Farmers still not paid after winning legal challenge

West Berbice 50-year leases

By Shemuel Fanfair

As the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into ancestral land ownership continues, one of the affected West Coast Berbice (WCB) farmers that won their court case against the President’s revocation of their leases for lands at Seafield and Number 40 Village, Berbice, is hoping to appear to have their issues sorted out.
In an interview with Guyana Times on Sunday, Joylyn Nicholson said she and five others – Gratien and Herman Nicholson, Brian George, Tiffany Hubbard and Vaughn Aaron – are still to be paid court costs and compensation weeks after Justice Roxane George SC, ruled that their leases constitute property under Article 142 of the Constitution, and the President’s revocation of those leases amounted to depriving the applicants of property without compensating them, as noted in Article 142 of the Constitution.
Nicholson stated now that they have won the High Court case, the farmers intend to cultivate the next crop for rice. She however noted that since they haven’t been compensated or paid court costs, they are hesitant to move forward with plans to farm the lands.
Nicholson said once given an invitation, she would be happy to testify to the treatment which has been meted out to the West Coast Berbice farmers, reportedly at the hands of senior Mahaica/Mahaicony/Abary-Agriculture Development Association (MMA-ADA) officials.
“On August 14th I submitted my documents at the box in Onverwagt. I hope to have these and other matters addressed in the land CoI, but up to now, I haven’t heard anything from them as yet – they haven’t called me,” the woman explained.
While a conservatory order was granted until compensation is worked out by both parties, another order was granted whereby each of the applicants was to be paid court costs in the sum of $300,000. To date, they are still to be paid.
They had previously claimed that in November 2014, former President Donald Ramotar had granted the 50-year leases for State land located in the rear of Number 40 Village, West Coast Berbice. The MMA/ADA had cancelled the State land leases last year, and these West Coast Berbice farmers filed legal action challenging that cancellation. But after President Granger cancelled the leases, they again filed court action and were successful in their challenge against the revocation.
The MMA-ADA came under criticism for its “illegal” possession of some 2000 acres of land that belonged to the Abary Cattle Ranch Company Limited (ACRCL) without any reason or explanation. ACRCL’s Chairman, Hemraj Kissoon, told the CoI last week the liability company has been in existence since 1909 with the responsibility for fattening animals in the Abary area. He said that they have over 3000 heads of cattle, utilising approximately 7784 acres of land. However, he noted that this amount of land is not sufficient with each head of cattle, requiring at least four acres of land to graze, since sections of the land are swampy and grass does not grow in some parts.