Last month, we told you about the controversy between the Barrow Administration and the Cotton Tree Village council because Government acquired private property to create 254 lots in that village - with the lots to be shared up among 8 UDP constituencies in Belize City.
Cotton Tree's village council filed a case in court to fight that subdivision on what they say is their village's land. The case started before Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin today.
The Government of Belize has yet to file their defense, and so, without a case from the other side, Chief Justice Benjamin could only adjourn the hearing. Outside of court, we spoke with the attorney for the Cotton Tree Village Council, who explained how they intend to challenge the Government:
Andrew Marshalleck - Attorney for Cotton Tree Village Council
"We are challenging two things in the main; the manner of creation of the subdivision and also the manner of distribution of the lots created by the subdivision. With regard to the former the manner of creation of the subdivision, we have 3 problems with it. First and foremost there was no consultation with the village council and the law requires that they be such consultation. Second and third is that there is no compliance with the statutory requirements for the requirements for subdivisions. This I suspect will be a little controversial in that the fundamental position we have taken is that the provisions of the land utilization act and the environmental protection act apply equally to government as it does to private citizens. Historically it's been that government behaves and act as if these things don't apply to them, so they never take any steps whatsoever to comply."
"The importance of compliance with the farmer is and we see it happening over and over both with Cotton Tree and I also see it in the news with BGYEA is that in the usual course you are not allowed to create a subdivision until you put in infrastructure. When government ignores the requirement they are able to create subdivisions with no infrastructure at all."
Reporter
"In a past interview Mr. Martinez said that one of the factors that the village is fighting this is because of the race factor. How would you respond to that?"
Andrew Marshalleck - Attorney for Cotton Tree Village Council
"I don't know about that. It certainly not the basis of any challenge in court. I am not able to say if there are individuals in the village who are motivated by those types of considerations and I wouldn't want to go there. I think that's just inflammatory and is red herring design to throw you off from the real problems that here which is the use by political parties of public resources to secure votes for themselves."
By our count, Government has until Thursday to file its defense, and after that, the case goes back before Chief Justice Benjamin next week Monday.
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