Landowners beam with pride after getting titles

Twenty-four-year-old Jajera Raffington beamed with pride after receiving a registered title to the plot of land that she owns in Bushy Park, St Catherine.

Raffington was among 128 residents who attended the National Land Agency's (NLA) systemic land registration and land titling ceremony at the Old Harbour New Testament Church of God yesterday.

"This is a great feeling and I am elated to know that I now have somewhere which I can call my own in a meaningful way,'' Raffington said.

Cheriese Walcott, commissioner of lands and CEO of the NLA, said that the beneficiaries are from Old Harbour Bay, Church Pen, Bushy Park and other areas of South Western St Catherine, and that it was the second in a series of registration exercises under the programme. She said that 5,123 titles have so far been prepared under the programme and that 628 titles have so far been distributed. She said that persons who have applied for titles will receive their documents this year.

"The NLA remains committed to ensuring the security of property rights through the implementation of an efficient land registration system. Prioritising the preservation of land rights is par for the course for the Government to establish a firm foundation for sustainable growth, reduce poverty and boost shared prosperity among its citizens," Walcott said.

Under the systemic land registration and land titling programme, the NLA has been mandated to assist landowners who have been in open, undisturbed and undisputed possession of their land for 12 years or more, to claim ownership and to get a certificate of title for the property. As Prime Minister Andrew Holness puts it, the programme allows people to "have documentary evidence for which there can be no contest as to their ownership of probably the most important asset that anyone can seek to own".

Zachariah Oakley, 46, said that he has made several attempts to obtain a title for his plot of land in Sharpers Lane, but it wasn't until the programme was rolled out that he achieved success.

''This feels like I have won the lottery, and I do hope that this exercise will continue to serve people like us who have the land but do not know how to get it properly documented," Oakley said.

Prime Minister Holness, speaking at yesterday's ceremony, noted that there was never an orderly process of land settlement in Jamaica after slavery. He said that there are persons, right throughout Jamaica, who occupy lands but have no proof of ownership.

"They would not be able to go to the bank to get a loan or to use it as collateral because there is no proof of it," he said.

Holness said that the systemic land registration programme provides for a framework for the Government to go into an area and to invite people who claim to be the owners to apply for the title.

There is an estimated 350,000 parcels of unregistered land in Jamaica.