DLP president urges authorities to lease and not sell land to foreign investors

By Jenique Belgrave

President of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Dr. Ronnie Yearwood is urging the government to offer leasehold arrangements on properties slated for development projects rather than allowing these to be sold outright to foreign investors.

“Once you sell it once, you cannot sell it again, it will be gone. My view is that all of these properties should be leasehold. If you are not Barbadian, you should not be allowed to own property outright in this country. You can lease that property, but that property will always remain in the patrimony and hands of Barbadians so that generation after generation can benefit from that property. That is how you create inter-generational wealth in this country,” he said.

Addressing a joint zonal meeting of the DLP’s St. Philip branches at Peggy’s Place in Parish Land on Sunday night, he pointed out that Barbados must keep its limited land resources for its people as is the case in several neighboring islands.

“Other countries do it; St. Lucia, Antigua, all sorts of places do it. You cannot just go and buy up land in those countries. You cannot! If you’re not St. Lucian or Antiguan you just cannot do it, because they recognise that they have to protect their country because they’re small. They have to protect spaces that are good for their people. We have to do the same!” he asserted. 

Fresh from the party’s hike to Joe’s River in St Joseph where the contentious issue regarding river land access grabbed the public’s attention, he urged all Barbadians to join the residents’ fight. They brought a court case against a foreign developer after construction began on a concrete wall in the area which residents said impeded access to popular spots.

An interim injunction was granted by the court halting further construction. The case will continue on April 24.

Yearwood, an attorney-at-law and law lecturer, insisted the matter is part of a wider problem that has confronted this country for too long.

“It is not only about Joe’s River because that is just a symbol of what we are currently facing in this country in terms of development. It is development that does not put you as Barbadians first, but this party will put you as Barbadians first in any development plan. Michael (Lashley) talked about it regarding protecting the areas and having to strengthen our laws, but it has to go further than that.

“It is not just about protecting one site now and then another, we have to come up with a serious national development land use policy that has Barbadians at the centre of it, that has the protection of our windows to the sea, that has the protection of our national areas that we designate as national areas, for our people,” he told the audience.

Adding that the DLP is not against investment, he stressed however that this must benefit the country and its people.

During the meeting, Dr. Yearwood also raised concerns about the government’s plans to appoint 11 liaison officers for government backbenchers at a cost of over $800,000.

“The average salary of a policeman or nurse or a teacher is not $6,000 a month plus allowances but you are going to take that kind of money and give it to people to attend funerals? Why are Barbadians sitting down and allowing this?” he questioned.

jeniquebelgrave@barbadostoday.bb