(He’s right you know)

The demotion of the squatter’s site at Coopers Pen, Trelawny and the destruction of belongings is not the government’s fault.

There was never a sinister plan formed by the administration to make the residents there homeless.

The situation has been used as a political football, and there are those looking to score points from it, missing the point that the law must prevail.

The Prime Minister and the Government do not want to see Jamaicans homeless and destitute. It understands that citizens should have somewhere to call home

Capturing land and squatting is wrong. The Government cannot condone illegality and should not be seen to.

It is to the Government’s credit that it has tried to assuage the situation and bring relief to those whose lives have now been shattered because what they did by claiming land without a title was inherently improper.

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has said that he is waiting for a full report on the matter before making any pronouncements. That is the correct thing to do. One has to know what one is talking about. He should be apprised of all the facts.

However, he made it clear that squatting and capturing land that does not belong to you is wrong and cannot be an action that takes hold among Jamaicans.

Jamaica is not the wild, wild West like two centuries ago in America.  People must respect property and abide by laws.

Many Jamaicans have the dream of buying land and passing it on to their children so they to can have a home. That cannot take place if someone decides to capture the land and make it their home instead, regardless of legal rights and efforts made to plan for the family’s future. 

Inheritance is a major part of property law, and the habit, the predilection for taking land that you have no legal claim to, cannot be a way of life in Jamaica that goes uncensured by both the government and the courts.

The Government has faced the opprobrium of many over what happened at Coopers Pen, but it is unwarranted here. What must take place now is a national campaign making Jamaicans aware that the practice of squatting and taking what is not yours and to which you have no title is wrong-legally and morally.

The Coopers Pen land is owned by a private citizen, not the Government. Now there are those who demand the Government intercede and castigate it for not doing so. They are mistaken, and in many instances they are driven by political motivations, blinding them from seeing this matter clearly.

The situation in Trelawny has become a humanitarian calamity because the wrongdoing was never averted in the first place. It was a deadly hurricane that smashed lives when ample notice was given that the winds of destruction would descend on those in its path.

If you don’t listen, you must feel.

Now those who were moved on from Coopers Pen are looking to the Government to provide a solution. Those now homeless are being used as political pawns as agitation takes root.

The property developer who owns the land went to court, and the law is clearly on its side. The Government is not to blame here, and the finger should not be pointed at it.

Where the finger should be pointed at is a lawless culture where anything goes, and law and order is not adhered to.

The Coopers Pen debacle highlights the need for properly crafted housing solutions in Jamaica, and that doesn’t lie with any particular political party. It is a national issue that has been allowed to go unaddressed for decades. 

DO LISTEN  to what Prime Minister Andrew Holness had to say on the matter: