Young Jamaica Press Release - October 14, 2026
Young Jamaica, the youth arm of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), is calling on the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) caucus of councillors at the St. Catherine Municipal Corporation (SCMC) to stop deflecting responsibility onto the Central Government and immediately address the severe internal financial and administrative failures within their local authority.
Young Jamaica strongly commended Councillor Grandison for his courageous admission as reported in the media recently, “Before PNP Mayors and councillors point fingers at the Central Government demanding additional funds, they must first account for how existing ratepayer revenues and Parochial Revenue Fund allocations are being managed within their own walls.”
Young Jamaica is demanding an immediate public update from Mayor Norman Scott and the PNP-led St. Catherine Municipal Corporation on the corrective actions taken to address the severe deficiencies uncovered in the Auditor General’s July 2020 Performance Audit.
The Auditor General’s official audit exposed systemic planning and record-keeping failures within the St. Catherine Municipal Corporation, including:
The input of the public was not sought in determining the strategic direction of the corporation and the prioritisation of limited resources, contrary to the Local Government (Financing and Financial Management) Act.
The SCMC was unaware of the full extent of the network and the condition of the roads under its purview, and it lacked a transparent process for determining works to be carried out under the Roads in the Parish, Divisional Allocation, and Lengthman programmes.
Deficiencies in record-keeping limited verification that funds allocated from the Parochial Revenue Fund (PRF) were appropriately spent. Relying on a parochial road inventory last updated in 1975; as disclosed in the St. Catherine Municipal Corporation’s 2020 Access to Information (ATI) response to the Jamaica Accountability Meter Portal (JAMP); is fundamentally unacceptable for modern infrastructure management and directly validates the Auditor General’s finding that the municipality lacked basic awareness of its own road network.
A municipal corporation cannot efficiently allocate public funds, prioritise repairs, or ensure value for money when operating on data that is more than 50 years out of date.
Young Jamaica further highlights that municipal operations have been at the centre of major law enforcement probes by the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) and the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) regarding the alleged misappropriation of nearly $1 billion in public funds.
“This lost $1 billion could have resurfaced hundreds of parochial roads, cleared critical drainage systems, and fixed streetlights across Spanish Town, Portmore, and rural St. Catherine. The problem is not a lack of Central Government funding; it is a profound lack of accountability, financial discipline, and transparency at the local level.”
Young Jamaica fully endorses the stance of Works Minister Robert Nesta Morgan, who has consistently maintained that local government accountability must match Central Government’s open-data standards. Young Jamaica urges Mayor Norman Scott and the St. Catherine PNP Caucus to:
- Publish an itemised, public registry of every parochial road repaired, the cost of the repairs, and the contractors selected.
- Provide a comprehensive public update on the implementation of the Auditor General’s 2020 audit recommendations.
- State the amount allocated to each Division from the Parochial Revenue Fund and the amount spent on road repairs for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years.
- Provide an update if the 1975 road inventory has been updated as promised in their 2020 ATI response.
Jamaicans demand modern infrastructure, honest governance, and full transparency. It is time for the PNP leadership in St. Catherine to stop playing politics clean house internally, and deliver value for money to the taxpayers.
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