Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Aug 18, 2014 Editorial
The official position and response to squatting seems not to have made any significant impact on those persons engaged in this practice. Now it is Yarrowkabra on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway which is plagued by this practice that we thought had been addressed by government’s highly touted housing programme. To say that persons squatting on state lands on leasehold to private citizens are guilty of something which is in itself within the realm of a breach of the peace status is an understatement.
A citizen who has a legal right to lands by way of a lease is expected and duly expects that his occupancy would be free from the hazards of trespass and illegal occupation by squatters.
The July public comments by Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC) Doorga Persaud that his Commission will embark on demolition exercises against squatting on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway, in Port Kaituma and Matthews Ridge are welcome. However, to date there is no clear indication of what is to become of those lands where squatters have constructed massive concrete structures, and what remedies are forthcoming for leaseholders of the affected properties. This is not helped by the fact that there is no comprehensive land-use policy in place which adds to an already haphazard and potentially dangerous situation.
Apart from the squatting, what in reality obtains is that land speculators on the lookout for opportunities on the vast interior landscape engage in the illegal occupation of State lands simply because there is no rigid enforcement capability on the part of the GLSC. Another factor is the proliferation of persons who may have possession of a lease by way of inheritance or through transfer without the approval of the state agency.
These persons may not be averse to giving up lands to speculators because in the first place they do not have fiat of GLSC. In circumstances where people are in illegal occupation they can then move on and repeat the process at another location. In other words until space runs out squatters are free to engage in their own version of real estate deals.
It has not escaped notice that very large businessmen with linkages to government are involved in land use for unintended purposes. These have included housing and agricultural investments with little or no regard to efficient land use principles. In some areas residents are forced to compete with poultry and dust nuisance for clean air.
The virtual emasculation of certain regulatory bodies has served to aggravate things with no instant relief in sight. What is needed at this juncture is a more robust effort to bring squatting to an immediate halt.
Dr. Roger Luncheon’s definitive statement last week on the unauthorized sale of lands under the control of cooperatives in this country brings to mind the state of this development tool in harnessing people’s potential to be self-reliant. A serious look at the various cooperatives would inform the most unenlightened that the cooperative movement is in its death throes.
Dr. Luncheon alluded to the way lands are being disposed of as a major cause for concern, and his promise to go as far as having forensic audits conducted should be seen as a progressive move to stop this unsavoury practice of exploitation. That and placing the miscreants before the courts are the only solutions that would appease all those persons who have lost their hard earned life’s savings to unscrupulous racketeers. Letters to the editor in the past have highlighted grave injustices in the operations of cooperatives but it seems as if it is only now that officials are awaking from their slumber to address this burning issue.
Residents in long established communities are understandably peeved by an apparent focus on developing the infrastructure in certain neighbouring communities. The Mahdia and Bartica-Potaro road protests and the state of the Linden-Kwakwani road are a few of the more obvious manifestations of failed local governance.
What is particularly perturbing is that disrepair and neglect seem intended to be the lot of communities traditionally seen as not supportive of the current administration. Anyone comparing the roads in Foulis, Mon Repos, Enmore with those in Nabaclis, Bachelors’ Adventure and Paradise would be hard pressed to dispel the perception of blatant discrimination.
JAGDEO ADDING MORE DANGER TO GUYANA AND THE REGION
Apr 18, 2024
SportsMax – West Indies captain Hayley Matthews has been named Wisden’s leading Twenty20 Cricketer for 2023, as she topped all and sundry, including her male counterparts. Alan Gardner looks...Kaieteur News – Compliments of the Ministry of Education, our secondary school children are being treated to a stage... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Waterfalls Magazine – On April 10, the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]