Scores of Jamaicans took to social media last week to forcefully remind the minister of local government and community development, Desmond McKenzie, that the government has the responsibility to provide shelters for citizens ravaged by natural disasters such as hurricanes.
The rebuke came after Minister McKenzie announced that churches will be asked to make their facilities available to be used as hurricane shelters in the future.
“The question around our shelters is still ripe in the air. I am going to be asking my permanent secretary to write to the churches to invite them to sit with us and ask them to look at how can the churches assist the government in using its facilities to provide shelters for Jamaicans in a time of need,” McKenzie declared last Friday during a presentation ceremony held at the Middle Quarters New Testament Church of God.
Minister McKenzie made the controversial announcement as he handed over grants to churches in St Elizabeth under the government’s Community Church Clean-up and Restoration Initiative. Under the initiative, which also courted controversy since it was first launched, the government has allocated $75 million towards the repair of churches damaged during the passage of the category five hurricane in October.
“I got a call from one of my officers; he said to me that there is a church in Santa Cruz with a church hall that can accommodate shelterees, and they have decided to make their church hall available. As I speak, shelterees are still there,” McKenzie said.
But the minister’s pronouncement sparked widespread condemnation and reignited questions about government spend on shelters following the passage of Hurricane Melissa.
Some of those who rebuked McKenzie also noted that the church is a sacred place and should be treated as such, especially against the backdrop of recent revelations by president of the Jamaica Teacher’s Association (JTA) Mark Malabver that hurricane shelterees were engaging in sexual activities in shelters established on school grounds. The National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica (NPTAJ) had also received similar reports.
Faced with intense pressure to relocate the shelterees, the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development subsequently announced that all remaining Hurricane Melissa shelterees currently housed in school shelters will be relocated to suitable accommodations by May 8.
It is not known whether the churches will be asked to house some of these individuals or which church leaders in particular will be consulted. The government handed out approximately $17 million total in grants to 101 churches in St Elizabeth. St Elizabeth accounted for the largest number of beneficiary churches under the initiative.
Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness had announced late last year that the National Housing Trust was to purchase 5,000 “pre-built containerised modular solutions” as part of efforts to rapidly rebuild the housing stock destroyed by Hurricane Melissa.
“We should start to see some coming in by late January, and those that come in initially, we are going to be looking at the worst cases assessed to make them available,” Holness said.
