– AG says Opposition has history of bulldozing squatters
-has used ‘race card’ to mislead those at Mocha

THE Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, S.C., has accused the People’s National Congress Reform-led A Partnership for National Unity (PNC/R-APNU) party of using the ‘race card’ to mislead its supporters into hindering development in Guyana.

AG Nandlall made these remarks on Tuesday during his weekly Facebook programme, Issues in the News, during which he addressed the situation at Mocha-Acadia/Cane View, East Bank Demerara, where agents of the PNC/R-APNU are encouraging families to defy the law.

The informal settlers were hindering construction of the Eccles to Diamond road link which will bring tremendous benefits to tens of thousands of Guyanese.

To date, 28 families have already relocated from the dam to nearby residential areas and have rebuilt new houses through government compensation. However, three squatters have refused government’s compensation package and have instead requested exorbitant amounts to remove.

Despite being offered land and compensation ranging from $3.4 million to $14.3 million, the resistant squatters continued to demand as much as $150 million each to remove from the unregularised area.

Nandlall explained that since 2008, under the People Progressive Party, the government engaged persons who are squatting on state lands in the Mocha area and had requested them to remove, given the government’s plans to construct a highway where those persons are living.

“I want to make it absolutely clear, these persons do not own the property, they do not own the land. Of course, they squat, which is an illegal act. And they constructed buildings on the land, which are also illegal structures,” the AG said.

“So, this is not a recent incident. This matter is of some vintage dating back to 2008,” he added.

He disclosed that in 2010, the PPP government passed a law which prohibits persons from getting prescriptive title by the longevity of occupation of state lands or public lands.

“So, public lands and state lands cannot be the subject of prescriptive title application. It’s absolutely prohibited and that has occurred since 2010. So, the issue of prescriptive title does not arise; that’s not permitted anymore in respect of state lands, or public lands under the laws of Guyana,” he said.

Nandlall explained that when the party came out of government in 2015, PNC/R-APNU did nothing to address the concerns of the Mocha squatters.

According to the AG, for whatever reason, the APNU+AFC government did not proceed with the plan to construct that highway.

However, when the PPP government came back into power in 2020, that vision was placed on the front burner. The PPP enlisted the support of the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) and began to engage the residents.

Nandlall added that the government offered the squatters houses and land in close proximity to where they were residing.

While noting that in addition to offering to relocate the Mocha squatters, the government has also offered compensation separately for their farmlands and crops.

The AG questioned if it is fair for the thousands of Guyanese affected by the singular roadway on the East Bank because a few squatters refuse to relocate to facilitate the construction of an alternative roadway.

“Is it fair to put a halt on national development because of persons who have no right to be on the state’s land and who are refusing compensation in the tune of millions and all the other help?

“These are not people who are being put on the road. These are not people handed money alone. They are given money. They are given houses. They are given land. They’re given titles. They are given lease land for the animals and crops. They’re assisted in moving and they are being compensated millions of dollars, hundreds of millions of dollars for the inconvenience and other damage caused for moving,” he said.

Additionally, the AG called out the Opposition for using their untrue and false narrative about race and ethnicity, and discrimination to rally some of the Afro-Guyanese in Mocha to stand against the government.

“What did they do? They turned up there and tried to throw gasoline on the fire. They tried to incite the people. They tried to encourage the lawlessness, contribute to the lawlessness and as night follows day, injected racism because that is all they can do.

“All they saw were Afro-Guyanese houses being bulldozed. That’s all they saw. It mattered not that tens of thousands of Afro-Guyanese would benefit from this very roadway that was going to be constructed,” he underscored.

He added that moving persons and acquiring property for the purpose of national development is nothing new to Guyana.

According to Nandlall, in the 70s, the Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham- PNC government descended upon the squatters at Meten-Meer-Zorg and bulldozed their homes and a ‘Prem Negar’ scheme was rebuilt there.

He added that in October 2017, the APNU destroyed several structures of mainly Afro-Guyanese at Field A, Sophia for aesthetic reasons, but now like a “sympathising Judas,” the Opposition has forgotten their history when it comes to removing squatters.

Recently, the President, Dr Irfaan Ali, implored the Mocha squatters to stop being used as political tools and pawns, and see reason in the benefit of moving from the government reserve to the legal, legitimate lands and houses being offered by the government.

“I watch with dismay the type of political opportunism, lack of leadership and irresponsibility exercised by some who refer to themselves as leaders in the political opposition. Leadership is about responsibility. One that is based on a level of trust and integrity, not one that is opportunistic in nature. Not one that seeks only to divide and use every occasion that you believe you can extract a divisive message to people,” the President remarked.

On January 5, the situation became intense when officials from the Ministry of Housing and Water along with police officers in riot gear came under attack. They were pelted with molotov cocktails, stones and other implements as they resumed demolition of the structures on the government reserve.