Holness Calls Cooper’s Pen Demolition a ‘Humanitarian Crisis’

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness says the Government is weighing how to assist families displaced at Cooper’s Pen in Trelawny without creating a policy that would automatically have to be applied to other informal settlements across Jamaica.

Holness said any intervention must be carefully designed because measures adopted in the Cooper’s Pen case could create expectations for similar treatment elsewhere. He indicated that the situation could help shape a wider approach to communities established through informal occupation.

That broader policy, he said, would seek to formalise and regularise communities where this is possible while also discouraging new illegal settlements.

The prime minister stressed that the Government’s concern for the affected families should not be interpreted as approval of squatting. He maintained that informal occupation of property is wrong, while arguing that Jamaicans should have fair opportunities to secure land and housing.

His comments follow the demolition of numerous structures at Cooper’s Pen, which left scores of residents without homes following a prolonged dispute over the land.

Several residents have claimed they were not warned that the demolition was about to take place. The exercise attracted widespread public attention after photographs and videos showed families and children displaced from their homes.

Among the images that particularly concerned Holness was that of a mother and her newborn baby. He described what unfolded as a humanitarian crisis and said the scenes involving displaced residents were troubling.

According to the prime minister, he learned about the demolition on the morning it was being carried out. He said neither he, members of his Cabinet nor Trelawny North MP Tova Hamilton had been informed beforehand.

Government agencies were subsequently directed to respond to the immediate needs of residents. Holness said the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security were activated because the circumstances amounted, in practical terms, to a disaster.

While emergency assistance has been provided, Holness acknowledged that the affected households will require support extending beyond the initial response.

He has not yet offered an assessment of the legal circumstances that resulted in the demolition. The prime minister said the dispute involves court rulings that he must first be properly briefed on before commenting on that aspect of the matter.

Opposition spokesman on lands Lothan Cousins, meanwhile, has argued that legal avenues remain available to stop additional houses at Cooper’s Pen from being demolished.

Cousins has pointed to a 2016 judgment connected to the dispute and has contended that the Government did not pursue an appeal to the Privy Council.

He has also urged the administration to consider using Section 4 of the Local Improvements (Community Amenities) Act. Cousins cited an intervention involving residents of Red Hills Road in St Andrew in 2016 and argued that a similar approach could protect Cooper’s Pen residents whose houses are still standing.

Cooper’s Pen is located in the Trelawny North constituency, represented in Parliament by Tova Hamilton of the governing Jamaica Labour Party. The current controversy stems from a long-running land dispute involving residents who had occupied homes in the community for years before Monday’s demolition exercise.

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