Opposition Leader Mark Golding has promised to”fix the system” for squatters if his People’s National Party is voted into power at the upcoming general election.

“My vision is to fix the system. The system that has hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans living on land without a title for the land. The system calls them squatters. The system does nothing to help them. The law that made them squatters was passed by the colonial masters. We are going to change that law,” Golding said at the PNP’s Portland Parish meeting on Saturday, August 9.

His promise came a day before Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced during a mass rally in Half-Way Tree St Andrew, that the general election would be held on September 3.

Golding, in making the promise, said the PNP wants to build an ownership society in which all Jamaicans feel like first-class citizens, and with a stake and opportunities for advancement.

“The sixty years that is required before you acquire a title, if you’ve been living on Government land, we’re going to change that law and reduce it to 25 years to empower and legitimise the tenure and ownership of hundreds of thousands of Jamaican people, and we will ensure they get their title,” he said.

Golding also said for those who are well-established on the land and would have already built their homes, but have not reached 25 years of occupancy, Golding said the PNP will negotiate a new price for them and payment terms they can afford.

Meanwhile, Golding also noted that the PNP aims to end intergenerational poverty in Jamaica and that education is the key to achieving this.

“We know that education is the antidote to poverty, so we say if you are the first person in your family to have qualified for university or college, the next PNP government will give you a full scholarship so that you can attend a university or college and you can become a degreed holder; somebody who is ready to enter the world of work as a fully qualified individual and therefore has opportunities open to you that you wouldn’t otherwise have,” he promised.

He rhetorically asked, “Why am I in politics?” and then proceeded to answer by stating, “Jamaica has been good for me, and good to me—born and grow here in Jamaica. Born at the University Hospital [of the West Indies], July 19, 1965. Grew up at the University campus, [went to] Mona Prep, Campion [College and] Norman Manley Law School, did some studying in England too, came back after I finished my studies, and I’ve always worked in Jamaica.”

He also reiterated that he built up “one of the top law firms in the country” and “two different companies which were listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange” and, after becoming “financially secured”, he decided “to serve the people of this country” to the best of his ability.