JAMAICA | PNP Wants Prime Minister to Intervene on behalf of Little Bay Residents in Westmoreland

Kingston, Jamaica, April 7, 2022 - Opposition Leader Mark Golding has called on Prime Minister Andrew Holness to intervene in the land dispute in Little Bay Westmoreland where last evening, residents resisted an attempt to demolish their homes and business places and evict them using heavy equipment. 

In a statement this morning, Golding said “Prime Minister Holness must move with urgency to protect the legitimate interests of residents of Little Bay who are threatened with imminent forcible eviction, even though some of them have lived there for upwards of  50 years”.

The Opposition Leader said “many of these residents are willing to purchase the properties on which they have built substantial homes and business places. The Government must intervene and arrive at an acceptable solution that avoids further escalation of this conflict.”  

Some residents have been paying taxes for these lands, and have sought representation from the Government through their Member of Parliament Moreland Wilson, but have not seen any intervention from the authorities to address their plight.

The Opposition is urgently calling  on the Prime Minister to intervene before this situation results in loss of property and even life.

Two weeks ago, thousands of residents of the Brighton, Little Bay, Salmon Point and Old Hope districts in Western Westmoreland expressed concern  over a fresh round of eviction notices that had been served on them by persons claiming ownership of the lands. 

However, a large percentage of  the residents say they have been living undisturbed on the land for in excess of fifty years.

Many of the residents, some as old as eighty years old, say they have been living there from when they were born and have never been told until recently that they need to vacate the lands.

Attorney at law the Reverend Ronald Thwaites who represents some of the residents, warned Kathleen Eugster, the purported owner of over 451 acres of lands in Old Hope, that any adverse action to remove occupants of the controversial property will be in contravention of their rights to the property by adverse possession.

Thwaites is representing several occupants of lands, located in Brighton and Little Bay, that are said to be owned by Eugstert. The residents have, for several decades, captured and lived on the land undisturbed.

The Reverend Mr. Thwaites, a  former government minister, said  there have been quite a number of applications for registered titles by adverse possession.

“I wish to point out that the persons I represent, and, to the best of my impressions of the other persons who lived on the property, they are not seeking to steal the land from anyone,” Thwaites said. “They want to buy the property.”

His comments follow a demonstration by affected residents, after an eviction notice by the owner was served last week for them to surrender possession.

The eviction notice ordered persons to immediately vacate the premises they now occupy ‘as squatters’, and that they will be ‘evicted without further notice’.

However, some residents, who have been living in the area for more than five decades and have nowhere to go, are hoping that an amicable solution can be arrived at in the shortest possible time.

“I have been paying tax on the land for about seven years now, so we are here because of the violation, where they want to move people and smash down our houses,” Richard Douglas McCloud, an affected resident, said.” They need to come in and give us the chance to buy the land on which we have been living all these years.”

But Suzan McKenzie, owner of bed and breakfast operation Judy’s House, is worried that her investment will go down the drain, after she discovered three years ago that the person she purchased her land from is not the legitimate owner and is nowhere to be found.

“Everybody is terrified that we are going to hear the noise, in the night, of tractors coming to break down our places,” she said. “The land is where they keep their goats, the chicken; it’s where they go fishing from; it’s where their children have grown up; it’s an impossible situation.

“I just have to wait and see what the Government will do,” said McKenzie.

Thwaites also told The Gleaner that a letter seeking a workable solution between the parties has been dispatched to the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation.

“I have written to Minister (Robert) Montague and urged him to use his good office to step in and mediate a solution between those who live on the property, those who wish to buy, and the holders of the registered title.”

Thwaites said he will be writing to National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang, with a view to preventing any physical confrontation, should the owners persist in the current mode, which he described as frightening.

“If there is any attempt to bulldoze the place and to run off the people, I would be fearful in this time of escalated crime and distress in the community,” Thwaites warned. “I would be very fearful of what will take place, as more lives could be lost.”

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