‘Misleading and Political’: Elvin Penner Rejects Land Grab Narrative

Former minister Elvin Penner is refuting claims that he rushed to secure land inside a BDF training zone before the 2020 election. Defense CEO Francis Usher says Penner obtained multiple parcels in the area and fast-tracked titles during the COVID election period. But Penner calls the accusations misleading and politically driven. He says the process took years, not months, and argues the military zone was created around private land, not the other way around. Penner also downplays the scope, saying the disputed land totals just thirty-five acres, later divided among seven people, while a larger nearby property was legally purchased.

 

Elvin Penner, Property Owner

“I did say I got one piece of land as a government minister. Never ever gotten a piece of land before. Am I not entitled to a little piece of Belize where nobody else wanted it – with some other family members through the proper process? It took probably five years from the application, the recommendation part of the minister in charge at the time, to where I got even just the lease probably took five years. Speed up? There was no speeding up. It was properly done, properly surveyed, properly inspected. Then once we got title, which took probably, like I said, five years, I decided to share some of those properties. That little thirty-five acres cut that up in seven or eight smaller pieces, which all of them were in my name initially, but now are seven different owners. No, they want to twist it like if I got seven big pieces of land back here, all that noise is about thirty-five acres of land. We did buy, and you can see the beautiful piece of land to our my right here, almost nine hundred and fifty or almost a thousand acres, private land. We invested in it. It had been private for decades. So land grab or de-reserve any land? No. Got some land? Yes. Thanks to my own government, it took me twelve years to subdivide it.”

 

Elvin Penner says the amount of time it took him to get title for the property is proof that he certainly got no favours from the UDP government.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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