Dr Horace Chang, the national security minister, is easily one of the brightest members of the Andrew Holness Cabinet, and so he’s unlikely to disagree with us on an issue we think he needs to apply his considerable authority.

Last Sunday’s edition of the Jamaica Observer reported that our ambassador to the United States, Ms Audrey Marks, has negotiated a programme of rehabilitation and training for Jamaican deportees from the US.

The news story said that, in the last seven years, a total of 15,373 deportations were made to Jamaica; 10,652 from the US, United Kingdom and Canada, based on data provided by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (Statin), which obviously justifies such a programme.

The ambassador, who expectedly would have marked that deportee agreement down in her win column, went on to say she had offered the Fort Augusta Adult Correctional Centre in Portmore, St Catherine, or a similar facility, to be refurbished under the pact with the US.

“We have sought funding from the US Government because our position is that most persons coming back to Jamaica as involuntary returning migrants have spent most of their lives here in the US,” Ms Marks explained.

“… So, the refurbishing of Fort Augusta or a similar place is what they have agreed to do,” she disclosed on March 4, 2021 during her online programme ‘Let’s Connect with Ambassador Marks’.

However, our story quoted Security Minister Chang as saying that Fort Augusta could not be used for that purpose as the Government wanted it for use for three field hospitals amid the novel coronavirus pandemic; one to go to the Jamaica Defence Force after the COVID-19 crisis.

“That wasn’t decided as the appropriate venue because it is on the sea coast, so if you have a storm, you’re in problem. It is land that is more appropriate for port development, which the ports are looking at already. We’ll have to look at alternative sites in terms of the returning immigrants,” Dr Chang said.

We urge Dr Chang to make haste to identify a venue for the programme. It cannot be left at a point where “we’ll have to look at alternative sites”. Neither do we understand why an alternative site could not have been already identified since March when the deportee programme was announced.

It may be that Ambassador Marks could have jumped the gun in mentioning Fort Augusta — more famous as the former women’s prison — conceivably, before consulting with Minister Chang or her boss, Foreign Minister Senator Kamina Johnson Smith.

Even if that were so, it would be no excuse for holding up such a vital programme. Deportees often are extremely vulnerable on returning to Jamaica. It is well known that a good number of them are strangers to the island, having spent most of their time in the country from which they are being sent.

We also know that many of them were involved in crime overseas and are quite prepared to resume their criminal activities once they get here. Their rehabilitation and training are therefore vital, and Ambassador Marks should be commended.

God forbid that the US people decide we are joking around and do not really need the money. It wouldn’t be the first time. Many fully financed development projects have been shelved over the years because Jamaica could not find the capacity to implement them.

Don’t let the horse starve while the grass is growing, Dr Chang.