The police are being asked when it is safe to move in, by landowners who have been scared off their freehold land at gunpoint, by an alleged breakaway group of villagers from Siumu.
A couple who bought several acres of land to set up a ‘dream project’ worth several millions of tala are anxious to know how long the illegal occupation will last.
‘We called into the police station several times, and was told by senior officers that there is a process they have to go through,” the landowners told Newsline.
“One of the officers even said to us that we shouldn’t have bought our land there,”
The concerned landowners tried to enter their land when reports first came out that the villagers, who are claiming traditional ownership, were starting to clear the land and using it to plant crops.
“Our project requires that the land be left the way it is to preserve the natural beauty, and we were really worried when the reports came out that the land is being cleared.
“We wanted to go in and check but after our experience with the men carrying guns, we are so scared of going back there again, or be identified by talking to the media.”
The landowners are aware that the situation is a sensitive one and would not have mind delaying the project by a few months.
“If it goes into years, it will really affect our project we have already invested our lifetime savings in.”
The other landowners however are not as stressed out, as they are secured in the assurance that the land is legally theirs and that Government will eventually sort it out.
Others are not under any immediate pressure to develop their land property.
Lawyer Toleafoa Solomona Toa’iloa, who is representing the owners of free hold lands, has already indicated that the problem is between the Government and the village district of Siumu.
He quoted an amendment of claims made to the court late last year by the district’s legal counsel, Leulua’ialii Ms. Orlinda Woodrooffe, seeking monetary compensation rather than land.
An official spokesperson for the Siumu District, Ms. Ata Leota, told Newsline on Friday that they have already washed their hands clean of anything to do with what is happening with the land.
Ms. Leota is the Secretary of the Siumu Land Committee and also the wife of Revenue Minister Tuu’u Anasi’i Leota.
“The only instructions by the ‘toeaiina’ (chiefs and orators) was for the men to check the boundaries, because the Aiono Family were reportedly clearing deeply inland.
‘The men were told to plant coconuts along the boundary as indicators of Siumu property, nothing was said about occupying freehold land.
“ The police have been coming around to talk to the village council, and they’ve been told, the people who are trespassing illegally are doing so on their own and should be arrested.
Ms. Leota says Siumu is content to wait for the outcome of the court decision on disputed land that they are claiming.
“Win or lose, Siumu is prepared to accept whatever the outcome, as for those who are now trespassing on private property, that is a matter for the police not Siumu.
“They should be going out there and arresting those people who are trespassing on other people’s properties.”
Free hold land that are being illegally occupied are a few kilometers inland from the Tiavi cross-island road and is mostly undeveloped rainforest.
The police meanwhile made several arrests during the week, and with the village council giving them the go ahead, more arrests should be expected.
Who the real owners... written by jack,
February 25, 2008
The easy way to check is to check who bought the land from Siumu from the first place. I heard the land belongs to Aiono, so who Aiono bought the land from. All the lands in the villages from the beginning belongs to the villages and we call them customary lands. My dear people of Samoa, check the records, most of the well of, the few big dogs when running the government ended up holding titles to the lands used to belongs to the villages without anyone knowing it...not just these big dogs owning these lands but their relatives and friends in high places. Have you ever heard of land survey done by those little planes used to fly over your village. The big dogs were surveying the lands, drew pictures of them, put their names as owners and left the land for few years without saying anything about them until they ready to sell them. When the villages heard about the sale, they looked at each other and said, "I thought that was our Talaloa". Sorry GI, too late that land has been under the big dog's name for the past ten years without you knowing anything about it...remember the little airplanes were flying around your villages and your talaloa, they were not tourist; they were the land surveyors for the big hungry, selfish dogsssss.
lauli'i written by ulale,
February 28, 2008
e i ai si o'u uso laulii lea e matou te faifaimea fa'atasi ou te masalo e i le maliliega ma le aotelega o le alalafaga, malo lava ma fa'amanuia atu. lamasi ma le samoan club i st. pete/tampa. florida, usa.
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