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Sixteen years ago, it was Harlequin and Buccament Bay Resort. Now, it is Sandal Resorts International. But all Cane Grove, St. Vincent farmer Shaka is asking for is a fair price for his farmlands.

25 replies on “VIDEO: Farmer makes another land stand”

  1. Great Video Kenton! Love it!

    Looks like this hardworking farmer/philosopher dread needs to employ for himself a very good lawyer if he could find one here that is unconnected and equally too a profoundly good Land Valuer and Surveyor for good measure!

    We wish him every good luck in his negotiations.

  2. Hold on in daay dread, an give Jah all de thanks an praises dread, carze ah wah, yo daay daay still dread, an all de man dem daay wid yo too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3UGaO1H4m0 de man dem know dat de wolf-man caar frighten yo, and carze yo fo go fret-up yo self! Caze wah, ah nah yo dat fram time?

    True dem nah know dread dat you is ah roots man fram lang time dread, so go day dready, go daay and wah, yo is ah talk good sense fram lang lang time bout de food an de laan.

    De grey man dem done do dem ting sarr, an ah tek yoo fo fool but wah? True dem nah know! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZROcsZWjbGk more time dread! More time! All ah de man dem ah wall well proud ah yo star! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUT31IuDWwQ Dem naah reach yo strength yet dread no, no saar, so go day dread! Big up out daay!

  3. He says 10 dollars a square foot is a joke. That may be true! but when I talked to him when Buccament was starting he wanted over ONE MILLION DOLLARS for the land. They were offering a equal size piece of land elsewhere and to build him a house to his desire and he said it is not enough. For any deal to happen he has to be reasonable. he says he does not want to stand in the way of progress, that may also be true, but in saying that he wants over a million dollars. He is not a young man either and I do not think he can take it with him when he goes. They could even set him up with a house and things so that he never has to work again, many would jump on that deal, but that is also not enough for him.

    1. Haha if you want to play valuation, the fact that the area is going to be made into a resort and there is a suggestion of 700,000 lbs of produce needed his valuation would skyrocket.

  4. He may as well just ask for 50 million, that’s all…because he does not want to stand in the way of the nation! Maybe 200 million? Good money for one man of his age.

  5. Kenton thank God for this video, thank you for doing the Lords work. This man is so inteligent he should be the Prime Minister of SVG and would certainly make a far superior Minister of Finance than any member of the Gonsalves dynasty, he is brilliant.

    He deserves what he is asking, so many of the other land owners were robbed of their land, he will never allow that to happen to him.

    I believe Gonsalves has invoked the compulsery purchase act […] That is misuse of the act and if he has done that should be punished.

    There is too much of this making Saint Vincent the private plantation of the Gonsalves/Francis dynasty to buy, sell, and do as they wish with. It has to stop and it has to stop right now.

    The land is wanted for change of use from agriculture to resort use. As such why should Shaka not be paid the full value of his land as resort land. I believe $1.5 million is grossly undervalued as resort land. So either ay him what he wants in full or face a Rastafarian revolution. They were robbed in Grenada by Maurice Bishop, there is a lot of historical record about that. Ralph Gonsalves says he is here to finish the work of Maurice Bishop. We should not allow Shaka to be a victim of the policies of Maurice Bishop. Because the next step may well be the shaing of their childrens heads before they are allowed in schools and Rastas locked up in concentratin camps. It happened in Grenada so why not here?

    Unless people are treated fairly Sandals will fail like Harlequin failed because Karma is a real phenomanon and should be respected. Also I am sure Sandals want no part in robbing people of their land or of anything else.

  6. I actually believe that Gonsalves has invoked the compulsory purchase act. To use that act for the purpose of reselling to a private resort operator is an illegal act.The act is in place to allow the government to acquire land for road widening etc. not for taking away property from people to resell to a resort owner.

  7. He does not want to stand in the way of progress but still wants to become a millionaire while he is at it. He could have become a used car salesman, politician or a lawyer. 10 EC per square foot is a joke but so is 1.5 million! A solution should be easy without being cheated by the government or a man letting his greed cause him to…stand in the way of progress.

    1. Duke would you be willing to sell your house for half its real value, many houses in SVG are worth a million or more, are you saying they are greedy for selling their houses at market value.

      We have to remember this government has a record of under valuing and ripping people off with their imposed land and property valuations.

      Marcus De Freitus springs to mind, but there are many more.

  8. Patrick Ferrari says:

    This man is everything a politician is not: Courteous, honourable, decent, fair, and reasonable.

    Look at his posture; listen to his intellect; pay attention the quietness of his voice; his resolute stand and you know Mr Camillo has a problem on his hands. Not Sandals, though. Because it is only money.

    I would advise they settle sooner rather than later because, in the end, Sandals would have to open the petty cash box. As if Shaka could ever dent it.

    That is my advice, but not my bet. I think it would go the way of a politician’s path. I think they are going to screw Shaka with the big stick. That’s my bet.

    (Worthy interview, Kenton.)

  9. Hashtag Prince says:

    A very fair price, a reasonable man.
    Give him the 1.4mil Camilo, don’t be a bully.

    “I don’t want to stand in the way of the government…development. ..
    But also l don’t want to be a victim”

    Well said, “brilliant irations” Ras Shaka.

    Bless up!!!

  10. What about those workers that are owed money can’t they place a claim on the property for monies owed what are the Workers Union in SVG doing to help those people why aren’t we hearing from those unpaid workers from buccament Bay.

