After months of battling a co-op Society, residents of Enmore North on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) are on the verge of losing their lands, which have been invaded by persons sporting fake transport document.
It has been almost six months since the issue was unearthed after Secretary of the North Haslington Cooperative Society, Mary Luke, issued transport documents for lands which were lawfully owned by persons within the village.
The situation was at its peak when many persons were thrown out of their houses by these persons. However, one of the persons, Champawattie Samuel stated on Saturday that a structure has been erected on her land, registered as Lot 158
Some residents stood in the rain as Opposition MP Anil Nandlall addresses their concerns in July, 2018
Enmore North. The advice given to her suggested that she should hire an attorney.
However, Samuel and other residents could not afford the legal fees as the matter may continue for a long time. A few persons would have appointed an attorney to look at the matter but uncertainty looms as to what will be the outcome.
“The people still building a house on my land and they tell us now that we should hire a lawyer and get them to remove. I can’t spend all of that money because right now we don’t know how long more this continuing,” she said.
Marcia Gordon told Guyana Times that Luke was prohibited from distributing such documents since 2013. However, these actions have continued and the problem has stemmed from this.
“Right now, we have about 20 lands that having the same issue. What we understand is that the Co-op Secretary was banned by the Georgetown Co-op from giving out any transport but she still giving transport for other people land,” said Gordon.
On the land, a fence was erected and a house is currently under construction. While this is one of the many cases, the police have made some interventions to resolve conflicts among persons who were thrown out of their houses.
Back in June of 2018, several houses were invaded by unknown persons with transport documents in their possession for lands within the village. Belongings of the occupants were tossed out of these dwellings and left to be damaged in the rain.
Former Attorney General Anil Nandlall had shared some insight into that matter, stating that while the co-op is in a process of redistributing lands, they cannot merely give it to someone, highlighting that when a person is deceased, the beneficiary is supposed to be given the land. Adding to that, it is not a case whereby the residents were squatting on the lands.
