BGYEA is mobilizing for the weekend

Nigel Petillo

Prime Minister Dean Barrow has referred to the Ministry of Natural Resources a hotbed of corruption. And he is not alone in that opinion. The Belize Grassroots Youth Empowerment Association has been fighting for many months to get title to parcels of land in a community they call Harmonyville. According to BGYEA leader Nigel Petillo, it has been a frustrating exercise because the department is hopelessly corrupt, and that favors only the wealthy and unscrupulous, not the small man and woman. It’s an uphill battle to be sure, but Petillo says they have enlisted the help of a team of attorneys to provide advice and assistance to those with land problems.

Nigel Petillo, Grassroots Activist

“We have acquired about seventy-five to eighty percent of the land documents that we should have received by now. About eight hundred documents and we are still waiting for a next three hundred documents. The Lands Department keep giving us excuses such as their systems are down, we can’t find yo name in the system yet we have a hard copy that we have a piece of land and it has been processed through this system. However, there is a special activity taking place this Saturday at the Plus TV studios. Our brothers from Rise and Shine and a team of dedicated lawyers—names such as Arthur Saldivar, Audrey Matura Shepherd have decided to give up their services free on Saturday…meaning any Belizeans, any individual who has been having land problems at Lands Department as far as getting your documents forwarded and getting your services done on a timely manner, we will have these lawyers giving you advise. If you need a letter drafted up that would cost you a two to three hundred dollars from any other lawyer; that will be given to you free. The advice is necessary to get your process through Lands Department pushed. So I want to encourage my members from Harmonyville because a lot of us still noh got wi documents yet so we can use this day. And any other Belizeans who are having problems—mi people from Consejo, mi people down dah P.G., mi people down dah Cayo side—this dah wah opportunity make unu come in on that day—from nine o’clock to four o’clock—where you can get some legal attention and yo could go back to Lands Department ina di week and then have something for a lawyer to present. Hey mein, I need you to give me some attention; for quite some time I’ve been back and forth I want mi documents. We understand this fight. We know that our Belizean people have been deprived for quite some time now.  Resources that could develop our lives could create an impact on our lives; dehn guys play with it. It is not being issued the right way. The land distribution process has been failing us. On the other hand, my people need to understand their role too. You the people of the country have to participate; you can’t di sit down and expect that it will come to you. Not to be discriminatory or anything, but look at the immigrants for example. They come into this country, they know what they want. They identify land, which is one of the first way to acquire land, act and develop that land and then go to the Lands Department afterwards, ask for an inspector to come inspect the work and the land that you claim to have identified and then process afterwards.  So you the Belizean need fi get up and noh just sit down and expect somebody to get the work done for you.”