Channel 5, the BTL-owned national television station has offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of “any person involved in corrupt practices” at the Lands Department. This is a watershed development for our democracy. To be sure, other bounties are offered in Belize. Crime Stoppers, for example, gives money for confidential information leading to the conviction of murderers. Pet owners sometimes offer rewards for the return of stolen dogs. But this ‘Corruption Bounty’ offered by Channel 5 is a first for Belize, both in terms of its target and its size.

Although the source of the bounty has not been disclosed, the principle of offering a reward to protect the public interest is laudable.

The Lands Department is riddled with irregularities, ranging from the arbitrary award of land leases and titles to the valuation of public properties. The causes of this persistent infection of irregularities are simple enough: the government controls public lands and by law, the Minister can lease or sell these lands to whomever he deems worthy. Land is a precious and valuable commodity, easily traded or lucratively developed and eligible for purposes of collateral. Rats, by nature, flock to cheese. This bounty sets a crafty trap around this smooth and creamy cheddar.

Belizeans are largely oblivious to the value and importance of land, even though the very existence of our country is threatened by a land dispute with Guatemala. A large part of this ignorance stems from low population density – the relatively small number of Belizeans, 320,000 at the last estimate, occupying some 9000 square miles of territory. Jamaica, by contrast, is less than half the size of Belize with ten times our population. El Salvador’s land area is 8000 square miles with 6.2 million inhabitants. Our relatively low population density has cloaked many Belizeans with a false sense of security—a misperception that Belize is somehow immune to the injustice and inequality and ultimately, to the bloody land disputes that afflict so many of our neighboring countries. This myth is being shredded slowly.

A reality check reveals that most of the nation’s usable land is either privately owned or designated as a protected area. Either way, this prevents future access by the vast majority of landless Belizeans. A survey some years ago had revealed that just 3% of landowners control 85% of agricultural lands in Belize. While the Mennonites control huge plots of the best agricultural lands in the West, tourism investors control the majority of seafront property, especially in Ambergris Caye and the Placencia Peninsula. In Belize City, families are being pushed further and further into the swamps of the Lake Independence and Collet Constituencies as residential areas are commercialized, in many instances by Indian and Chinese Belizean businesses. Even in the North, the small, family owned sugarcane plot is under grave threat by the push to “optimize” crop yields. And in the south, the Maya demand for communal land has garnered significant grassroots support.

The Channel 5 Corruption Bounty may slow the train of irregularities but it will not stop them. What is required is a clear and comprehensive overhaul of the way “business” is done at the Lands Department. Land is a public asset and should be handled no differently than the public’s cash assets are handled at the Treasury or the Central Bank. The notion that one citizen, be he a Minister or a Commissioner of Lands, exercises imperial powers over who gets land or how much land is worth, and that he does so in some dark corner, is absurd. Such powers are the nesting grounds for corruption and venality.

When public land is to be sold, the selling price should be the prevailing market rate. Every parcel of land that is sold should be published in the Government Gazette. The valuation upon which the private sector pays its land taxes should be the same valuation upon which it is paid when lands are acquired by the GOB. Speculative land holdings should not be allowed to stand in the way of community and economic development, especially for our poor, rural population. A program of land ownership for first time landowners, with safeguards against resale, should be an absolute national priority.

Just three generations back, a handful of land owners enjoyed a naked monopoly on political power. No property, no vote. In British Honduras in 1936, only the wealthiest 1.8% of the population was eligible to vote. The colonial governor controlled who was elected by controlling who owned property. It wasn’t until 1954 that the right to vote was extended to the landless majority. Today, a handful of landowners enjoy a certain monopoly on economic power. No property, no wealth. The national government controls who gains wealth by controlling who gets prime land. The time has come for the landless majority to share in Belize’s bountiful wealth.

It is clear that Prime Minister Barrow will not be what the historian H.W. Brands calls “a traitor to his class.” Except for the current envious rage against his erstwhile patron, Barrow is an immovable apologist and defender of the economic status quo. There will be the token publicity stunts relating to the Lands Department, particularly those that can, ironically, couple the perception of reform with political vengeance. But voters should expect no dramatic policy or administrative changes from Mr. Barrow. That is why this Corruption Bounty is all the more welcome. At least the cronies will have to watch their backs. In the meantime, the landless majority yearn for the rhythm of history to change.