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Speaking in the Senate, Minister of Industry, Investment & Commerce Senator Aubyn Hill gave a fulsome exposition on the merits of the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority Act (NaRRA) 2026.

Below is his full address: 

Mr President, I rise to speak in support of the NaRRA bill. I have watched the passage of the NaRRA bill in that other place and seen the really hard work and serious thinking, crafting and drafting that were employed by the Andrew Holness administration to create that piece of legislation.

Very serious and intentional work was put in to getting the bill ready to serve the Melissa hurricane- devastated, needy but patient Jamaicans, and at the same time make the NaRRA administrators accountable and subject to good governance.

NaRRA will be expected to accomplish a lot, but its main broad objectives are these:

1. Use its authority, capacity and resources to develop projects programs and detailed plans, including scope, delivery arrangements and timelines for the implementation of reconstruction and resilience projects appearing on the official list.
2. Execute these projects with speed, efficiency, accountability and on scale to meet demanding timelines and budgeted targets.

So, Mr President, who provides the official list to NaRRA? Section 17 in PART III of the Bill tells us. 17. –

1. The Cabinet shall cause to be issued to the official list of approved and resilience projects strategic investment projects.
2. The Authority shall
   • (a) develop projects, programs and detailed plans, including project, scope, and timelines, for the implementation of reconstruction and resilience projects appearing on the official list.

So Mr President, it is clear that the official list on which minister and CEO will act comes from the highest executive body in the country, the Cabinet, and as we all know, most of the Cabinet members are directly elected by the people of this country, which means, Mr. President, that the direct representatives of the electorate decide on the list of projects that will be executed by the Authority.

There could hardly be more direct or more senior Democratic Approval body for projects than has been written in this NaRRA Bill, Mr President: that approving body and authority is the CABINET itself]; an

3. Programs and plans for approved, reconstruction and resilience projects shall not be implemented without the prior approval of the Cabinet.

THIS IS GOOD GOVERNANCE.

Prior to spending and execution, when a company has a crisis, a board can often give way to an EX-Chairman. Melissa is a Crisis.

Mr. President, this clause bears repeating simply because it should allay all the fears about the Minister or the CEO having a free hand to decide on projects and spend whatever they wish without any oversight or only on their projected capriciousness – as the Opposition PNP and some of their friends would have us believe.

Mr. President, because there has been so much discussion, misinformation, and apparent misunderstanding of parts of this bill, and also because it is apparent that some who speak in criticism of the oversight arrangements in the legislation have apparently never read the bill, or many parts of the bill, I want to read into the record clauses 9, 10 and 11 of thebill and make a few comments on the arrangements to provide oversight for NaRRA.

9. – (1) The authority shall keep proper accounts and other records in relation to its and shall prepare a statement of in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles [GAAP] promulgated from time to time by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Jamaica, and such accounts shall be audited annually by an auditor appointed in each year by the Chief Executive Officer with the approval of the Cabinet Secretary, and the statement so audited shall form part of the annual report submitted pursuant to section 11.

(2) An auditor appointed under subsection (1) shall be a registered public accountant within the meaning of section 2 of the Public Accountancy Act.

(3) The auditor shall be entitled at all reasonable times to examine the accounts of Authority.

(4) The Auditor-General shall be entitled at all times to examine the accounts and other records in relation to the Authority.

10. The Authority shall furnish the Minister with such reports, returns, accounts, and other information as the Minister may require with respect to the activities of the Authority, and shall afford the minister with facilities for verifying such information in such manner and at such times as the Minister may reasonably require.

11. – (1) annual and other reports shall be by the Authority. (2) A copy of the annual report and audited financial statements of the Authority, shall be submitted no later than four months after the end of each financial year, to the Minister. (3) The Minister shall, with within a reasonable time, cause a copy of the report together with the annual statement of accounts and the auditor’s report thereon to be laid in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

So, Mr President, in these three clauses, we have a fairly complete rendition of what is normally accepted as comprehensive and transparent reporting by the external auditors of the operating, and particularly the financial conduct of the business of the NaRRA. The Bill even records in detail the particular set of principles that must be used in preparing the accounts, generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) which is accepted, and the format used primarily in the USA.

I have served as a member of many audit committees for public and big private companies, here and overseas, and this accounting process is what all major international stock markets and regulators require and accept. And, importantly, Mr. President, the Minister has to submit these audited reports and statements to both houses of this parliament, and so to the general public who can review and critique the operations, performance and results of the NaRRA. Very transparent, professional and thorough, Mr. President.

