Prime Minister Andrew Holness says his administration will be enforcing strict measures to address reports of favouritism in the trucking of water in communities.

Holness made the disclosure while speaking in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (May 28).

“Madam Speaker, we have been receiving complaints of favouritism in the distribution of water through trucking, and I raise this point here because we are allocating significant resources. When you put everything together, we have more than $300 million in allocations for drought response. But it is disturbing when I go into some areas and hear complaints that the truck is only stopping at some people’s gates, the truck doesn’t come to the community, it stops down the road, somebody calls the truck man, and he is diverted somewhere else.

“All of that reduces the effort and impact of the government’s expenditure. We are spending the resources; the resources are being allocated, and the people who should benefit may not get the benefit because some greedy person, some connected person, some unscrupulous person has diverted the benefit from the people,” Holness said.

Last month, the prime minister announced a $150 million emergency allocation for the trucking of water to rural areas impacted by the ongoing drought.

“I have directed the NWC [National Water Commission] to establish a hotline and an email dedicated to receiving these complaints, and as soon as the complaints are brought to the attention of the NWC, we will pass them on to MOCA [Major Organised Crime & Anti-Corruption Agency] for investigations to be done to bring charges and prosecution against persons who have been identified in this regard,” Holness said as he sought to reassure persons who have been victims of this activity.

Meanwhile, the prime minister highlighted the need to maintain a high standard of water quality.

“I want to highlight as well that even though we have increased the allocation and have more trucks distributing the commodity, we must maintain the highest standard of water quality. This is water for drinking purposes, potable water, and so the Ministry of Health and Wellness, NEPA [National Environment and Planning Agency], and the NWC have programs to monitor the water standard and to certify the trucks to ensure that these emergency interventions do not compromise public health,” Holness added.

He said that while the number of water trucks may be limited, the government will not compromise on the delivery of potable water to residents. Meanwhile, Holness urged residents to take steps to sterilize the water they receive as a precautionary measure.