Audit shows land sold when some purchasers did not have leases
Last Friday in the House of Representatives, a special report by the Auditor General was tabled on land transactions in the period of September 2007 to February 2008. One thousand five hundred cases were examined by the audit which revealed a breach of established practices at the Ministry of Natural Resources in the months prior to the general elections. The audit found that the then Minister approved significant reductions of the value of national lands, the commissioner of lands did not always approve the applications and that there was a lack of crucial documents. In some instances land was sold even when the purchaser did not have lease to the land. A perusal of the four hundred and nineteen page document revealed that thousands of acres of caye land were sold off at inconsistent prices, with one purchaser paying as low as three hundred and twenty five per acre while another paid three thousand nine hundred dollars in the same area. There were also cases where according to the report, the purchases or leases were fast tracked taking place in one or a few days when the process should entail up to a month. In another instance, the audit noted a direct sale of twenty five acres in the Turneffe atoll where the Minister approved the land before Turneffe Atoll Investments had applied for it, and it was after the approval that the valuation and surveys were carried out. The audit also revealed that the names of certain individuals kept creeping up in the frenzy just prior to the last general elections. The audit makes several recommendations including that the loss to government be determined.
I want my 25 acres at $325.00 per on Turneff & I won’t even ask the Government for a loan & forget to pay, in fact I am willing to pay cash & never set foot in their office again.
I say we take back our land, if it has already been sold, bill these thieves for every penny & add penalties for good measure. Attach & sell whatever they own to pay the people back. The average Belizean deserves to feel like a viable part of our own society & not like second class citizens forced to live on the reservation. We feel like outsiders & beggars whenever we dare to look at prime real estate regardless of our ability to pay. The hospital needs money, the police department needs a decent forensic lab & better training. We need the money more than the stores in Miami where these snobs go on their weekend shopping sprees. We deserve better.
If you are still awed by the recent findings of this audit then you haven not been listening at all. The public is well aware by now that the department of land transaction feeds on corruption. The media should go question the names revealed in this frenzy along with the PM.
And you don’t think the exact same corruption is going on now? The people of Beliz need to stand up for their rights else all the politicians will end up rich, all the government land will be GONE and the people of Belize left with NADA!
If the land was given to other Belizeans who by birth right deserved it then i have no problem with the way things were done in office, this way land do not have to be taken away from other Belizean to give to other belizean, that would be madness.
but I am aware that the corruption within the said department was never in favour of the penny less, and sadly most of the land that were diviantly given away ended up in the hands of the rich and the foreigners.
Still, if the G.O.B give away free land to every single belizean, how can they support hospitals, police department, and an equipped Forensic lab/ professional training which is desperately needed in belize without and finicial help at all.
belizean also need to pay a price to own a piece of land, perhaps the government should start working on a payment plan for want to be land owners:)………………..(layaway plan) sounds like a plan to me.
see when I tell you, talk about UDP, look at the mada… PUP did, mada …. the country, those thiefing ali babas
make i tell uno again with this gov. economy in the drain,tourism in the drain,education in the drain,exports in the drain, imports in the drain, gasoline up , crime way wayyyyyyyyyyy out of control corruption out of control no make this pm fool unu by throwing the ministers to the wolves remember fu kill one snake you cant cut off the tail it will grow back you have to cut off the head.
The market value of these lands should be determined and monies owed paid to the government of Belize or the lands confiscated.
When will we SET STANDARDS IN BELIZE?????? WHEN WILL WE FOLLOW PROPER PROCEDURE???????????