Phyllis Thomas, Enterprise Editor
Algerna Stephens, making his land work for him. - IAN ALLEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Using the Access to Information Act, we have uncovered the sale of dozens of state-owned properties to private individuals and organisations at bargain basement prices. Today, we continue a series begun in yesterday's Sunday Gleaner on the sale of Crown lands
WE'RE ON our way to St. Mary this sunny day. To Tryall, Decoy and Grays Inn III in particular. We're encountering the most dreadful pot holes imaginable. But we are determined to find these districts because when we do we will understand why so much Crown land was being sold off there - and in many cases, at cheap rates.
About 152 persons from what is arguably the nation's poorest parish benefited from the sale, some for as little as $400 or $900 for over an acre. Others for $49,000 and up to $151,000. Who are they?
So here we are looking first of all for Decoy. A strange name for a district. Decoy - who are they trying to trap? Difficult to find on the map; difficult to find in the parish. Many in the parish didn't seem to know of Decoy.
Their confused stares and instructions to "go round there soh or over there so ... top side ... betrayed their ignorance," or maybe our own. Eventually we found it. A little distance away from a road with a moniker as strange Decoy.
But for this slender, elderly man using his waterboot-protected feet to assist the fork into the earth, there is not a soul in sight.
It turns out that he is a beneficiary of this land sale in St. Mary. Algerna Stephens is no Michael Lee Chin who made it to Forbes Magazine's list of billionaires. And he cannot even be classified as middle income either.
DECENT PROFIT
But he made a decent profit from the sale of a portion of the acre and four squares of land he bought from the National Land Agency for $980. He sold a bit of it, he said, for about $10,000. The rest he has kept for himself, growing bananas and coconut and has constructed his house.
He told us that everyone who purchased land in the area had previously leased it through the government's Land Lease Programme.
"All de people who had land from land lease time still occupy it," he said They were given the preference to buy.
Sure, he is a party man (PNP) he admitted unreservedly. "I was a PD (polling division) captain and ah enumeration officer from the early 1960s to 2000."
STARTED WITH JLP
And if anyone dares to think that he got his land because of that, perish the thought. The sale of lands to persons who had leased it started with the Jamaica Labour Party Government, he educated us. "Labour decided on the sale and PNP finished it," furthermore, "Labour people get too."
So he merely cashed in on a good deal started by one administration and continued by the next.
All that he is awaiting is his title for the land. But that, he is assured, will only be a matter of time. The National Land Agency, he reported had said that more persons needed to pay up outstanding balances before titles would be issued. They had a collection drive last February, he continued, and he believed most persons had paid up.
In the meantime he is making his land work for him. Sometimes he gets a good market for his crops. Sometimes, though, that money is only enough "to buy a little salt ting (meat or fish)."
Elijah Dalhouse Jr. bought a little over two acres in Decoy, also through the Land Lease Programme, he said. And the price? "It was a good price - ah not telling yu."
But the National Land Agency record showed that he got his land for $770. He gave his brother a piece of it, he said, and his brother has since sold it so that he could buy a bigger piece. Mr. Dalhouse said that he used to "work the land" and had mixed crops. He has now given it a rest, he said.
LOW-INCOME FAMILY
It's one week later. We're back in St. Mary and in Tryall. And this is Beverley Grandison, wife of George Grandison. They had been living on the lot for 20 years - about two and a half squares of land - an obviously low-income family with their 'chickens, hog and bananas'.
Then there is Harold Hart, his wife Joyce and their four children who bought their property for $43,560.
There is a sameness about every property in this district. Modest houses going up - very modest. There are a few blocks and sand heaps. One room has been added to the original structure which is sometimes one room.
They had been living on the properties for years and the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), they said, sent out letters to them offering to sell each person two and a half square of land.
Trevor Campbell got a little over that in Tryall - about three square, for $53,578 and is still paying for it. He has a two-bedroom wood house and plants, banana, plantain, rears chickens and pigs.
Most persons in Tryall purchased their land for between $34,000 and $60,000. There were nine sales for between $102,000 and $151,000. Jean Dixon purchased hers for $83,000 and Vincent Marc Evans for $121,000.
But Trevor Campbell is not too happy with his experience on his property. Nothing to do with the land sale. Praedial thieves are making his life miserable. And he said, "I want some money to borrow," he said, "my daughter is fretting. She wants to go to college. They recommend her to do nine subjects and she may get seven. But mi a fret because mi doant know where to turn to help her. Mi doant want it to be my fault that she doant move forward."
He said people around these parts are ambitious. And for him, "I just want help. Not even money. If I can get seeds and a tractor... If I can plant five acres of plantains which is easier than banana, I can make it."
For feedback send your e-mail to phyllis.thomas@gleanerjm.com or editor@gleanerjm.com
