The UDP has accused the PUP of embarking on a massive land raid for the purpose of “hustle,” and for the purpose of winning votes. Both the Red and Blue do this whenever they control the House in Belmopan. This system of lands for favor, or favor for lands, is not unique to Belize. But it does seem that we have “perfected” it. In 1993 the UDP promised free land, a farm parcel to everyone who wanted land, if they won the elections. So, who are they to talk when the other party is about seducing votes with land? Still, the suggestion by the present UDP is that the grab the Blue have going right now is particularly odious.
Some years ago I had a conversation about land distribution with the late, great Brother Ibrahim Abdullah. There was a time during the 1990’s when it looked like he lived at the Ministry of Natural Resources. I mean, every time you stopped by the market square in Belmopan, you saw Brother Ibrahim near that Ministry building. One day I asked him about his business. He told me he was working on an initiative to acquire a large parcel of land from an absentee landlord in the area of More Tomorrow, with the intent of cutting it into twenty-five acre blocks and distributing same to Belizeans (it seemed he was keying on city dwellers) who were interested in owning a piece of national patrimony.
I told Brother Ibrahim that he had a noble goal, but that he would be very heartbroken by city people if he gave them land in the countryside, for they would up and sell it. Brother Ibrahim told me that was their choice. He said that in his mind there was no one more fitting to sell land than the trueborn Belizean. Ibrahim said that the politicians would hustle off the land anyway, so it was fair that roots man and roots woman get in on a piece of the action.
Now, in respect to land, its uses, its development, I know a thing or two. In the elite halls in London, they teach you that that essential tool – land, belongs in the hands of those who know best how to work it. Hey, in the land of the roots Maya in Toledo, they understand that the land belongs in the hands of the people who work it. No, there is no such thing as absentee landlord or speculators in the Mayan system.
Brothers and sisters, a government must ensure that people who can extract from the land maximum production, control the land. There must be leeway to allow people to grow, develop their skills, but the focus of good government is that those who are capable of producing, control the tools of production.
The land must be put to work, but exploitation cannot be rapacious because, as caretakers of the land, we must make sure to pass on healthy land. There is a dust bowl in America, and a desert in the Sahara, caused by poor stewardship of the land. Every year tons and tons of our topsoil, the most fertile soil, is washed away into the rivers and on to the sea. Land that was formed over thousands of years can be eroded in a day’s worth of careless land preparation. How we manage the land is of critical importance to generations to come.
Ibrahim’s system is very similar to the Red and Blue system. Ibrahim wasn’t a true politician of that kind, but he was a very powerful man, and political leaders respected him. Thus, lands that politicians like to save so they can give it away themselves, to score points, were given away by Brother Abdullah. Braa, after some thought about what Brother Ibrahim told me, I said to him, yap, I get your lesson.
Now, this type of system, it is not designed to put the land in the hands of the people most capable to work it. But, it has a saving grace, other than when a few bona fide developers posing as cronies get four cement pillars with crowfoot on it. See, land that is lying there, un-owned, is a cost to the national treasury, or, if you prefer, land that is lying there could be earning liquid money for the national treasury.
The politician will justify the sale to crony, or is it friendly party? saying that it is a way to make the land produce wealth. The crony will pay a pittance to national coffers for the purchase. He/she will sell the land for a whopper, and the national treasury will/should excise a fat tax from the sale. The new buyer will pay regular taxes until he/she sells, when the government will excise another big chunk of tax, and then continue to realize regular taxes. It could be further argued that anyone who can come in and pay the crony a hefty price for the land will be someone well heeled, and thus the land will at some time end up where it belongs, in the hands of someone who can best make it productive. So, all things work out for good in the end.
Hey, let’s do a little backtrack on that land left in fallow. It does have some earning power. The whole hullabaloo re- the sale of Bacalar Chico, on the lagoon side, is that nature reserves attract tourists. Thus, the Bacalar Chico is earning money while we sleep. Also, land untouched by human hands is great for the environment. But this type of earning is not as direct, as tangible as the straight land hustle.
The sale of land at a cheap price to Belizeans for noble farming or necessary housing is full of grace. And the sale of land for a cheap price to party favorites for unworthy speculation, it is not completely devoid of saving grace. However, I think the harm of the crony system outweighs its good. Any system that is not transparent, involves unscrupulous kickback and general dishonesty, it weighs down the nation. Unfortunately, Red or Blue, we will not get a fair land distribution system from them until the available land…done.
Hey, one last thing on this tikilish matter. We really have to thank dehn ambientalistas. They are as crazy as the politicians, but when the available land done, there will be hundreds of thousands of acres that are still in reserve because of their pressure. Ai, imagine, going to war for a piece of mosquito riddled swamp, on the lagoon side! Hey, we got to love our ambiente. Dehn palitishan dehn really sick.
I been watching these animals
I watch these Animal Planets and Discovery Channels and the likes, just like most of you. Have you noticed that the absolute only time male animals of the same species fight each other is rivalry over the other half? All day, all night, the brothers browse the fields, like lambs, then a ripe female passes by and every man ton taiga.
Uh-uh, don’t fool yourself that we fight over land. Just like them animals, the only reason we want land, turf, is so we can have spot to build house…for romance.