GOVERNMENT OF BELIZE REPORT CARD DROPS 10 % due to LANDS DEPARTMENT FIASCO.

LANDS DEPARTMENT COSTS UDP GOVERNMENT 10 POINTS OFF THEIR REPORT CARD -- REDUCING THEIR APPROVAL RATING TO 55%

The story: Wife made her monthly pilgrimmage to the Lands Department, by bus to the capital of the country in Belmopan to pick up her long awaited TITLE CERTIFICATE. For the fifth month in a row, it is not ready and she came home empty handed.
It has taken over a year and something to do the transfer from a LEASE CERTIFICATE to a LAND TITLE process, which was paid for some five months previously. At the time, she was asked to pay for the TITLE to her house lot in Hillview, which cost a couple of thousand dollars plus a few hundred dollars for the 60 ft x 75 ft lot, she had spent over a year going through the preparation with the LEASE CERTIFICATE submission and local lands inspections and so forth, to attain the FREEHOLD TITLE, then referred to Belmopan to pay for the TITLE. Then come back next month. That was five months ago. From the time of payment, it should be entered into the computer and the printer prints out the TITLE and somebody the CEO, or sometimes the Minister of Lands signs it and it is given to the voting citizen who has paid for it. Whole time consumed about 20 minutes by an efficient lands department.
The reason for loss of 10 points from the UDP report card is that under the previous PUP administration, the UDP made a big deal out of the mess at the Lands Department and cleaned house when they came into office 2.5 years ago, changing staff with their own party hacks and promised to correct much abuse by the previous political party, they accused both before and after the national elections. The story we got from the then incoming UDP was that the PUP before them had been commandeering all the resources of the lands department and staff and all the politicians of the PUP were busy getting rich quick schemes, by getting titles to crown lands cheap and then reselling them. There was no time left over for the staff to do the voter citizen paper work.
Human greed being what it is, we presume therefore that the new party in office, the UDP politicians are more of less assumed to be doing the same thing? Using the LANDS DEPARTMENT for their own land grabs and get rich quick schemes and there seems to be no human resources and time elements left to deal with the voting citizens of Belize. Goodness knows what foreigners immigrating here, or investing here think of this when their own paper work for lands end up take three years or more? Of course the foreigners are privileged, locals like us, have been known to take more than eight years sometimes to get lands paper work completed. We are fully mentally prepared to wait at least three years for this 20 minutes bit of computer and paperwork they have to do, after we paid the fees they requested.
Needless to say, some things stay the same, no matter who you elect?

NEW APPROVAL RATING ON THE UDP GOVERNING REPORT CARD IS 55%