  11. Fight for your rights Shaka. Don’t let these arrogant circus clowns push you around. Lease the land for 1.5 million…to hell with selling!

  12. It’s the rebirth of neocolonializim in the name of tourism. Remember the Gonçalveses were white slaves owners, so they still have that hold on Vincentians. BLM.

  13. Leonard Slater says:

    Thank God some has the guts to stank up the Gonsalves regime and their greed. Their disregard for individual rights. I read some time ago that Ralph Gonsalves said : “he owns every inch of SVG”, really don’t know if the statement is true, However, it appears that this Government is willing to sell all of SVG for so called progress or development. It appears that they have not learned any lesson from the Buccament development fiasco.” Where there is no vision the people perish.”

  14. Have Sandals been told, warned even, that the resort is built in an Ancient flood plain that has already claimed to lives of employees at Buccament Bay resort, I wrote an informative letter about it in the hope Kenton would publish it. As of yet, nothing, nada?

  15. Dr. Dexter Lewis says:

    The use of these lands have changed in reality if not on paper. The value of these lands should be what one would pay if you bought lands adjacent to a hotel in most areas in SVG. You can talk to hotel owners in Kingstown or in Villa or Bequia and ask what would be the going price of lands next to them.
    My guess is those lands should fetch $100.00 to $125.00 per square foot. So this gentleman’s land would be several million dollars. Two million dollars for 1.5 acres would be a steal. St.Vincent is a shrinking place, we are not making any more lands. These lands are valued at least $6,0000,000.00. That is six million dollars (minimum). He would need that kind of cash if later he goes in to Sandals for a drink.
    Of course at the proper price there is not much elbow room for fraud and corruption.

  16. Dorsetshire Hill Resident says:

    Let us put aside partisan political emotions for a moment and take this matter purely on its merit and determine if what Shaka is asking is unreasonable.

    Firstly, he is asking for EC$1.5 million up from EC$1.4 million asked 14 years ago. Given that the average inflation rate for that 14 years period stands at 2.25% based on the data provided here: https://www.statista.com/statistics/731150/inflation-rate-in-st-vincent-and-the-grenadines/

    Of the additional EC$100,000.00 that he is now requesting on his original asking price, EC$31,500.00 can be attributed to the rate of inflation. And while he notes what WTO rules indicate, those rules apply to countries and not to persons as only countries have legal standing at WTO. Moreover, he did not indicate that his farm was being used as a government farm for export purposes Notwithstanding this fact, he is entitled to consider potential loss of income even for the period before he is able to recommence farming if he decides to do so.

    The Government indicates that Agriculture contributed 7.24% to the GDP in 2018. In 2018 the GDP was pegged at US$811.3 million or EC$2.18 billion. Agriculture therefore was responsible for EC$158 million. Operating on a premise that Shaka’s farm was responsible 0.01% of that overall amount, his claim would be that he contributes roughly EC$15,800.00 to the GDP. This of course does include taxes that he pays etc.

    He has spent nearly 30 years on the land and so there is also Sentimental Value that must be considered in this calculation. Even in English Common Law Sentimental Value is recognised and it is regarded as the value of an object that is derived from personal or emotional association as opposed to its material worth. And what we can conclude is that Shaka has placed that value at EC$52,700.00; a very reasonable value for 1.5 acres of land that has been his livelihood and lifeline for nearly 30 years.

    Secondly, Shaka is asking for EC$22.96 p/sq ft up from the EC$10.00 being offered by the government. And we are told that the Minister allegedly referenced the legal precedent set in the Antigua case regarding government compulsorily acquiring property for development. We have no reason to doubt Shaka’s claim re the Minister. So, I would hope that the Minister also advised Shaka that the court in that case also said that payment must be prompt and at fair market value. So then what is fair market value. Given his location, and the tourism development project adjacent to him we must consider that within the context of what will be the investment of Sandals. If the project was one in which villa homes or condominiums were to be sold by the developer, we can reasonably deduce that a house lot with a villa or condo home would be sold for perhaps US$1.5 million and not EC$1.5 million.

    So, I believe that Shaka’s asking price is reasonable. And mindful that he foresees food shortage for the island down the road, he is merely trying to put himself in a position to be able to address the challenges for himself and his family if and when that time comes.

    We bend over backwards for overseas developers and give them all kind of concessions, let us be fair and just with our own.

  17. A family played the lottery and won EC$ 1.5 million. What was the price of the ticket? Why the government did not acquire the winnings as too excessive since other persons would have lost hundreds or thuosands of dollars trying to win. No sweat. Maybe we should cap the lottery like capping the price the government is will pay for the brothers lands. All this is in keeping with the ULP attempt to dispossess black Vincentians and make them poor and dependent. Remember that I only Portugese know about money. Black people dont know money. Remember we were sold into slavery for trinkets by these same people. Sahaka stand up. If it was caucasian the amount will be quite ok.

  18. Is this another election trick?? Where is David and the english pensioners.in all of this*?? Good try

  19. Phil Dennie says:

    If we focus on the facts as they are presented by this brother he is simply requesting a fair deal.
    Bearing in mind that the Value , the price and the cost is not necessarily the same figure..it seems to me that anything costing a million plus dollars in our minds is to much…if that is what he Values hi land for who are we to say he cant get it or that he is unreasonable
    Granted there are multiple factors involved in Valuating land as a guide.to setting a price…lets get the numbers right ..its still a figure

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