Dear Editor,
In the year 2000, SIMAP decided to build a school at Saxacalli since the old school building was unfit. Because the proposed building had to be built on the Scots Presbyterian Mission, the council was told by SIMAP that if the land was not legally owned by the State they would not build. Representation was duly made to the Scots Presbytery and we were given the assurance that the Presbytery would donate one acre of land. At a meeting with residents at the Presbyterian Church in that very year, Reverend Sampson, the visiting minister, assured us that an acre of land would be donated. At the same meeting, the Regional Education Officer for Region Number Three, Mr. Bhiro (now deceased) assured us that within two weeks a surveyor would be sent to survey the land. Sadly, this never happened. We, the residents, laboured to clear the site, [overgrown with] bush, including a giant Kumaka tree. Although the land was not surveyed, SIMAP went ahead and built.
The school compound cannot be fenced; SIMAP had brought fencing materials, but because the land was not surveyed they eventually took the materials away.
Recently, we were invited by the Ministry of Education to join the School Feeding Programme. We raised the necessary finance to build the kitchen but Reverend Sampson said that we must seek permission from the Presbytery before we can build.
Editor, this is totally unacceptable. We cannot continue to build for the State on other people’s land, because the Presbytery will want to control the buildings as they are doing with the Community Centre. In 1976, the PNC Government decided to build a Centre at Saxacalli. The Presbytery gave permission but the land was never legally given. At this point in time, although Presbytery uses the Community Centre for whatever purpose they need it, they never ask permission from the Council. Sadly, the Presbytery denies the Seventh Day Adventists use of the Centre. So who owns the Community Centre?
In the year 2006, the Ministry of Health decided to build a Health Post on the mission and we went through the same useless charades with the same frustrating result.
Editor, successive Governments have fallen down on their duty and so we find ourselves in this mess. The ministries involved need to solve this problem now. Although I profess not to be a legal pundit, I am certain that Presbytery can use Mission lands as collateral at any bank to obtain a loan. In such a case, where will these buildings be? We need our kitchen now on our own land.
Yours faithfully,
E.C. Lobert
