Shaw statement on land purchase
published: Thursday | February 21, 2008
THE EDITOR, Sir:
Reference is made to the articles in The Gleaner entitled 'Dean strikes back' on Thursday, February 14, 2008 and the editorial on Friday 15, 2008. I wish to set the record straight in relation to the purchase of land of the now Cool Oasis property in Christiana in order to correct the political mischief that is being made by Dean Peart and supported by your news report.
1. When your reporter called me, he failed to advise me that he had interviewed Mr. Peart about the issue. Had he done so, I would have been alerted to the source of the mischief.
2. When I acquired the land and got permission to construct a petrol station, it was with the full knowledge and approval of the ministry of works. The then chief technical director in the ministry visited the site and undertook to have the necessary survey and valuation done to facilitate my acquisition of the land.
Deprivation
3. Permission was granted to proceed with the project in the interim, as the old main road was my only access to the property. Under the law, the ministry could not deprive me access to my land.
4. The valuation report and proposed sale price were presented just before the change of ownership of the petrol station, and the land was subsequently purchased by the new owners.
Mr. Peart would have been aware or he ought to have been aware of these facts, but it was more politically expedient for him to seek to score cheap political points by calling me a "squatter".
While we are on the subject of setting the record straight, would Mr. Peart like to explain to the public the circumstances that led to the transfer of his then permanent secretary from his ministry (lands) for her refusal to support his inappropriate sale of Government property to a close relative - a sale which subsequently had to be revoked by the then prime minister?
