KINGSTON, Jamaica — Prime Minster Andrew Holness says the Government will be probing all land occupying activities at the Holland Estates in St Elizabeth, which eventually led to last week’s reassignment of former Minister with Responsibility for Agriculture JC Hutchinson.

Holness told a meeting of the Area Council One of his Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) at the Girl Guides headquarters on Waterloo Road in Kingston, yesterday, that the Government will be looking at all the transactions involved in the allocation of some 1,400 acres of land at Holland, which it owns.

“We are looking at all the transactions, and we are going to go through them one by one. I have asked the Cabinet office to assist to make sure that we don’t have similar problems coming up,” he said.

However, he said that, so far, there are indications that there are people occupying the land and doing business without paying for its use or the utility bills.

“We have come across many people in the ‘pot’ who have been jumping up and shouting and criticising our ‘steaming kettle’, and there are persons there who are presently occupying Government land without paying rent or any form of remedies, who are doing business there who are not paying any light bill, and who have been asked to do so but haven’t done so,” Holness said.

“They continue in Parliament and they are occupying the lands. They have no documentation. They do business there. They are using the Government’s electricity…So we are going through the land and we are seeing many of them from that ‘pot’, so we will like them to just ‘drip, drip, drip, drip’, because we have a little tank (of information) and they have a reservoir,” he stated.

“They believe that there is an election to come, so they are firing all their shots. We no start firing no shot, yet. So mek dem go on firing. We will remain focused on ensuring that our economy recovers, that this society recovers from the pandemic, stronger. We as a country must recover stronger. But, let them focus on their selfishness to gain power,” he commented, noting the Jamaican proverb that “those who live in a glass house don’t throw stones”.

The prime minister explained that there were serious matters which have to be dealt with, and which cannot be swept under the carpet, ignored or winked at. But, in being dealt with, they all must be placed in a context, and the context is that the Government is moving the country ahead, even in a time of crisis.

The JLP’s Area Council One consists of all 15 constituencies in Kingston and St Andrew and is chaired by the Minister of Local Government and Community Development Desmond McKenzie.