WATCH: Golding vows to help worried ’65 families’ facing eviction Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

Opposition Leader Mark Golding has vowed to make representation to the relevant Government agencies on behalf of residents who are scheduled to be evicted from lands in Pleasant Hill, Lluidas Vale in rural St Catherine.

“… We will proceed to make representation on your behalf with the relevant Government agencies, and if necessary, the prime minister himself, to sort this thing out on your behalf, because it can’t go any further than it has already gotten,” Golding told concerned residents on Friday.

The citizens have built homes on the lands which were reportedly originally leased from Worthy Park Estates by their fore parents some 50 years ago.

However, the residents were served with eviction notices by the Commissioner of Lands on October 6, informing them that they have until December 6 to relocate from the area.

“The reason for requiring you to cease occupation, vacate and deliver up possession of and remove any fencing and/or temporary structure(s) erected on the said property is that you are in illegal possession of property, which is owned by the Commissioner of Lands,” the notice stated.

It continued: “If you fail to cease occupation, vacate and deliver up possession of the said property as required under the terms of this notice, you will be forcibly evicted,” the notice further advised.

Interestingly, the letters were served the same day illegal housing structures were demolished on agricultural lands in the community of Clifton in the Greater Bernard Lodge Development Area.

Since the delivery of the notices, coupled with the demolition of the houses in Clifton, residents in Pleasant Hill in Lluidas Vale have been left uneasy, as they do not know where they stand relative the lands they currently occupy.

Further, they are worried about where they will now move to, having invested their livelihoods on building their homes.

Golding, who, along with several other members of the leadership of the People’s National Party (PNP), met the residents on Friday, said he did not understand the rationale behind issuing the notices, as the residents have indicated their willingness to realise their ownership of the land.

“I do not understand what is the thinking behind these notices. It doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t see why the Government would want to do such a thing,” Golding said, reiterating that the Opposition PNP will be making enquiries about the notices.

He warned that if necessary, the Opposition will also take “other forms of action, because a land owner cannot stand by and watch people put their blood, sweat and tears and all their earnings investing in houses, and when the houses are in an advanced stage, (they) come and say, ‘Oh, well,

The PNP president advised the residents that they may have to pay for the land, to which the residents responded in unison that they have no problem in doing so.

“It is frankly unbelievable that a Government agency would treat a community – 65 families – in such a way, out of the blue to serve them notices at a time when things are so hard anyway and life is so tough with prices being high…,” declared Golding.

“… This is a community that has been here for many, many years and the people are born and grow here…,” said Golding, who was then interrupted by a female resident.

She told him that, “It is ancestral land…

“We already pay fah with blood sweat and tears from our great grandparents to our grantparents to our parents then now to me, then now to my children – that is five generations!” she insisted.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness reacted in Parliament on Tuesday to the issues relative to the pendin in the House, Phillip Paulwell, questioned him on the eviction notices that were received by the residents.

“I’ve seen the issue for Lluidas Vale. It is totally coincidental. It has nothing to do with this (the demolition of unfinished housing houses in Clifton),” Holness stated.

According to him, the National Land Agency (NLA), Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ) and other agencies of Government that own a registry of lands, “from time-to-time go about regularising and rectifying communities that are irregularly settled.”

Holness said it was unlikely that persons will be thrown off the lands in Pleasant Hill.

“There is no coordination at this time to have any mass rectification of irregular settlements.

“However, based upon what has happened, I think it is quite timely that we take a serious look at this, and any engagement like that would obviously have to have enough time, public engagement, and we would have to provide the alternatives for people,” said Holness.

There have been reports by residents of Pleasant Hill that they have tried to get titles for the land in the past, but were not successful.

Holness has vowed to take a stand against what he referred to as land grabs island-wide, and the acquiring of Government lands for illegal housing by residents and criminals locally.

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