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'Give it back'
New head of the Peace Management Initiative urges rich landowners to free up colonial legacy
HORACE HINES, Observer West reporter
Thursday, April 17, 2008
From left to right: Chairman of the UDC board Luis Williams, his colleague Acting General Manager Joy Douglas, Water and Housing Minister Dr Horace Chang and his wife Paulette and daughter Melissa as they sang at Calvary Baptist Church in Montego Bay last Sunday. (Alan Lewin)
MONTEGO BAY, St James
In a hard-hitting sermon that recalled the injustices of colonialism and slavery whereby Africans were taken from their homeland forced to provide free labour on Caribbean plantations Reverend Jackson charged the Church to lead the the nation's lower income-earners in their quest for the acquisition of affordable land.
"They (the colonialists) took them (the slaves) here, work them out and left the majority of them on their own without land, without money and so our great, great, great , great , great grandparents had nothing to leave for us... I call upon the church to recapture the spirit of the churches which established three villages during the post-emmancipation period in certain sections of the country to sub-divide some of the unused lands in our custody and make lots available to the landless poor at an affordable price," he pleaded at a service last week to commemorate the Urban Development Corporation (UDC's) 40th anniversary week of celebrations.
Reverend Everton Jackson (Photo: Horace Hines)
Speaking on the topic "Peaceful Development for Settlement", Reverend Jackson, who recently replaced Reverend Charles Dufour as head of the St James Crime Management Unit, also urged church members who are landowners to sell parcels of lands to the indigent.
"I call upon my brothers and my sisters let us let go of some of the lands that we have so the needy can access lands. Cut them up and let the poor have it for affordable prices".
The man of the cloth further challenged the government to continue their programme to provide lands for the poor as well as to formalise "squatter" communities occupied by the underprivileged.
" I call upon the Government to continue the drive with much urgency to place lands in the hands of the poor and to move swiftly to regularise and modernise the existing squatter communities ".
Pointing out that large parcels of land were presently being held by powerful families whose roots can be traced directly to the plantocracy era, the Reverend appealed to the consciences of his audience which included Senior UDC employees and politicians and Minister of Water and Housing Dr Horace Chang.
"Who amongst us will have the courage to right this historic wrong?" he asked rhetorically.
New head of the Peace Management Initiative urges rich landowners to free up colonial legacy
HORACE HINES, Observer West reporter
Thursday, April 17, 2008
From left to right: Chairman of the UDC board Luis Williams, his colleague Acting General Manager Joy Douglas, Water and Housing Minister Dr Horace Chang and his wife Paulette and daughter Melissa as they sang at Calvary Baptist Church in Montego Bay last Sunday. (Alan Lewin)
MONTEGO BAY, St James
In a hard-hitting sermon that recalled the injustices of colonialism and slavery whereby Africans were taken from their homeland forced to provide free labour on Caribbean plantations Reverend Jackson charged the Church to lead the the nation's lower income-earners in their quest for the acquisition of affordable land.
"They (the colonialists) took them (the slaves) here, work them out and left the majority of them on their own without land, without money and so our great, great, great , great , great grandparents had nothing to leave for us... I call upon the church to recapture the spirit of the churches which established three villages during the post-emmancipation period in certain sections of the country to sub-divide some of the unused lands in our custody and make lots available to the landless poor at an affordable price," he pleaded at a service last week to commemorate the Urban Development Corporation (UDC's) 40th anniversary week of celebrations.
Reverend Everton Jackson (Photo: Horace Hines)
Speaking on the topic "Peaceful Development for Settlement", Reverend Jackson, who recently replaced Reverend Charles Dufour as head of the St James Crime Management Unit, also urged church members who are landowners to sell parcels of lands to the indigent.
"I call upon my brothers and my sisters let us let go of some of the lands that we have so the needy can access lands. Cut them up and let the poor have it for affordable prices".
The man of the cloth further challenged the government to continue their programme to provide lands for the poor as well as to formalise "squatter" communities occupied by the underprivileged.
" I call upon the Government to continue the drive with much urgency to place lands in the hands of the poor and to move swiftly to regularise and modernise the existing squatter communities ".
Pointing out that large parcels of land were presently being held by powerful families whose roots can be traced directly to the plantocracy era, the Reverend appealed to the consciences of his audience which included Senior UDC employees and politicians and Minister of Water and Housing Dr Horace Chang.
"Who amongst us will have the courage to right this historic wrong?" he asked rhetorically.