Raymond Pryce | In search of a modern land policy

When Emancipation Day 1838 finally came, among the freedoms the former slaves achieved was the ‘freedom’ to be homeless. This was in stark contrast to the situation that obtained for the enslavers. They were allowed to keep their vast financial and land holdings – and they were famously compensated, having received reparations from the British Government for the losses incurred firstly by the abolition of slavery in 1834 and the ending of the notorious Apprenticeship Period.

The former slaves took to the hills. The birth of the Jamaican peasantry as some describe it saw small communities popping up across the island. Communities like Quick Step, Mill Bank, Dumotto, Troy and Font Hill, for example, began to dot the hilly interior of the island.

There is no record of the British Home Office, or of any of the governors that served until 1962, establishing any formalised process that provided titles to the struggling Jamaican farmers that emerged from slavery. There are few Jamaicans who are able to detail their ancestry to that first generation of freed Jamaicans – the former slaves who bore us all. Some families have Bibles in which their lineage is crudely documented. Others have gone the route with the aid of the Registrar General’s Department to follow their maternal lines peeling away through birth records where they exist. Others have relied on the oral record of a series of grand and great grand aunts who walked us through the remnants of headstones in the family plots or church cemeteries and told us who was interred thereunder.

Very few, however, have detailed their ancestry through wills and other formal documents which would have confirmed not only who they are but their assets – specifically land assets. Such is the reality of the most populated of the two Jamaicas.

HAVE LAND, HAVE VALUE

In a sense this should not be surprising. The very possession and formal ownership of land for many post-colonial societies was the ultimate decider of who had value and who had none. Sadly, this imbalance became deeply rooted and even institutionalised in Jamaica. It would take 100 years after Emancipation before the formation of the People’s National Party. The records of Norman Manley’s earliest writings and speeches from that period highlighted the ownership of land among the black masses as a key tenet to be pursued.

This commitment was evident in the drafting of the Universal Adult Suffrage Act of 1944. Records from that time make it very clear that the decision not to use landownership as a prerequisite for voter eligibility was a deliberate one as it would have disqualified the majority of black Jamaicans from the poll.

History confirms that the first real attempt to address the ‘land apartheid’ commenced with Norman Manley’s premiership in 1955. Since that time, successive administrations have approached the issue in a combination of ways. There have been successful ventures and there have been unsuccessful ventures. The net effect, however, is that in 2022 most Jamaicans still cannot show any acceptable titles for the land on which they live, farm or under which their relatives are buried.

CLIFTON PRECEDENT

The whole matter has again become a front burner issue. On October 6 – as was announced previously in the Parliament by the prime minister – the State asserted its authority and demolished buildings being constructed by Jamaicans who, as the media reports, thought they had legal rights to be constructing homes and occupying property they had paid for. While the details have not yet all become public – it now appears that those persons are the victims of a land scam. If the position advanced by the Government is to be accepted – this action had the twinned objectives of ending illegal activities of a gang as well as protecting the legitimate owner of the land.

Let us focus on the latter, as within 48 hours of the Clifton demolition news emerged that eviction notices have been received by residents in an idyllic area of Lluidas Vale. Almost immediately untold numbers of Jamaicans here and in the diaspora became concerned if their community is next or if their families are next to be called out for settling on and building homes on lands they do not own.

The public outcry and uncertainty have been swiftly met with a strident response from the head of Government. Prime Minister Holness, having issued the ominous threat in the first place, apparently retreated somewhat when he visited the victims the day following the demolition. He again used the parliamentary platform to provide ‘further clarity’ on the situation. The problem is – alleged gang involvement aside – several communities fall in the same profile as the one that was being constructed in Clifton. Many of these communities are in proximity to sugar lands – so it is fair to ask if the Clifton precedent is in fact the Sugar Company of Jamaica 2022 precedent.

SCJ LAND SALES AND DIVESTMENT QUESTIONS

Elsewhere on the plains of St Catherine, lands held by the SCJ is also being divided and sold. Originally zoned for agriculture, much of the parcels being sold have been rezoned in keeping with the authority given in law under the Housing Act to the Minister of Housing – who in this instant is also the prime minister. Public records detailing the SCJ divestment policy are limited, if available at all. In fact, very few people in media or elsewhere know for sure the full inventory of lands owned or controlled by the SCJ.

The same can be said for the nebulously described “Crown Lands”, which refer to all land owned by the State. Outside of former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller in 2014 publicly declaring that she wanted to be known “as the prime minister that handed over the most land titles to poor Jamaicans”, landownership did not feature significantly in the campaigns and discussions of the last two general election cycles. Until the Clifton demolition, there hasn’t been any memorable debate on a land policy within the Parliament of recent vintage.

DICHOTOMY OF VIEWS

As with everything else that takes national attention in this country, there is a dichotomy of views. The harshest views on either side are usually the first ones to subside. Some say not one house should be demolished, others say once you don’t have a title demolish and evict. After those subside (which is hoped will be soon) there is still need for an affirmative land policy. That policy must first be reflective of the need for internal reparations. That policy must reflect the historic context in which decent law-abiding Jamaican families may occupy homes their families have lived in for up to six generations but for which none ever had a title. That policy must acknowledge that some of the lands already settled are part of Crown property that must now be relinquished legally to persons who have lived on these lands for generations.

MODERN LAND POLICY

Such a land policy must be robust and futuristic. It must be designed around available scientific data regarding environmental issues such as climate change. The policy must centralise our agricultural priorities, if indeed we still view food security as an important component of the developed country status, we seek Vision 2030. Most importantly, this land policy must be carefully scrutinised by all national stakeholders. Jamaica has finite land resource. Much of that land is already under threat within our coastal zones.

Parliamentarian Denise Daley reminded us that our people need somewhere to live “and they can’t live in the sea or in rivers”. It is in our collective abilities to design a robust modern land policy that bares truth to our history, reflects our present developmental trajectory and which achieves success for future generations. One aspect of achieving same is the preparation for a commission of enquiry to look into the decisions that have been taken thus far to sell or otherwise divest the lands within the SCJ portfolio. The parcels already sold must be made public. The valuations that preceded the sales and how the purchasers were sought must also become a part of the national learning this sordid event now provides.

- Raymond Pryce is People’s National Party chairman for East Central St Catherine. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com