…promises end to squatting if elected

THOUGH promising to address the sore issue of squatting if elected to the National Assembly, The New Movement (TNM) did not receive the full support of residents, when it hosted its outreach in ‘D’ Field Sophia, Greater Georgetown, on Sunday.

At a road intersection where less than 10 of its members gathered, the small political party interacted with residents – making public its intention to address Sophia’s pressing needs.
However, it was not long after the outreach commenced that some residents of the community brought out their own flags and banners to show that they were in support of the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+ AFC) coalition.
TNM presidential candidate Dr. Asha Kissoon told the newspaper that she was unfazed by the show of ‘opposition.’ According to her, TNM was invited to the community by its very members.

“That’s expected, but it doesn’t deter us,” she said.
Among issues atop its agenda was that of squatting, a problem that has plagued Sophia for decades.

“We do not support squatting, however, our thing is they should be allocated land because a lot of them have been waiting five to 10 years – they showed us their documents – we believe that they should be given their own parts,” Dr. Kissoon said.
According to her, if TNM secures a seat in the National Assembly it would lobby for the development of lands for those currently living in squatter settlements, and other Guyanese whose applications have been languishing in the system. House lots, she further posited, should be distributed to Guyanese free of cost.

“Only 11 per cent of Guyana’s land has been developed – of course we’re not going to touch the forests – but our population is less than a million people, so there is enough; it’s feasible to give out the land to our citizens,” the TNM presidential candidate opined.
Meanwhile, one resident, Darren Harris, was seen trying to call out others from his community to attend the meeting. Dr. Kissoon said that he was one of the residents who invited the party to ‘D’ Field Sophia.

“I haven’t joined this party, but I see them and I like them so I said I gon give them my vote,” Harris said.

“Some people like PPP, some people like this party [APNU+AFC], everybody got their own likes and this is my own likes. If they’re coming they have to address [the issue that] certain people don’t have land rights and that’s why all of this [some parts of the community] is squatting and that isn’t supposed to happen. So, I would like for everybody who’s squatting to get a piece ‘uh thing,” he further added.

The party established some time back that it will not be hosting large political rallies and will do most of its work in small groups, meeting persons at their homes or within their communities.