Law enforcement, not commissions
published: Monday | August 11, 2003

LAND AND its acquisition, legally or otherwise, has always been an emotive and at times explosive issue in the history of nations. The present controversy surrounding the Bogue lands in Montego Bay is no exception to the overall squatter problem in Jamaica which has spread like "love bush", fertilised by a misguided popularism which came to full bloom in the '70s. But the squatting at Bogue seems to be outlandishly cynical and arrogant involving as it does million-dollar structures illegally constructed on the land, all part of commercial operations conducted openly by persons known in the community to have close political connections.

It is one thing to shed crocodile tears for poor, landless people seeking somewhere to erect primitive shelter. It is quite another to condone the apparent pillage of the Bogue estate, not privately-owned by some absentee landlord, but Crown lands held in trust by the St. James Parish Council for all the people, by a PNP-controlled Council that seems to have been suffering from such an attack of collective "pink eye" that it did not see what was taking place.

Mr. Noel Donaldson, the new Mayor of Montego Bay, says he is trying to correct the situation even if this involves removing some JLP supporters who were interlopers in the capture. But, as usual, direct action has been frustrated by the setting up of a Commission by Minister Portia Simpson Miller to investigate the circumstances of the squatting. Fearing that such a commission will finesse the issue of responsibility, the new Parish Council wants to set up its own commission to probe the matter and, undoubtedly, try to gain political mileage from it.

We say, "A plague on both your houses". The legal position is quite clear. Lands held in trust for the people by the Parish Council can be divested only by a formal act of the Minister of Local Government, and Mrs. Simpson Miller, the Minister, has made it clear that she did no such thing. Therefore, ownership of the lands remains in the Council and it has the power, indeed the duty, to take corrective action. As we understand it, buildings erected on another person's land must either be demolished or by law, title to the structure passes to the owner of the land. In such a clear-cut situation, what need is there for commissions and committees?

THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.

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