The Beharie Letter: Sometimes We Are Asking the Wrong Question, November 8, 2026

Good morning, friends, and happy Sunday.

This week I open with a longer reflection on leadership, from Washington to Kingston. After that you will find six stories worth your coffee this morning.

The Beharie Perspective

Sometimes We Are Asking the Wrong Question

There has been a changing of the guard in Washington. But should we really be shocked?

There will be plenty of analysis about why Americans chose change. One of the easiest explanations will be economics. People vote with their pockets, we will be told. Cost of living, jobs, uncertainty about the future. All of that undoubtedly matters.

But I am not convinced that economics tells the whole story.

Leadership is also about behavior.

It is about temperament, humility, empathy and the ability to disagree without treating everyone who disagrees with you as an enemy.

At some point, behavior matters.

When the conduct associated with the highest levels of leadership begins to fall below the standards we would expect from someone running a kindergarten, perhaps we should not be surprised when people decide that something has to change.

That doesn’t mean the new leadership will necessarily be better. Change itself is no guarantee of improvement.

So let’s see what the future brings.

But perhaps there is a broader lesson here.

Leadership eventually has to be judged by more than what leaders say. It has to be judged by how they behave and what they deliver.

And that brings me home to Jamaica.

A year later, are we asking the right question?

A year after Hurricane Melissa devastated parts of Jamaica, people understandably want answers.

One question keeps returning:

Where is the money?

And closely behind it:

How is the money being spent?

Those are legitimate questions. Every dollar committed to rebuilding Jamaica should be properly accounted for.

But I wonder if we are concentrating too much on the money and not enough on the machinery required to turn that money into results.

Perhaps the more important question is:

Why aren’t things moving faster?

Where are the bottlenecks?

What is preventing projects from moving from planning to execution?

And, perhaps most importantly, who has responsibility for removing those obstacles?

That is the conversation I would like to hear more of.

The problem is not insignificant. In January 2026, the IMF approved approximately US$415 million in emergency financial assistance for Jamaica following Hurricane Melissa.

And there are signs that the challenge of turning reconstruction plans into projects is being recognized. On November 1, 2026, Jamaica and the UK signed a four-year partnership intended to accelerate reconstruction, including engineering, project-management and procurement support for the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority.

That is encouraging.

But for ordinary Jamaicans, the test cannot simply be how much money has been committed.

The test must ultimately be what has been delivered.

A billion dollars announced does not repair someone’s roof.
A press conference does not rebuild a school.
A strategic plan does not restore somebody’s livelihood.

And a perfectly accounted-for dollar that takes years to reach the community it was intended to help is not, by itself, evidence of successful reconstruction.

Follow the money, but follow the process too

We absolutely should follow the money.

Accountability matters. Transparency matters. Jamaicans have every right to know where reconstruction funds are going and whether those funds are being used properly.

But let us follow something else as well:

Follow the process.

If projects are moving slowly, identify where they are getting stuck.
If bureaucracy is slowing reconstruction, address it.
If procurement is the problem, say so and fix it.
If coordination is the problem, bring the responsible parties together.
If decisions are sitting somewhere waiting for approval, find out why.

That doesn’t mean abandoning proper controls. After a disaster, the pressure to move quickly can never become an excuse for abandoning accountability.

But neither should accountability become an excuse for paralysis.

Conduct and delivery

Whether we are talking about Washington or Kingston, leadership ultimately comes down to something surprisingly simple.

Conduct and delivery.

How do you behave when entrusted with power?

And what actually changes for the people you were given the privilege of serving?

Washington has experienced its change.
Jamaica is still rebuilding.

In both cases, perhaps we should resist the easiest explanations and ask the harder questions.

Because sometimes the most important question isn’t “Where is the money?”

It is:

“What is stopping us from getting the job done?”

And once we know the answer to that, there should be one more question:

“Who is going to fix it?”

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This week’s six stories

1. One year after Melissa: who controls the rebuilding money?

A year has passed since Hurricane Melissa tore through western Jamaica, and the conversation has moved from relief to rebuilding. On October 28 the government added J$9.65 billion to its ROOFS program, which helps families put proper roofs back over their heads. Then on November 1, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua, Jamaica and the United Kingdom signed their four-year partnership, starting with a £10 million one-year program funded equally by both governments. UK firms Arup, Mace and Gleeds will form a delivery team supporting the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority with design, engineering, program management and procurement.

The anniversary also brought frustration into the open. Beenie Man and Buju Banton spoke publicly about the pace of recovery, and Prime Minister Holness answered them, a back-and-forth that played out over October 28 and 29. Recovery is not only about concrete and zinc. It is about trust.

