Shaggy Releases J$100 Million Raised By Foundation To Equip Bustamante Children’s Hospital ICU

Shaggy’s Make a Difference Foundation has now released the J$100 million raised at the 2018 Shaggy and Friends Concert, which was earmarked to be used to equip the intensive care unit of the Bustamante Hospital for Children in St Andrew with additional beds.

According to a Gleaner report on Sunday, the hospital board chairman Kenneth Benjamin, has also reported that preparation work for the facility is now underway.

“The money was never to be turned over. It was to pay for it. So with our permission, they have brought in the equipment that is needed for the extended ICU. Also, we brought in engineers and architects who are working on it as we speak,” Benjamin is reported as saying.

“The money has been released but they are paying out as it moves. They have already paid for the architecture of the building. The second thing is that we will have about four additional units in the ICU, and they have started to have dialogue with us as to what we need so they can order it. We will have more units and we will supply more equipment for those units,” he continued.

The donation monies and Shaggy’s name, have been plagued by controversy since November 2019, after The Gleaner published an article titled Busta’ still waiting – Hospital yet to benefit from $100m raised at 2018 Shaggy and Friends charity concert, which insinuated misappropriation of funds by the foundation and brought the Dancehall megastar’s name into disrepute.

Following the publication of the article, Shaggy’s Dancehall compatriots, including Popcaan and scores of fans, had taken the newspaper to task, declaring that the media house had treated the artist unfairly and slanderously.

A week after the Gleaner’s article was published, a disheartened Shaggy, who was overseas preparing to honour his overseas musical commitments which included a Little Mermaid Live production, had jetted to Kingston, to stage a press conference at the Bustamante Children’s Hospital in an effort to clear his name. 

The Gulf War veteran had said then that the imbroglio had not only left him feeling disappointed, but had plunged him into anguish after his then nine-year-old daughter came to him and told him she knew he was going to the meeting at Bustamante “to tell them that you didn’t steal the money.”

At the press conference, the Boombastic artist had presented bank statements outlining that the funds raised from the event, remained in the account untouched. 

Shaggy and Benjamin, had also explained that despite the handing over of the symbolic JM$100 million cheque following the concert, the Foundation had to await the expansion of the ICU space at the hospital to facilitate the additional beds.

The Rae Town native had also re-emphasized that it was never the foundation’s policy to hand over cash directly to the hospital, but rather to meet its needs via the procuring of items.

Since the impasse over the funds, Shaggy has been reticent about the continuation of the Foundation.

In March 2023, Shaggy had fired lyrical shots at the Gleaner in his verse in the video of the remix of Kemar Highcon’s So Saucy song, which also featured Spice.

Shaggy had ripped a copy of the Gleaner into two and tossed it aside as he declared in the lyrics that he was wealthy, the monies were in the account, and: “Das why mi nuh ramp fi silence dem mouth / Yuh nuh see di people dem nuh in a weh them in a /Can’t believe weh them write in a the Gleaner / Them affi gain back we trust in a the media”.

His reticence was further exacerbated in April last year, after another Gleaner report was published stating that his foundation was behind in its filing mandatory audited financial statements for the last two years, and had placed itself “in danger of being stripped of its charity status”.

The article had quoted Errol Gallimore, registrar of the Department of Cooperatives and Friendly Societies (DCFS) as saying that the foundation was not currently registered as a charity organisation, as it had failed to renew its registration, which expired on February 17, 2022.

The article had also said that the absence of the financial records had left the DCFS “in the dark about all funds being held by SMADF” including what it described as “the controversial $100 million raised by the charity in 2018…”  and that the head of the organisation had said that he was unable to say whether the cash was there or not “because they have not filed”.

It noted however, that Shaggy’s representative Sharon Burke of Solid Agency, and Bustamante Children’s Hospital chairman, Kenneth Benjamin, had insisted that the funds are available, “safe and is earning interest”.

In an interview with Onstage’s Winford Williams, he had said that while he had not ruled out staging the fundraising concert again in the future, and was still making personal donations to the hospital, he was still not comfortable about pushing the issue, based on what had transpired as a result of the Gleaner’s story.

In December last year, controversy again resurfaced after news reports surfaced that Shaggy had said that his foundation “never gives money to Government.

The Southeast Regional Health Authority (SERHA) had promptly issued a statement declaring that neither the Bustamante Hospital for Children nor the agency itself, had ever requested that the $100 million raised by the Shaggy, for the health facility be handed over to the Government “as is being purported”.