There's a very live dispute tonight in Middlesex on the Hummingbird Highway. It's over private and public land, road access, and farming.
Farmers from the village - backed by the village council - and the youngest chairlady - in the south - are trying to push through a road to reach their farms in a remote area.
That means pushing a road up a steep hill - and across private property. And that's where they ran into trouble yesterday. The Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing stopped them from pushing the road any further because they got no clearance from the Ministry of Natural Resources and they were pushing not private property.
But, that didn't stop the Chairlady from creating her own electronic press kit. She said she's responding to the farmers' plight:
Britany Roches, Chmn, Middlesex Village
"Farmers contacted me about a situation they went through yesterday whereby Ministry of Works came and told them to stop and desist in the opening of the road. The farmers are the ones fully funding this road. They have spent over $10,000, because they have been asking government for assistance for the longest and they have not come through. The road was applied by the council. I think almost a year now and it's still in inspection and they do not want to send anybody to inspect the road. All the farmers are asking is for government to please help. We are not asking for much."
Farmer
"Very muddy and this is the road we have to use, because this is the only access that we have to reach our farm lands."
Cpl. Valerio, Dangriga Police
"We surely have an issue here. MIDH is stating that you guys do not have the authority to push this road, that you need to go through the proper channel Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Forestry and you guys are saying that you are doing the right thing. Now us as police officers we are not here to take sides. That is not our job to take sides. Our job here is to maintain law and order. We are not here to say who this land is for or not. I would like to advise everyone here, the leaders here to kindly take up the situation with the proper authority, Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Hosing."
"Now the situation here today for now, I would like to advised everyone to cease and desist from what they are doing."
Farmer
"You don't have no document to prove that it's a stop order. Yes, they work for Ministry of Works, but where is the stop order? I want to see a document. That's what the law says."
Cpl. Valerio, Dangriga Police
"You states earlier that you all are volunteering to stop."
Farmer
"Yes, we are volunteering to stop, because for over 2 years we're requesting the government to open the road for us and they don't do so."
Cpl. Valerio, Dangriga Police
"I am mentioning again that I will ask for the operators to please leave the area and for everyone to leave the area until we get this situation solved. The last thing we don't want to happen here is for people to get hurt and things get out of hand. So our job is to maintain law and order and the only way we can do that is for asking you guys or telling you guys to stop until proper documentation is shown."
Britany Roches, Chmn, Middlesex Village
"All the farmers are asking for is for the government to please help them. The council is helping them. I, as chairperson I am helping them. It might sound wrong what we are doing, but it's the only way that we could have get something done."
"This road is the only means by which farmers can take out their crops; orange, lime, coconuts - they have everything planted back there and they can't take it out, because they are not granted permission to take it out. Fine with that, just please allow us to continue with our road. That is all we are asking for."
Farmer
"We also call Mr Jose Mai as the minister of agriculture and we also met with the CEO Mr. Victor Espat and according to him the CEO of lands is saying that we don't have any document and there is no one having land back there which is a lie, because I have proof whereby these people here are on application. Their issues are probably inspector reviews, qualification. Also, we have these people with leases. we are not providing names, just the numbers that people that work in lands can look into it and these people that have titles and not only that, we have all documents saying that whereby ministry of natural resources proposed the road and which is the one we are using. They also provide a sketch, so the village council could apply the road itself and we also have it signed and stamp by the ministry of natural resources and the minister of lands. All documents are here in this file. We are requesting through the media the assistance from the government that we can continue with this road, because its very important that we reach to our lands."
We spoke to all parties involved, including the CEO's in the Ministries of MIDH and Natural Resources. They both confirm that the road they are trying to push has no authorization because it enters private property which government can only demarcate for a road if they agree to compensate the landholder. There are also allegations from private land interests in the area that the real mission to get to the hilltop is for logging, not farming. We note that the Sitee River Reserve is in the area - which feeds the North Stann Creek river. We'll keep following the story.