The external auditors must submit the completed audit of the Authority within months after the end of the financial year – as required by this bill. A strong requirement to get and deliver audited reports.

Please notice Mr. President, that unlike the arrangements for most public bodies, government agencies and Ministries, where the Auditor General (AG) is generally responsible for the annual audits, and may allow an independent external auditor to do the audit of a particular government entity depending on the workload of the AG, radio reports this morning says the AG wants more Auditors, this Bill codifies that BOTH the AG and external auditors have access to the Authority’s books at all times. No complaint about access and transparency and accountability here, Mr. President.

PNP behaviour on the NaRRA Bill

I have reflected on the behaviour of the members of the Opposition PNP as they sought, apparently, Mr. President, NOT to get help quickly to those Jamaicans who need restoration of property and livelihoods after hurricane Melissa, NOR to help our beloved country of Jamaica use NaRRA to quickly and accountably build a more resilient future for the country, but rather, Mr. President, I watched them try to do everything to distort, delay and even destroy the NaRRA legislation if they could have done so.

The JLP and the multiplicity of bills for the IMF programme in 2014 and 2015. Drs. Bert van Selm and Uma Ramakrishnan supported the programme. We delivered and excelled.

I am pleased to give my strong support to the passage of the NaRRA bill, Mr President.

The PNP have lost three consecutive general elections, Mr President, and they are desperate. After the Most Honourable Andrew Holness led us to victory in 2016, they fought us tooth and nail over the crime issue. We were mocked when our Prime Minister said we would invest heavily in people, equipment and systems to counteract gangs, which were then the main perpetrators of crime.

For the past three consecutive years, we have produced drop after drop, after drop in crime, till in the 3rd year alone – last year, the murder rate dropped by 43%.

In this, the 4th consecutive year, the murder numbers keep falling, and we have high expectations for a new low number. Mr President, they have had to stop mocking us on our performance on fighting crime. Indeed, Mr President, the leader – oops – rather, the former leader of government business in the Senate has now dropped his quite ridiculous refrain of asking us for a crime plan.

Mr. President, despite losing three consecutive general elections to the young but mature and strategic thinker of a Leader, Dr. The Most Honourable Andrew Holness, and the Jamaica Labour Party, the PNP, their Leader (of the Opposition, mind you) and their members of parliament behave as if THEY possess the GOD-GIVENRIGHT to run this country and decide on what legislation the three-time elected-by-the-people JAMAICA LABOUR PARTY government should pass!

Mr President is which false god the PNP dem a pray to? And which false god dem a listen to? The PNP is like the unwise, terribly weak and misled husband of the evil and wicked queen Jezebel – the hapless, and tragic, weak-loser, King Ahab, who worshipped the pagan god, Baal. Clearly, Mr. President, weak King Ahab of the PNP and his hapless MPs and followers have lost their way.

Mr. President, the King Ahab-led PNP are really different from us in the Jamaica Labour Party. In the negotiations led by them in the 2013-15 period with the IMF, the Fund leaders – Dr. Bert Van Selm and Dr. Uma asked relentlessly the now Prime Minister, then Leader of the Opposition and his team (I was then Chairman of Party Leader Holness’ Economic Council) whether or not we would abide by the terms and conditions agreed by the then PNP government. Our ad nauseam answer was always an unqualified “yes”. Mr President, we did not just keep our word and execute the IMF deal, we excelled at doing so.

What was even more incredible, Mr President, was the clearly stated decision by the JLP Leader Holness that we would treat the then IMF prospective deal as a national emergency matter and our Jamaica Labour Party would support the deal. “King Ahab” himself (Mark Golding) was then crafting all the relevant legislation, and we would often get very little time to review and agree on new and always “very URGENT” pieces of legislation. We invariably gave our support.

The PNP’s visceral hatred of losing power has manifested itself in their relentless drive to oppose any kind of legislation to solve problems the country faces. This has meant denying benefits to often our most needy Jamaicans. It is quite apparent that Lawfare and prosperity-slowing and complexity-increasing processes are more important to the PNP than to support ways to help Jamaicans.

So, Mr. President, I have observed that when PNP politicians cannot achieve power at the ballot box they engage in what is called lawfare in some other jurisdictions, and they try to use the tyrannical excesses of process to bog down legislation and try to derail the legislative objectives of the government, and in the process hinder needed benefits from getting to the Jamaican people.

