Naggo Head Primary and Pentecostal Church in land dispute
Published:Monday | February 17, 2025 | 10:07 AMRuddy Mathison - Sunday Gleaner Writer
A conflict is brewing between Naggo Head Primary School and the neighbouring Pentecostal City Mission Church in Portmore, St Catherine, over a property the church has occupied for over 25 years.
Reverend Michael Davidson, pastor of the Southboro-based church, has accused the school’s administration of attempting to evict them from the property without consultation. He revealed that the school has started constructing a perimeter wall around the land, effectively fencing in the church without any provision for access.
“Where we are belong to the Land Agency of Jamaica,” Davidson disclosed. “When we got here, it was an abandoned property, full a bush, dark, and a lot of robbery committed because it was convenient for robbers to hold up citizens.”
He explained that his congregation cleared the land, installed security lighting to enhance community safety, and constructed a temporary structure for worship.
“It reached a point now where the school is saying that they want the land to do various things. First, we hear they want it for green space, then it changed to a playing field, and now to build classrooms to expand the school’s capacity,” he said.
Although the church has not received a formal eviction notice, Davidson said the ongoing construction of the wall has raised alarm among church members.
“I had a brief discussion with the principal and was told that the school intends to fence the property all the way up to the infant school that borders the church. If this happens, it means that the church will be fenced in with no provision for entrance and exit,” he lamented.
The pastor emphasised the church’s importance to the community, providing scholarships and back-to-school support, hosting weddings and funerals, and supporting the elderly with care packages.
Davidson also presented documentation showing that he had written to the National Land Agency (NLA) requesting a lease for 1.9 acres of the 8.1-acre property. He was granted permission to build a temporary structure, pending approval from the Portmore city municipality, and an impact assessment by the National Environment and Planning Agency confirmed that although the land is zoned for educational use, the church’s presence complied with zoning requirements.
When contacted for a comment, Andria Givans, principal of Naggo Head Primary School, declined to comment on the record. Efforts to contact the school’s chairman, Audrienne Deitrich-Stewart, and St Catherine East Central Member of Parliament Alando Terrelonge were unsuccessful.
In a Facebook post last December, Terrelonge celebrated the start of the construction of the perimeter wall.
“Principal Givans and I have been working with the Ministry of Education to finalise the project to build a new school wall for Naggo Head Primary to keep our children and school safe,” he said. “Everything is now finalised and the contractor will start working! As member of parliament, I will always represent our children and schools to improve the infrastructure and provide safe and better institutions for our children to learn.”
However, the Portmore Municipal Corporation has since intervened to place a stop order on the project last Tuesday. Chairman Leon Thomas said while the school had submitted a request to the municipal corporation, the project went ahead without getting the go-ahead from the municipality.
“The stop order was placed to give the engineers time to assess whether there are any boundary breaches,” Thomas said.
A title search by The Sunday Gleaner confirmed that the Commissioner of Lands (NLA) owns the land in question.
A well-placed source at the agency said the current space occupied by the church is actually two lots and that all matters “concerning the land must be approved by the Commissioner of Lands. The Ministry of Education, nor the member of parliament nor the parish council cannot give permission to do any act concerning [the property] without the Commissioner of Lands’ approval”.
Added the source: “The Ministry of Education cannot hold land in its name, as it is not a body corporate as described in the Companies Act. ... What is their authority to be assuming ownership?”
The Commissioner of Lands and the Portmore Municipal Corporation have been invited to a February 18 stakeholders’ meeting to discuss the situation.