On September 5th there was a House meeting where the Firearms Amendment Bill and the Crime Control and Criminal Justice Bill were introduced. But while formal discussion and debate was taking place inside the House on those bills, a more "on the ground" land issue was being voiced on the steps of the National Assembly. You may remember the Silk Grass and Santa Cruz residents who claimed that they are being swindled out of their land. Well, their concerns were finally when a team from the Lands and Survey department visited Trio and Silk Grass Villages in Stann Creek earlier this week. 137 new lease applications were issued for first time land owners in Trio Village while 57 were processed for first timers in Silk Grass Village. However, at the house meeting two weeks ago, Gaspar Vega said that Silk Grass residents were well aware that they could not have gotten leases due to the disruption or break down in the leasing system under the PUP government.
Hon. Gaspar Vega, Minister of Natural Resources
"These 162 lots were issued knowing, knowing, that the plans were not completed. Therefore no lease could have been issued as the land information systems only allows for the opening of accounts and recording of leases for lands legally demarcated and boundaries officially represented on authenticated survey maps."
In a press release sent out by the Ministry of Natural Resources it also states "low turnout in Silk Grass is due to the resulting regularization of the official survey plan which identifies only a minority of those residents as first time lease holders".
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