SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland — People’s National Party (PNP) standard-bearer for St James Southern Nekeisha Burchell has reiterated the party’s plan to reduce the time people occupying Crown land will have to wait before they can apply for adverse possession.

Under the Registration of Titles Act (ROTA) a person in adverse possession of Crown land is unable to apply for a possessor title unless they can prove such possession for 60 years.

Last month, PNP spokesman on land Lothan Cousins, in his contribution to the 2025/26 Sectoral Debate in Parliament, declared that if the party is returned to power in the next general election it will reduce the 60 years to 25 years, except for land on the foreshore which should still require 60 years as part of a major land reform scheme.

On Sunday Burchell — one of 22 female standard-bearers who addressed a PNP Women’s Movement rally at Manning’s School in Westmoreland — said land reform would be high on the party’s agenda when it next forms the Government.

“And after we win and we settle down, we are going to roll out the PNP’s land policy. The first thing we are going to do: You see if you’re squatting, as they say, on government lands it takes 60 years… for you to be able to own that land and get a piece of title in your hand. The PNP said, ‘No more of that.’ We are reducing it to 25 years. You can own the land you’re living on under the People’s National Party. Power to the people!” declared Burchell.

“We are not gonna wait until you reach the 25-year to give you the title for the land; we are gonna give you a provisional title. Even before it reaches the age of maturity you can get a piece of paper with a provisional land title and walk up to NCB [National Commercial Bank] and Scotiabank and say, ‘Give me a loan,’” said Burchell.

“Dem nuh want you to have land. If it happens, they say you are too powerful! Dem have to keep you back! But not your People’s National Party! We’re going to empower you. Land is power; but more importantly, land is dignity. So, don’t make anybody call you squatters. The People’s National Party don’t think of you as squatters. We think of you as citizens of this great country who deserve the land that God has blessed us with,” added Burchell.

She told the meeting that, going forward, technology will be used to map out lands already occupied for ownership.

“We’re going to use GPS. We’re going to use drones to map your land so that you can have access to the land you’ve been living on, your grandmother lived on. As long as it is the Government land and you can show access, we are going to give power to the people!” stated Burchell, who is also the Opposition spokeswoman on information.

“It’s not done yet. [Some] 40,000 land titles every single year are coming to you from the People’s National Party when we go back in power. Power to the people,” added Burchell as she vowed that the PNP will also fast-track the process for people to have access to mined-out bauxite lands.