So, instead of arguing that squatting is wrong, Senator Frazer Binns is making a case for widening the spread of the law's folly. “We cannot be serious about titling and continue to place this burden on so many Jamaicans who, but for the land being government lands, would have acquired ownership years ago,” she said. Senator Frazer Binns wants that 60-year provision reduced to 12 years, as obtains with private lands.Īccording to her, many Jamaicans who never before could have owned a piece of land can now do so legally, yet the same legislation that says you can own private land after 12 years states that in order to own government land you have to be in possession for 60 years. The latest drivel was delivered in the Upper House last Friday by Opposition Senator Sophia Frazer Binns, who basically argued that the State should urgently remove the 60-year provision in law that people who have been squatting on Crown lands must satisfy before they can pursue legal ownership. However, legitimising illegality cannot be the way forward, so that's why each time we see our legislators going down that path it gives us cause for great concern. That is an issue that the country needs to address with all seriousness if we intend to correct the many social ills that afflict us. Some years ago we were told that more than 740 squatter communities existed across the country. There's no doubt that too many Jamaicans are still living in conditions that are less than acceptable.
So what we have seen over the years are moves at formalising what are deemed to be informal settlements, and politicians from both sides of the divide have shamelessly sought mileage from what they have termed titling ceremonies. Successive governments have tinkered with it, dancing through the raindrops as they acknowledge its illegality while trying not to enrage the squatters, their relatives, and friends for fear that such anger will be expressed at the ballot. For decades squatting has been a major problem in Jamaica.
0 kommentar(er)
