More Tomorrow villagers have a major squatting problem

More Tomorrow’s Village Council is fighting for land titles. The council held its monthly meeting this past Sunday and two major issues dominated the discussions and have prompted the council to seek an audience with the Prime Minister. According to a release issued today, land speculators have constantly been laying claim to the lands of farmers in the Village. The farmers received the property from government as far back as 1998, but since then, they have been unable to obtain proper documentation from the Lands Department. Village councilor, Jimmy Robinson, told News Five today that the speculators have been disrupting development in the community.

Jimmy Robinson, More Tomorrow Village Councilor

“A topic of interest on Sunday was the pressing need to solve the problem with the thousand acres of land that we have negotiated with government since 1998. Many speculators, as you can see in the press release that we have, have come to the village over time and at this point in time everybody is frustrated because we have made countless trips to the Lands Department but to no avail. We’re not finding any solution whatsoever to this problem.”

Delahnie Bain

Jimmy Robinson

“So people have been coming and claiming land in the village?”

Jimmy Robinson

“Yes over the years we have had a lot of speculators that came into the village claiming land; that the land that belongs to the farmers is actually theirs. Since the U.D.P. administration during the tenure of Minister Dito Juan, we got these lands. Again, during the time of the P.U.P. administration, resolutions again were made to get these lands taken care of, up until the present. At this point in time we are at a stalemate and it’s extremely hard for everyone that is trying to develop that part of the country.  As we see it at this point in time, they’re speculators; big money speculators who are trying to—I would say—take a piece of this precious Jewel out of Belizean farmers’ hands and just trying to make an easy buck and I don’t think we’re gonna roll over and play like we’re sleeping; we’re gonna stand up and say “no”. We’re not gonna stand for it.”