Durrant Pate/Contributor

The contentious and controversial National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) bill has been passed by the House of Representatives during a marathon sitting that ended in the wee hours of this morning.

The bill, which seeks to establish NaRRA as a single point of coordination for project management and construction to bypass bureaucratic delay, was passed along party lines with the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) using its majority to ram through the legislation with several amendments informed by the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) and civil society, which raised many concerns.

It is understood that there were four pages of amendments based on the concessions made to the bill by the government, with the vote going along party lines, with Government Member of Parliament and former Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, Marlene Mallaloo-Forte, who last week was highly critical of the bill, during the committee stage last night, asking for clarification on the proposed amendment. She left the chamber when the final vote for passage of the bill was taken, while the Opposition voted against.

Highly contentious debate

The debate was highly contentious with the Opposition calling for multiple divide votes before the bill was passed with 20 amendments. Earlier in the debate Opposition Members pushed back against the over-arching nature of the bill with limited guardrails and lack of transparency.

They maintained that the bill lacked proper oversight in an environment where billions of US dollars would be at stake and that too much power will be vested in the responsible minister who in this case is Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness. Leader of Government Business, Floyd Green explained that NaRRA mirrored the model used by New Zealand when it rebuilt in the aftermath of the devastating 2011 earthquake.

In rebutting that point, Opposition Member of Parliament for St Mary Central, Omar Newell, countered saying issues of corruption are far less prevalent in New Zealand, than in Jamaica. However, the Government side is adamant that the bill is designed to ensure that the Administration can respond appropriately and efficiently following Melissa, which left an estimated US$12.2 billion in damage. 

Government bench resisting pushback

Government Members cited the need to move quickly and insisted that there are enough guardrails in the legislation to ensure accountability. 

Opposition Leader Mark Golding led the PNP’s pushback opposition to the bill, arguing it lacks sufficient oversight, transparency, and accountability, and calling for it to be reviewed by a Joint Select Committee.

However, In closing the more than eight-hour-long debate, Prime Minister Holness sought to allay the fears of Opposition members and civil society that oversight was being sacrificed, reminding them that between 2009 and 2015, when the then PNP administration was pursuing significant monetary reform, the then Opposition JLP participated fully.