Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Sep 09, 2008 News
A special meeting of the Grove/Haslington Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) was convened yesterday to determine how to refund monies to several persons for land that they have not received.
The meeting was called after the individuals complained of being fleeced out of thousands of dollars by the NDC for lands at the Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara area.
A number of persons claimed that they paid the council as much as $80,000 since last year and have not yet been allocated lands for housing purposes.
Kaieteur News understands that most of the land was already allocated, and the council reportedly continued to collect money from other persons although it had been established that no more land was available.
When several persons demanded a refund, they were told that the council did not have any money, since the money was used to pay staff members.
One resident told this newspaper that whenever he enquired about his refund, officials gave him the royal runaround.
Kaieteur News was told that the official who was directly responsible for collecting the
monies and allocating the lands is no longer with the council.
The situation has reached such alarming proportions that some of the victims have resorted to the courts.
In one case, an overseas-based Guyanese has moved to the courts to reclaim his land that was resold to another person.
Member of Parliament Ernest Elliot, who has responsibility for the NDC, told this newspaper that he had advised the council to convene the special meeting since he was aware that persons are threatening to take the matter to the courts.
There are reports that some amount of skullduggery is taking place, in which one prominent person was given more than one plot of land.
Kaieteur News understands that the council is so cash-strapped that monthly workers have not yet been paid their August salaries.
“In addition, weekly workers have not been paid for several months,” an official told this newspaper.
It was reported that monies collected for the land distribution process was utilized to pay the salaries of the NDC employees.
An official at the Grove/Haslington NDC disclosed that some land owners owe in excess of $20M in rates and taxes.
These include Government, which has taken over the Hope Estate, and other large landowners.
“Without this money the council cannot carry out its mandate,” the official said.
According to the official, the NDC is contemplating moving to the courts to recover the outstanding monies.
This is not the first time that the Grove/Haslington Neighbourhood Democratic Council has been involved in discrepancies over the allocation of lands.
A similar situation occurred a few years ago, and it caused the Ministry of Local Government to take a decision to send the then chairman on leave while an investigation was mounted into the misappropriation of several hundred thousand dollars.
An interim management committee was installed, but nothing more has been heard of the pending investigation.
Yesterday’s meeting was expected to come up with a plan to either refund the monies paid for land or locate house lots and distribute them to avoid an avalanche of court action.
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