The media release issued by Mayor Norman Scott on behalf of the National Caucus of PNP Councillors presents a striking paradox. It takes strong exception to my public comments while explicitly confirming the factual premise on which those comments rest: that Municipal Corporations hold statutory custody over Jamaica’s parochial roads.

It is an unusual rebuttal that concedes the fact of legal responsibility, but objects when that responsibility is brought to the public’s attention.

I have consistently made it clear that I am accountable for the approximately 5,000 kilometres, or 18% of Jamaica’s roads, falling under the National Works Agency (NWA) portfolio, and I take full responsibility for them. Mayor Scott is well aware that local authorities oversee the vast majority of our road network; indeed, he publicly acknowledged in The Gleaner (“Road repairs to start soon, says Spanish Town mayor”) that local councils own the majority of Jamaica’s roads. On this we agree.

The financial comparison put forward by Mayor Scott and the PNP Caucus rests on misleading comparisons and omissions. In the release, they have attempted to compare the Municipal Corporations’ annual Parochial Revenue Fund allocation of just over $6 billion alongside the $45 billion SPARK allocation to claim financial neglect. This comparison is fundamentally flawed. The Parochial Revenue Fund figure used represents a single year’s allocation, whereas SPARK is a multi-year capital investment programme.

I must also state that SPARK explicitly includes billions allocated to road infrastructure, sewage, fibre infrastructure, water infrastructure and sidewalks and drainage construction. The routine maintenance and patching that is needed to ensure parochial roads do not fall into chronic disrepair does not require this level of funding, and to draw that comparison is disingenuous.

The caucus has also failed to disclose that local authorities collect independent operating revenue from approximately 30 distinct internal sources, including revenues from trade, shop, and market fees to subdivision, billboard, and parking charges.

I have noted the consistent call for additional resources being echoed by Mayor Scott and the PNP Caucus. When local authorities demand additional public funds, taxpayers have a right to inspect how existing funds are managed. This call for accountability is not coming from the Minister of Works alone.

In her July 2020 audit of Mayor Scott’s own St. Catherine Municipal Corporation (covering financial years 2014/15 through 2018/19), the Auditor General uncovered severe administrative deficiencies.

The audit highlighted major flaws in strategic planning, incomplete road inventories, an absence of documented criteria for selecting roadworks, and defective contract records that prevented verification of value for money. This does not demonstrate accountability and transparency.

The management of increased public resources has not resulted in better roads for our Jamaican people but instead has resulted in close to $2 Billion Dollars of misappropriation and fraud by municipal corporations under the leadership of the People’s National Party, including the Manchester Municipal Corporation and Mayor Scott’s own St Catherine Municipal Corporation.

The contrast in public disclosure is equally stark. While the central government publishes extensive digital tracking for SPARK and has launched the interactive Jamaica Road Register to map every road, a search of the St. Catherine Municipal Corporation website and other municipal portals reveals zero listed ongoing projects. This is not demonstrating accountability and transparency.

I welcome Mayor Scott’s call for transparency, and I challenge him and the National Caucus of PNP Councillors to join me in achieving it.