Photo: Former Belmopan mayor, Sharon Palacio
Former Belmopan mayor, Sheran “Sharon” Palacio has come out to publicly defend her decisions to distribute lands at concessionary rates, saying, “Poor people need land too.”
by Marco Lopez
BELMOPAN, Thurs. Oct. 3, 2024
The Belmopan City Council is currently working out payment plans with individuals who acquired lands on the Innovabel Estate at highly concessionary rates under the previous city council of that municipality. Mayor of Belmopan, Pablo Cawich told reporters this week that while the council is not considering legal action against these individual landowners, it is within its legal right to do so.
Earlier this week, a list showing lands acquired by employees of the former Belmopan City Council, the former mayor of Belmopan, Sheran Palacio, and persons connected to her was leaked to the media.
A portion of the leaked list was acquired and independently verified by the Amandala newspaper.
It shows eight (8) parcels connected to Ajalon & Associates, Alemeya Consulting, and Tsiyon Isayah with an individual plot of land costing $19,968.20. In a column showing an “unauthorized cost”, four $1,000 allocations are listed, and a glance at the third column which contains the “amount paid” reveals that only two of the parcels were paid for, at a price of $1,000 each – a loss of $155,745.60.
A laundry list of names connected to former Mayor Palacio – including her own – was also highlighted on that document. Several persons who are known family members and former employees of Palacio are listed in this portion of the document as well. In total, the parcels connected directly to the former mayor, her family, and former employees have a total value of $579,077.80. Yet the unauthorized prices listed for these 29 parcels together amounted to $93,000 – a loss of $486,077.80.
Six (6) parcels were connected to former Belmopan city council employee Hope Amadi, with four of those parcels being listed as the property of a company connected to Amadi called Rosyco Integrated Services. In total, of the total listed value of the parcels, which was $119,809.20, only $3,000 was paid – a loss for the council that amounted to $116,809.20.
The leaked document is at least four pages long, and outlines the losses incurred by the council following these land deals which were allegedly greenlighted and possibly orchestrated by former Mayor Palacio.
This week, in a statement to the media after a period of silence on the matter, Palacio doubled down on her decision – referring to the new council’s investigation into those land transactions as an attempt to “minimize” her legacy.
In her statement she comments, “I was glad that I was able to help ordinary Belizeans who would never have been able to get a piece of land in Belmopan in general or at Innovabel in particular.”
Palacio said that she has “not gained a single copper” from the allocation of the land to any of the current owners. She said that even her former councilors, “in spite of a not-so-cozy relationship,” got their lots as well.
She went on to defend her decision, stating, “As an altruistic stateswoman you will see that the recipients included persons from all ethnicities, color, gender, and political persuasion. You can check the records. And for this, I will stand firm unapologetically.”
Palacio makes a point to call former council workers to “band together.”
“Many city council workers, some having worked there since its inception in 2000, never owned a lot. Their sweat, blood and tears finally paid off when they were empowered to become first-time land (lot) owners. To them I say, hold fast, band together, organise and get ready for whatever lies ahead,” Palacio’s statement said.
What lies ahead may very well be a prolonged payment plan, according to Mayor Cawich.
“We are still working along with the people who do reach out to us, [saying] that they want to ensure that they don’t have any issues; and as mentioned, we ask them to sign a payment plan, and that is the majority of the people who received these types of land,” Mayor Cawich said.
He said that while the council refuses to take any legal action, there is a “fraud portion” associated with this process.
“Fraudulent information was declared to the Ministry of Natural Resources, and that gives us legal grounds to nullify these title issuances,” he pointed out.
He also mentioned that to avoid the time and complications of litigation, the council is not considering the legal route to recover the potential revenue that was lost with these deals. Instead it is asking for “compliance with the correct price.”