A 54-member engineer contingent from the Ghana Armed Forces arrived in Jamaica on December 19. The soldiers are going to support recovery and rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Melissa ravaged the island nation.
The team, drawn from Ghana’s 48, 49 and 50 Engineers Regiments, is set to join efforts with the 1 Engineer Regiment of the Jamaica Defence Force. The Jamaica Defence Force shared a video of the arrival online.
The government said the personnel will work to rehabilitate damaged infrastructure and construct temporary shelters for displaced families. Lifted to the Caribbean with the help of a US military airlift, the government said this deployment underscores a growing partnership between Ghana, the United States, and Caribbean nations in crisis response.
Ghana’s support for Jamaica didn’t begin with this troop movement. In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, which caused billions of dollars in damage, the government dispatched humanitarian relief supplies, including food, blankets, mattresses, medicine, and other essentials.
The Minority in Parliament has criticised the government for deploying the soldiers to Jamaica and Benin without parliamentary approval. Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, December 17, 2025, the Ranking Member on the Defence and Interior Committee, John Ntim Fordjour, demanded an immediate explanation from the government. Describing the development as "disturbing", Fordjour said the government ought to have engaged Parliament.
He said: "We don't have any problem with the principles of assistance to these countries we have mentioned. However, procedures that should have been followed and the due process of consulting this August House, this Parliament House, in such decisions for us to be able to interrogate, to ensure transparency in the modalities and framework, even the various costs that the site will incur, and how long the decisions taken would persist." h
Meanwhile, the Minority has also summoned the Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, to appear before the House to brief lawmakers on the government’s donation of relief items worth GH¢10 million to Jamaica and Cuba. The relief package, donated to Jamaica and Cuba, was intended to assist victims of a recent hurricane.
The items donated include bags of rice, mattresses, gari mix, cocoa products, storage tanks, and other essential supplies, with part of the support also allocated to war-torn Sudan.
