In a quick turnaround Gov’t gets back South Silk Caye

It may have been the fastest real estate transaction in the history of Belize. Less than 24 hours after News Five broke the story of Government’s unconscionable sale of a pristine caye to a well connected private citizen, that deal has been reversed. A release this afternoon from the Ministry of Natural Resources indicates that following a review of the sale, it was found to be in contravention of Government’s policy that nationally owned cayes should not be sold. The buyer, businessman Gabby Affif of Belize City, today executed a conveyance returning South Silk Caye to the Government and in exchange he received a voucher for his original purchase price. That price, 2,560 Belize dollars, is estimated to be approximately one fiftieth of the property’s market value. No doubt bearing in mind the disparity between the price Affif paid and the price he could have sold it for, the Ministry’s release pointed out that in February of this year it commenced an exercise to revise the methods used to value and price government lands for sale or lease.

While the immediate crisis has been averted, a number of questions remain. The first is how could the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries go through the lengthy process of declaring an important marine reserve without knowing–or perhaps caring–that one of the three islands comprising the reserve had in fact been sold for private development? The second is how could the sale of the caye–no matter how large or small–be allowed to move up the department line and signed by the Minister of Natural Resources, when it was so obviously in violation of basic government policy? And finally, what remarkable powers of persuasion were brought to bear by Gabby Affif that allowed him to not only make a land purchase contrary to official policy, but to do so at a price so low that it has a powerful government hanging its collective head in shame. News Five will continue to pursue answers to these questions…and perhaps others. Since the story broke a number of viewers have contacted our newsroom with information on land deals made by both PUP and UDP governments, which, if true, would have a large number of our public officials taking up long-term residence in Hattieville.