U.D.P. holds solidarity rally at headquarters
If a face off between U.D.P. officials and the Ministry of Housing personnel flanked by B.D.F. soldiers and a press conference on Wednesday, were not enough, today there was a rally and peaceful protest at the U.D.P. headquarters. All the fuss at the foot of the BelChina Bridge is over who legally owns the property. The U.D.P. claims it was given legal title in 1997 through a free grant of the land from the then U.D.P. government. The present P.U.P. government counters that Lands Minister Eduardo Juan did not have the power to make the transfer and that the U.D.P. never paid for the property, valued at over six hundred thousand dollars or the stamp duty of over thirty thousand dollars. After offering to let the U.D.P. buy the property outright in December of 1998 and getting no response, on August 6th they filed a lawsuit against the U.D.P. party trustees. The Ministry of Housing unloaded supplies at the site for low-income home construction on Saturday. The U.D.P. blocked the action and say the matter should be resolved in the courts. Today party supporters said although the government has temporarily halted the construction, the action is an infringement of their rights. Senator Audrey Matura Tillett went as far as to claim the P.U.P. is trying to kill democracy. Party Leader Dean Barrow says the Prime Minister Said Musa told him earlier this week that the court action would not be brought and that the U.D.P. could work something out with the government. Now he is skeptical of any offer to negotiate, but still willing to come to the table.
Audrey Matura Tillett, U.D.P. Senator
“This democracy that they have buried here, we are bringing it back to life because the U.D.P. is alive and kicking.”
Dean Barrow, Leader of the Opposition, U.D.P.
“How you’re going to tell me now that you want to negotiate? When I asked you to negotiate you promised that you would think about it, as a gesture of good faith so we could create the right climate for negotiation; you wouldn’t proceed with the court action. You turn right around and do the exact opposite. That is not establishing any good faith basis for negotiation. Nevertheless, if they will agree to hold off with that construction we are still prepared to talk. From the beginning we have said we are prepared to talk. We have legal title to the property, but we do not want a confrontation.”
Chief of Staff Godfrey Smith told News Five the government does not want a confrontation either, but that the matter could have been resolved if the U.D.P. had responded to their offer last year and purchased the land. However, Smith says the U.D.P. will still be given the opportunity to buy the land the headquarters is situated on. The government maintains the U.D.P. got the land illegally since they say the Crown Lands Act was repealed in 1992. Dean Barrow says that their grant was not made under this act; he says the Minister of Lands has other powers which allow him to make gifts of land to organizations and community groups.