More: Top Five: Mining Ministry, CHOGM, US Votes, HIV Shot & Haiti

2. America changes hands

On November 3, American voters handed Democrats control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Senate seats changed hands in Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas. Counting continues in some races, so final seat totals may still shift over the coming days.

Two results stand out for readers with Caribbean roots. In Georgia, Keisha Lance Bottoms was elected governor, becoming the first Black woman elected governor of a U.S. state. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, Stacey Plaskett was elected governor, a familiar name for anyone who follows Caribbean voices in Washington.

Why does this matter in Montego Bay or Sandnes? Congress holds the purse strings of the world’s largest economy. Its choices shape trade, aid, immigration rules and the remittances many Jamaican families depend on. With the White House and Congress led by different parties, expect more negotiation and slower decisions.

More: Top Five: Senate Sweep, Slavery Talks, House Row, PEP & Israel

3. Jamaica breaks a 30-year pattern on Cuba

For about three decades Jamaica voted each year at the United Nations for the resolution calling for an end to the U.S. embargo on Cuba. On October 28 Jamaica abstained instead, one of 25 countries to do so.

The reaction at home was sharp. Former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson called it an “abominable betrayal.” Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith defended the decision. On November 3 the argument reached Parliament, where MPs Phillips and McKenzie clashed over it.

Whatever your view, the vote raises a real question for a small nation: how do we balance old friendships, new pressures and our own interests? Cuba sent doctors and teachers to Jamaica for decades. The United States is our largest trading partner and home to a huge diaspora. Foreign policy is rarely about one vote. It is about what kind of neighbor we choose to be, and why.

More: Top Five: Cuba Row, NIDS, Slavery Apology, Hormuz & Black Sea

4. Norway rethinks the ethics of its oil fund

Norway’s oil fund manages roughly 20 trillion kroner and owns small pieces of thousands of companies worldwide. For more than twenty years an independent Council on Ethics has recommended which companies the fund should drop. That system was paused last year while an expert committee led by former central bank governor Svein Gjedrem reviewed it.

The committee delivered its report to Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg on October 15. It proposes that Norges Bank first try to influence companies through active ownership, and that the bank, not the council, choose between engagement and exclusion. It also proposes an exception allowing investment in nuclear-weapons producers based in allied states covered by the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which could let several excluded American and European defense companies back in.

The council’s chair, Svein Richard Brandtzæg, has warned of a weakening of the fund’s ethical compass and threatened to step down. Red Cross Norway and some parties object; the minister calls the current ban a paradox. Parliament will decide.

More: What the Jamaican “Partner” and Norway’s Oil Fund Teach Us About Saving

5. Norway tightens its guard

Norway took two visible security steps this week. On November 2 the government proposed a new espionage law, aimed at making it easier to act against people who gather information on behalf of foreign states. The next day, the Armed Forces announced that NASAMS air-defense sensors and more than 30 soldiers will be stationed in Kirkenes, the small Arctic town close to the Russian border.

For those of us who chose Norway as home, these moves can feel distant from daily life in Sandnes or Stavanger. They are not. Norway shares a border with Russia, supplies much of Europe’s gas, and sits on undersea cables and pipelines that power homes far beyond its shores. A country that has long trusted openly is learning to protect that openness.

There is a lesson here for Jamaica too. Small countries with strategic value cannot assume goodwill. Preparation is not paranoia. It is stewardship of what has been entrusted to us.

6. Hoax bombs and hacked fridges

Some of this week’s most unsettling news involved no explosions at all. On November 3, at least seven flights and a cruise ship received bomb threats. No explosives were found, but passengers were delayed, crews diverted and security services stretched.

A day earlier, France’s national blood service, the EFS, was hit through one of its refrigeration suppliers. Separately, supermarket refrigeration systems were hacked in eight countries. These are the quiet weak points of modern life: the cold chain that keeps blood safe and food fresh, run by connected machines most of us never think about.

Security experts call this hybrid pressure: cheap, deniable disruption designed to spread worry and cost money. The practical lesson for families and small businesses is simple. Update your devices, change default passwords, and ask your suppliers how they protect your systems. And when a frightening headline appears, wait for the facts before you share it. Calm is a form of defense.

More: Scam Warning Signs for Jamaicans Abroad and Their Parents Back Home

Closing thought

Every story this week came back to stewardship. Money for roofs, votes in Congress, a nation’s savings, the safety of a border town, the systems that keep our blood banks cold. Scripture reminds us that whoever is faithful with little will be faithful with much. Whether we hold a nation’s budget or a household’s, the call is the same: be faithful, be transparent, and remember who the resources are for.

Thank you for reading. Share this letter with someone who would enjoy it, and reply anytime. I read every message.

Blessings,
Colin

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