The Amandala headline story declared it a perfect example of the need for a new Constitution: the case of businesswoman Ms. Olivia Villanueva (hereafter called “the principal”), who sued the government and people of Belize after a property one government (PUP) sold her was taken away by a subsequent government (UDP). The principal won the case and was awarded compensation, not equal to the government-subsidized price she paid for it, but at the market price determined by a professional valuer.
Land is finite, and when Belizeans took control of the country beginning with internal self-government in 1964, sizable chunks were in foreign hands. The government of the day purchased much of these lands and distributed thousands of parcels to Belizeans.
The government is the steward, not the owner of public properties, and it is the sacred duty of government to administer what the people have put them in charge of with the best interest of the people foremost at heart. All of the thousands of parcels the government has given out over the years have been sold far below market value. The vast majority of these transactions, the transfer of public land to private hands, are legitimate, made in the interest of developing the country and to satisfy the needs of our people.
The capitalist system is about private ownership, and the transfer and sale of land is one of the cornerstones. Legitimately, the government transfers the land to its citizens, for them to build houses for their families, and to establish farms and other businesses. The ultimate aim is for the land to be put to its best use, for the good of all. In the ebb and flow of life, properties move from hand to hand. Some people, for various reasons, are forced to sell. Some choose to sell, maybe to go and live in a bigger house at another location, or to build another business at a spot with more potential. Sometimes natural disasters or the death of an industry causes tremendous changes in the ownership landscape.
If our government sold public lands at market rates, only the local rich and foreigners would have land. Taking “advantage” of our system and our poverty, over the past several decades “economic citizens” and other wealthy foreigners have bought huge tracts, most of the parcels prime agricultural land and beach land. The entry of foreigners in the market has driven up the price of private land substantially. But the government prices haven’t changed much. The stock of public land has diminished considerably since independence, but what remains is still very cheap.
The Oxford dictionary doesn’t have the adjectives to describe getting title to a hundred acres of land on the Turneffe Atoll, 102.53 acres to be precise, for $26,657. But that’s how our governments do it, have been doing it. According to a headline story in the Amandala, the sale to the principal was made eight days before the 2008 general elections.
Belizeans haven’t been told what inspired the deal. What did our GoB see in the principal? Was it all about love? What was the principal going to do with the land, which was mostly covered with mangroves? Was the principal planning to apply to the DOE for the rights to raze the mangroves to the ground and hire a “Sandpiper” and dredge in the reef for fill, and subdivide lots for sale to rich foreigners? Was the principal a Good Samaritan who wanted to pay the country a little tax for the privilege of keeping the parcel in its pristine state?
There was a government change on February 7, 2008: the PUP was swept out of office and along came the UDP, a new government. The new government took away the Turneffe land from the principal. Was it done out of hate? Was the land taken away because the new government didn’t approve of what the principal proposed to do with it? The report says the UDP government sold the land to someone else. Who bought it and how much our country got for this sale of prime public property shouldn’t be a secret. Neither should what the new owner proposed to do with the parcel, and what they have done with it, be hidden from view.
The UDP offered compensation to the principal, for the property and probably for what they might have spent in their pursuit of the valuable real estate. According to Amandala, the principal would get an alternative property for the parcel that had been taken away AND, completed title for a property on Hicks Cay, another prized property which the principal paid for just before the 2008 General Elections. For the property on Hicks Cay, 105 acres, the purchase price the government valuators decided on was $27,300.
It’s not in the public domain what new property the GoB offered the principal to ease their pain. At market prices, GoB could have offered half a lot in some areas of Belmopan to cover what the principal had paid in cash for the Turneffe land. The principal and the GoB (UDP) couldn’t come to an agreement on the alternative property, and the principal filed an application for damages, and won the enormous award of $5.639 million.
The courts determined that the transaction between the GoB and the principal was legitimate, despite it being consummated almost on election day. And the courts determined that the principal deserved to be paid the market value of the property by the government and people, despite purchasing the property from the government and people at the most generous developmental price.
There are cases where people get public land and with no attempt or intention to develop it they shortly after “flip it” — sell it to private buyers for enormous personal gain. This one, because of the size of the award, and the fact that it is to be paid from the people’s purse, could cause a revolution. And that’s why the present government (PUP) has asked the court to take another look at the amount the principal was awarded. It is the people’s money!
Looking at it through the lens of “regular” Belizeans, not through the eyes of the winners, those who are living the dream, even after the pandemic and a war in Europe have inflated the cost of building materials, that amount of money can build more than 150 starter homes for Belizeans desperately in need of good shelter.
There are reasons why countries end up in bloody revolution. It happens when the haves have too much, and feel they are legitimate in having so much, and the masses don’t have enough to feed their children. The unjust society can exist for a while, for as long as the little valves called patience and belief that things will get better keep the building pressure from erupting. When the pressure gets too high, something has to give.
To reject anything the new UDP government offered was audacious and extremely selfish. The super-haves in our country really need to check themselves. The system is huge in your success. Exploiting a law that bleeds Belize is inconsiderate.