A RESIDENT of Region Ten, who said he is a supporter of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), was on Sunday caught red-handed by the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission’s (GLSC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Trevor Benn and his officers, distributing lands to other residents, while promising them that his party will regularise these, when it returns to office.

According to persons who were invited to squat by the man, he related to them that he was a representative of the PPP and that his party is in possession of over 500 house lots in the Phase Two and Three Amelia’s Ward location. They were urged to secure the lands and were assured that these will be regularised after elections. Scores of persons took up his offer and demarcated plots of land, while some even went a step further to fence and even construct concrete foundations.

Benn said that after hearing about the operation, he journeyed to Linden and caught up with the man himself. Gathered, as well, were several residents who took up his offer to squat. In a video seen by this publication, Benn, in no uncertain terms, affirmed the seriousness of the offence to the man and the legal implications. Benn explained that the lands are not owned by the PPP but by GLSC and all residents who are guilty of getting involved, should be wary of the consequences of squatting, an illegal activity. “We cannot continue to develop like this; we cannot continue to live like this; we cannot issue land in an unregulated way. Linden is one of the bad examples of how people squat and create problems, you don’t even have a road to drive, how you going to live in them conditions?” Benn reasoned.

The PPP/C supporter said his application has been in the system since 1995 and it was never addressed by the GLSC. According to the man, it was the lengthy wait that caused him to get involved in the sting operation.

“Which ever government you support and whichever government you believe coming in, if this is the attitude you are promoting, I do know what will become of Guyana; I really don’t know what will become of Guyana. I cannot speak to you about why your application from 95 was not processed. I cannot answer for that, the same people you say you support, must answer that for you,” Benn told him.

The GLSC CEO warned the PPP supporter that if officers return and realise that there is further development, he would be held accountable. Benn urged the man and the rest of the residents to visit GLSC’s Linden branch, since the door is still opened for them to be assisted, but no one can be helped under the current situation. Some residents, who took it upon themselves to construct foundations, asked what would become of their structures. Benn, in response, said that it was not based on GLSC’s advice that the structures were built; as such he cannot promise how that issue would be dealt with since the area is not surveyed. He said many persons in other squatting areas constructed houses where roads and alleyways had to be developed and in those cases, those structures had to be broken.
CEO of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA), Lelon Saul, when contacted by this publication, was, a few moments prior, made aware of the situation by Benn. Saul told this newspaper that CHPA does not have any unallocated house lots in Amelia’s Ward, explaining that the GLSC is the custodians of all available lands. “We will deal with this condignly, we are urging persons not to use the current political situation to go and squat, squatting is illegal,” Saul said.

CHPA is working overtime to have all available house lots in Amelia’s Ward transferred from the GLSC. At a recent community meeting in Amelia’s Ward, Saul said that GLSC is in the process of handing over 100 acres of land in North Amelia’s Ward, which will see approximately 500 house lots being allocated to applicants, as soon as they are completed. The expediency of this, however, will be hampered by the squatting situation taking place in Amelia’s Ward. “Development will take a longer time to come there, when people go and squat, because they will squat in all kind of manner,” he said.

In fact, a junior GLSC officer working on the transfer project, appealed to residents at the Amelia’s Ward meeting to stop squatting on the lands, since this is playing a major role of stymieing the surveying process. He said that every day, officers are discovering lands that are being squatted on in the same area that is to be transferred. Some houses are on critical lands where roads and other infrastructure are to be placed. All the relevant agencies, he argued, also need to play a role, since these squatters are having access to water and electricity.