Community activist calls for tourism development instead of relocation for Coopers Pen residents

Community activist O Dave Allen says displaced residents of Coopers Pen, Trelawny should be allowed to remain and that efforts are made by the Government to develop the area, with a goal of integrating the community into the local tourism economy.

Allen, who is the chairman of the Community Organisation for the Advancement of the Marginalised and Disadvantaged (COMAND), is asserting that this is a better measure than relocation.

The Government is currently advancing plans to relocate eligible residents from the disputed property.

“We do not believe in any displacement of people who are now at Coopers Pen,” Allen said Monday at a World Habitat Day conference hosted by COMAND at the S Hotel in Montego Bay.

“We believe that Coopers Pen can be integrated into the tourism product,” he added.

Allen’s position comes as the Government provides assistance to residents affected by the August 11 demolition of homes in the community.

The Government has distributed humanitarian grants to vulnerable families and identified land for eligible residents to acquire lots as part of a longer-term resettlement plan.

Residents remaining on the disputed property face a November 30 deadline to leave.

Allen said the focus should be on finding solutions that allow marginalised Jamaicans to benefit from development rather than being displaced by it.

“It is time for the Jamaican people to enter into their patrimony and enjoy the lands of this country,” he said.

- Albert Ferguson

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