We saw both a form of “lawfare” and “bog-down-by- process” come into play last week during the debate in

That Other Place. We were told to put more accountability compliance requirements, in the draft legislation – Mr President, for the prospective CEO of NaRRA and his team, and others, with which they should comply. I put to you, Mr. President, that we have enough oversight regulators and regulations in place already.

They include, but are not limited to, the Cabinet, the Parliament, the various oversight committees of Parliament, and the independent Auditor General, the Integrity Commission, and on and on the long accountability and compliance bodies span and stretch. Indeed, Mr. President, many other speakers in That Other Place before Senator Dr. Dana Morris Dixon in this Senate last week, and others in the Senate after her, laid out the phalanx of oversight regulators which exist to judge the work and professional performance and results of the newly proposed NaRRA.

So, Mr President, when the PNP’s futile effort at trying to use legislative complexity to delay or defeat the NaRRA Bill didn’t work, they tried that elegant piece of democratic catch-all known as the Joint Select Committee (JSC) to try and bog things down. Mr President, I know the immense value of the JSC and I have used it in the past year to move two pieces of legislation to completion in Parliament – the Security Interests in Personal Property Act (SIPPA) and the Insolvency Act.

 But, Mr. President, the JSC was not created with SPEED and URGENCY in mind; and speed and urgency are two important requirements NaRRA needs to get established and go to work.

I have chaired the Infrastructure Committee of Cabinet for some years. It can take up to 12-24 months to get a decision. The PNP’s argument was then nuanced to say that speed and urgency should not be the enemy of better (perfect, maybe?) legislation. But we all know that most any piece of legislation is never perfect. Times and circumstances change, and most especially the needs of the people on whose behalf we legislate become more – in the case of NaRRA, most – urgent, and so fast action within legislative rules has to be taken. It is quite possible that our experience – since we have never done NaRRA – may bring a few timely adjustments.

Given the pressing need to get the objectives of NaRRA implemented, I put it to you, Mr. President, that the endless search for the perfect rendition of the NaRRA Bill must not become the enemy of the SPEED and URGENCY needed to establish and implement NaRRA, in order to build a much more resilient Jamaica into the future.

The exact sunset date will be decided at a later date. The GOJ can be asked for that sunset date.

The Prime Minister has already named the Chairman of JAMRROC, who in addition to being the former Dean of New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business, he serves on two very big corporate boards in America – Citigroup, Inc. and Nike, Inc. I can promise you that a chairman with his kind of resume and serving on the kind of boards he has and serves on, he understands.

That is why the Prime Minister chose him and people of academia, in business and experience to be on the advisory board of JAMRROC. This simply means people of that calibre know exactly how an authority like NaRRA needs to be structured and organised. They are chosen for that kind of experience and clearly the Prime Minister will have good advisory, to whom he will listen.

Why is NaRRA necessary?

Mr. President, you and many of my colleagues are aware that I have spent considerable time in parishes in Western Jamaica that were badly affected by Hurricane Melissa. I have seen the destruction of homes and businesses lives and quickly came to the conclusion with Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Andrew Holness, and cabinet colleagues that something as catastrophic as hurricane Melissa had to have a dramatic and exceptional positive response from the government.

The Prime Minister led a drive to find a new way to get results to ordinary people not only in western parishes, but also across Jamaica as we build with resilience and purpose for a future that will produce ever-increasing growth and prosperity for Jamaicans. NaRRA was devised with clear objectives in mind to get very big projects planned and executed with speed and scale, while ensuring that transparency and accountability would be enshrined in practices of the new Authority. The existing accountability institutions and the new reporting and monitoring arrangements ensures probity while NaRRA seeks to deliver projects at scale and speed and within budgets.

On that note, Mr. President, I once again, as I have done in this Senate before, and on many business platforms, seriously encourage businesses across every sector of our economy – banking, distribution, manufacturing, hospitality, farming, construction and development to prepare to participate in the US$2.4 billion portion of the US$6.5 billion facility that has been provided by our international financial partners – the World BANK, IMF, IDB, the Latin American and Caribbean Development Bank (CAF) and the CBD.

Get linked into the FAST Jamaica program as outlined in this Bill which starts at US$15M.

Please, business leaders and entrepreneurs, I encourage you to really get ready to participate in in this US$2.4B facility with and through NaRRA in order to help with not just building to the future of Jamaica, but also right now to produce jobs and growth for Jamaicans Jamaican economy.

If it pleases you Mr. President.