Research Institute for the Study of Man | |
The Earth Most Strangest Man: The Rastafarian by Mortimo Planno | |
Any self-respecting Jamaican who passes throuh such slum areas as the Foreshore
Road, Back o'Wall, Davis Lane or the like cannot but be ashamed. Several of these
slums result from squatting on private land. No water is available. Pit latrines
are illegal in Kingston; human waste is deposited between the shacks. K.S.A.C. carts
will not enter upon private land to collect rubbish, so that too is deposited between
the shacks. If these people were not squatting, the landlord would be obliged to
provide water and sewage disposal.
The trouble is that squatting is tolerated, but not recognised. It is tolerated because
the Government is not building sufficient low-rent houses to eliminate squatting.
It is not recognised because to recognise it might involve buying the land from landlords
in areas where the market value of land is counted in thousands of pounds per acre.
And because it is not recognised, the squatters get no amenities.