KINGSTON, Jamaica—Any Jamaican who moves onto Crown lands as of Tuesday, June 9, with a view to squatting, will not be considered for any type of settlement programme by the Government.

Minister with responsibility for Land Titling and Settlements Robert Montague gave the warning in the House of Representatives on Tuesday during his contribution to the Sectoral Debate.

“If you’re there already yuh there already, but we not dealing with the new people,” he said.

Montague, the Member of Parliament for St Mary Western also told the House that after further investigations, those who sell Crown lands will be prosecuted and those who buy will lose their money. He implored Jamaicans to “check with the National Land Agency before you buy any cheap land”.

“Buying land is not like buying rice and flour, there’s a legal process but always remember, if it sounds too good to be true then it is not true. Save your money,” Montague added.

The minister also disclosed that drone and spatial surveys have been undertaken so the administration already knows who/what are on Crown lands “so if you go on the land after today you must face the consequences”.

He also told the Parliament that there will soon be an announcement of a major programme to address squatting in a structured, orderly, and legitimate manner.

And, he said the government is pushing to remove the incentive for land scamming, stating that “No member of parliament, nor councillor, nor JP, nor big man, nor area leader can sell government land”.

“To those persons scamming people and say is the MP send them, stop it because the MP never send yuh go do nutten like dat,” warned the land and titling minister.

—Lynford Simpson