P.M. says he is seeking a qualified quality assurance person for Lands Dept.

Dean Barrow

Prime Minister Dean Barrow, at a recent fundraiser in Los Angeles, openly admitted that “the Lands Department unfortunately is another hotbed of corruption.” That acknowledgement, which came on the heels of the immigration scandal, confirms what has long been speculated in the Ministry of Natural Resources.  Following that disclosure, the P.M. went on record to state that immediate action had been taken against a number of staffers who were engaged in irregularities. While measures have been put in place to clean up the Immigration and Nationality Department, the prime minister says that a qualified individual is being sought to provide quality assurance across the various processes.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“The Ministry of Lands or the Lands Department has already taken some steps and about four, maybe six persons were moved out.  They’ve been, there have been ongoing attempts to try to assist with processes, remember they had this land management system project funded from abroad and all that.  The biggest problem, I hate to say it, the biggest problem, as I see it, is with individuals, I cited the example when I went to Santa Familia of somebody saying, “well, the land that I was working has now been given to others.”  When I checked with the minister, the lands officer who had gone out to do a report certified that the land was physically free and clear, that there was no crops, no cultivation and that was an outright lie.  What are we left to assume?  He did that deliberately and no doubt for money.  So there is that sort of a problem.  Too many people complain that you get nothing done in the Lands Department unless you are prepared to pay.  So I am hoping that the effort that’s being made and the fact that some people have been rotated out together with the systems on which there is ongoing work will help.  I will also tell you that we are trying to get somebody to act as a kind of quality assurance person for the department and liaison with the public.  We had spoken to one well known individual, that didn’t work.  We’re speaking to another one currently and if we can swing that particular contract, that particular arrangement hopefully that would help as well.”