Cordel Hyde: “Biscayne Village Chairman Jump Di Gun”

Cordel Hyde

The chairperson of Biscayne Village, who was elected under a previous administration, also brought forward concerns from that community where parcels of land had been set aside for residents.  Those lands, we understand, would be offered instead to members of the Belize National Teachers Union.  But did he act hastily when he came forward elsewhere in the media with his concerns?  Here’s how the Minister of Natural Resources responded.

Cordel Hyde, Minister of Natural Resources

“Di chairman di jump di gun mein… I didn’t speak to the chairman myself earlier, but he spoke to my assistant Paul [Thompson] and a couple of our officers and what we’ve undertaken to do is that all the applications that he sent in we will process those.  We’re not going to process those here because there are hundreds of people here, but we will process those in a special little operation for him, actually.  So there’s no need for him to jump the gun, we’re not unfair people.  If things started before us, we will try our best to process them, but the demands are great for this ministry.  I can tell you that in the case of Independence where, I don’t even know what’s the pronunciation of the name of the area in Independence.  I think it’s Good View or Good Will or something like that, thousands of lots involved, lots of people paid for those lots long before and so when we went to have clinic there in December of last year, we processed those.  We didn’t give people who bought ten lots, ten lots because we are focusing on people who don’t have  land, first time landowners, and the problem with these programs or these kinds of projects in these villages is that they end up focusing primarily on the people who can afford to pay for the survey.  So someone who has five lots already ends up, they can afford to pay for five, they pay for five.  It can’t be like that.  In that case, the people who don’t have will never be able to get.”