Our opportunity to catch up with Acting PM Hyde happened today at one of those Mobile Land Clinics, which the Ministry of Natural Resources has been holding in different parts of the country.
It's a strategy that former Deputy Prime Minister Hugo Patt established late into his tenure as the "Lands" Minister, and the new government has maintained it.
The current clinic is taking place at the Ladyville Community Center, and the officials expect that they will be meeting with residents of Belize Rural Central Division, late into the night. This morning, our news team visited the clinic for Day 1 in Ladyville, and Daniel Ortiz has that story:
The compound of the Ladyville Community Center was probably the busiest it had been in recent years. Large numbers of constituents from all over the Belize Rural Central division started lining up very early this morning. They were there to find out if this mobile clinic would finally lead to a positive outcome in land issues which have been festering for years.
Myra Castellanos - Ladyville Resident
"Today, I hardly slept. I tried to come here as early as I can, and to me, having to wait for 12 years. It was worth it."
Hon. Dolores Balderamos-Garcia - Area Rep, Belize Rural
"From 7 o'clock this morning, there was a line with maybe 30 people or more. There's still a crowd downstairs. I hope we're social distancing as best as we can."
Hon. Cordel Hyde - Minister of Natural Resources
"We started at, I think about 9 o'clock this morning. I know they've given [out] a hundred tickets or numbers, but there are more people than that who are here. We try to manage it a bit because the demand is usually greater than we can provide. In the last few clinics we've had, we went home like 11 o'clock one night, processing stuff."
But, despite the massive increase in their workload, the Ministry's staff is well aware of the many Belizeans who have been locked out of services at the Lands Department.
Myra Castellanos
"I had my situation with my ex-husband, and the land survey was in the name. So, he gave me a letter transferring it to me, but when I looked for help - at that time, which it was - We separated 14 years ago. So, I tried to find help. I just couldn't get through."
Hon. Cordel Hyde
"I just met a guy just now. He applied to purchase his land from 1998, never got that done, and so, in the last few years, someone has squatted on the land. So, that's a conundrum because, if we issue the purchase approval to him, and he buys that land, he's buying a problem because it may not be a peaceful person. You have people who've just applied for their title, 3, 4, or 5 years ago, applied for their purchase approvals, the same amount, live on their land for a long time, applied for a lease for a long time, to regularize their situation, and they just can't seem to get it. In some areas, they don't have any surveys, and these are like large communities, where many houses are, and there are no organized surveys."
And that's where these mobile land clinics fit in. Instead of the community going to the Lands Department office in Belmopan, the Lands Department comes to them:
Hon. Dolores Balderamos-Garcia
"It's like a traveling Ministry of Natural Resources, a traveling Land's Department. I really think it's a brilliant idea because people don't have to be going all the way to Belmopan, spending time, being told come back, come back, we have to do inspections."
Hon. Cordel Hyde
"That's why we bring the government and the department to the people so that they don't have to labor to go to Belmopan, spend all that money, deal with the frustration."
And while the Mobile Clinics have gotten very positive reviews, they do tax the stamina of the staff of the Natural Resources Ministry.
Hon. Cordel Hyde
"Our people are motivated. It's like - these are people who are on a 10% salary adjustment for the last year, but these are people who work sometimes until late at night. These are people who come to work on a Saturday, without extra compensation. And when we come to these clinics, as I told you, sometimes, we go until 11 p.m. They give all they have to it."
And for every land concern they resolve, the Department is helping to lift these aspiring landowners out of poverty.
Hon. Cordel Hyde
"That is what this exercise is really about, trying to ensure that people have documents to their land, that they can lift themselves out of poverty, that they can mortgage that land, build a house, start a business if they want to, or send their children to school. You need your document, so it's about trying to regularize those situations."
Some of the participants we spoke to were very pleased with the rapid progress they were getting in this clinic.
Samuel Ferguson - Hattieville Resident
"I'm waiting, like 3 years now, to get my lease. Right here, it's easier. It's not a problem right here."
Myra Castellanos
"The process is very fast, and the guys are working very hard too. You could see that they're trying hard to help you."
Hon. Cordel Hyde
"The greatest feeling you can have as a public officer is to satisfy these ordinary people who may never have gotten an opportunity before. They get to see, up close and personal on these clinics, how impactful the work that they do is to these families."
The clinic will continue tomorrow, and the hope is that the officials will be able to address the concerns of the participants. That could lead to leases and land titles that they have waiting on for years
