By Fay Simmons

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

The Opposition’s finance spokesman has challenged the Government’s land reform implementation strategy while voicing fears there may be insufficient personnel to effectively implement the changes.

Kwasi Thompson, also the MP for East Grand Bahama, told the House of Assembly that while he supports the reforms’ intent the has doubts about the government’s ability to execute the switch to a registered land system effectively.

Noting that countries such as the UK and Jamaica, which currently operate a registered land system, still have unregistered properties after many years, he added that it is a long-term process and the Government must ensure its proper implementation. Mr Thompson, in particular, asked how the land adjudication areas will be selected and prioritised, and how large they would be.

“If you are allocating for adjudication areas, how big are these areas that we are speaking about? So, for example, will the entire island of Andros be in the adjudication area, or are we talking about subdivisions? Are we talking about constituencies?” he asked.

“We need to understand what area, and how big are these areas, are we looking at. Because, obviously, if you are looking at dealing with subdivision by subdivision, or if you’re looking at dealing with constituency by constituency, or you’re looking at dealing with island by island, it is a different process in terms of how you proceed.

“So we need to understand that process and how large of an area we are talking about when they deal with these adjudication areas” In addition to clarity on the size and scope of adjudication areas, Mr Thompson also questioned how the Land Adjudication Tribunals will operate in different communities across the country.

“As you can imagine, this is a monumental task if not properly planned and resourced. While you may start with a pilot, how many tribunals do you anticipate will be needed? How many tribunals will be needed in Andros? How many tribunals will be needed in east Grand Bahama? How many tribunals will be needed in Eight Mile Rock and West End? How many tribunals will be needed in New Providence?” he asked.

“So what is the plan moving forward for how many tribunals will be needed in these different islands? Again, if we are anticipating this is not going to be a quick process, but this is going to be a long process, a long-term process, we need to understand the plan on how this is going to be implemented.”

Mr Thompson also pressed for more details about the training and availability of staff that will be required to implement the new system, noting that surveyors, attorneys and demarcators must be sourced.

“The Bills also detail the vital roles, which will require personnel who are well-trained in this new system. For example, the Bill refers to demarcators who are registered and licensed land surveyors, with at least five years of experience tasked with physically marking and indicating land boundaries. Well, the first question is do we have them? Are they trained on this new system?” he asked.

“The Bill also speaks to records officers who are counselling attorneys with at least three years of property experience, responsible for investigating claims and preparing the official adjudication record. They must be trained. We have lawyers. We have a lot of lawyers, but how many of those lawyers have been specifically trained on this new system. When will that training start?

“Surveyors will also be appointed for essential survey work and the creation of demarcation index maps. Hopefully these maps will be digital. But do we have them? Do we have sufficient surveyors? And the surveyors that we have, are they trained? Or when will they be starting the training on this process?”

Mr Thompson said that while he understand the Davis administration’s “thrust” to implement the new land reforms, the process will be difficult and take time.

“This process will not be an easy process. This will not be an easy transition. So I understand the Government’s thrust and the Government’s excitement that this will change The Bahamas and empower all Bahamians. I understand that, but the process of this piece of legislation is a long and, in some cases, it will be a difficult process to deal with, and a difficult process to transition from the unregistered land to a registered land system,” said Mr Thompson.