.

“I’m overwhelmed. I don’t have a lot of speech in me… Put yourself in my shoes; I’m overwhelmed, I’m so overwhelmed…I want to big up everybody that has come out for us… Today is the day the Lord has made,” said Jacinth.

Her sister Carla, who said she agreed with all that was said by her youngest sister, was moved to tears when she finally stepped into her new house. She was comforted by Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

Holness, during the ceremony to hand over the structures, alluded to the difference between the Johnsons’ case and others who have befitted under the NSHP.

“I’m very happy that this New Social Housing Programme can provide social housing; because this is what this has turned out to be. These two units will be handed over to the beneficiaries who have agreed to relocate, voluntarily, from the land that they occupy to here. They will eventually get their titles for these units. In fact, I’m very pleased, very happy that they are able to do that,” he said.

In August, while speaking at a civic ceremony to mark the 135th anniversary of the birth of Garvey and his 58th year as a national hero, Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia “Babsy” Grange said three houses were being constructed on the Seville Heritage Park property in St Ann to relocate the family that occupied the house where Garvey museum is being established. At the time, she said two of the two-bedroom units had been completed under the NSHP and they would soon be handed over by the prime minister.

On Monday during the handover, Holness stressed that the process was all above board.

“Normally the beneficiaries are recommended by the Member of Parliament. As prime minister, I do reserve some rights to make recommendations, so Minister Grange came to me and made the recommendation,” he said.

“I referred it on to the project oversight committee and the project oversight committee [is] led by the principal financier… He is an accountant by profession and an auditor, so every dollar of the budget that is allocated to build anything under this project it is right there… So there is no corruption of any form involved in the building of these houses,” the prime minister added.

The Garvey Museum will be located at 32 Marcus Garvey Way in St Ann’s Bay, St Ann, where he spent his formative years. The museum was originally proposed as a Jamaica 50 project.

As Grange outlined earlier this year, the facility will protect Garvey’s legacy by capturing all aspects of his life.

“The museum will be a place where every child and adult of Jamaican heritage, local and foreign-based, will be able to enter physically and virtually to proudly do research, to know the great man Garvey was, and leave more conscious of their ancestral pedigree and heritage,” she said in August.

She also noted that the space will be reminiscent of Garvey’s focus on cultural enterprise and achievements as well as “one that constantly reminds us of our capacity for greatness —every one of us”.