Harmon admits Success squatters were there before PPP/C Govt

– claims APNU/AFC was not aware of situation

While admitting that the persons currently squatting on lands owned by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) at Success, East Coast Demerara (ECD), would have had to be doing so for quite some time, Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon has related that his party – the APNU/AFC – was unaware of the situation when they demitted office just over two months ago.
The APNU/AFC had spent over five years in office and Harmon served in several senior positions including Minister of State, Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency and Member of Parliament.
Harmon made the statement on Monday, during a press conference, when he was asked whether his party had any idea of the situation at Success and if they had made any efforts to address the issue.
“I can say that me, I was not, aware until it became public news. Maybe the occupation would have started in a quiet way, a creeping way at the behest of certain elements in political life, to the extent to which it became a problem. It was when the police went in there and there was some shooting and all of that. That was when it became public knowledge. I cannot say that we (APNU/AFC) were aware that it was this extensive because the extensiveness of the activity I can see part of it was very recent,” he told the media.
About 150 persons have taken up residence on the cane lands owned by the Sugar Corporation but now that GuySuCo is embarking on efforts to revitalise the sugar industry by reopening three estates closed by the APNU/AFC regime including the East Demerara Estate (Enmore), which is expected to recommence operations early 2022, attempts have been made to remove the squatters from the lands.
In fact, the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) has visited the area to commence the land application process for unlawful occupants, so that they could be eligible for a house lot. Arrangements are being made for other parcels of land to be made available.
It was previously reported that lands in 22 areas on the East Coast, East Bank, and West Bank Demerara; Linden; Berbice and Essequibo were approved in the 2020 Emergency Budget and this publication understands that allocations for the residents will fall under this project.
But, still, many are refusing to relocate from the squatting areas.
GuySuCo had disclosed that some 17,000 varieties of sugarcane have been damaged by the squatters in those areas.
Harmon on Friday last led a team of Opposition Members of Parliament to the Success area where they met with many residents in small groups. He noted that the situation at Success is not only about housing but it is also a humanitarian one.
“The bulk of these persons are Guyanese who are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many have lost their livelihoods and income and have been evicted as a result of their inability to pay rent. APNU/AFC repeat its call for a humane and caring approach to be adopted by the State and for there to be meaningful consultation with a view of regularisation of the residents,” he said.

Non-support for provision of temporary shelter
However, Government has identified the Graham’s Hall Primary School on the East Coast of Demerara as a temporary shelter site for the persons squatting on lands belonging to the Guyana Sugar Corporation at Success. The squatters are refusing to be relocated to the school and are calling for the area to be regularised even as the Sugar Corporation is preparing the land to be cultivated.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Brigadier Mark Phillips visited the area and offered shelter to the persons, however, this offer was rejected by the squatters.
Harmon said he cannot support the decision to have the squatters temporarily relocated since it does not address the issue of land.
“What you are seeing here is that the PM basically offering a temporary solution. Because when you are putting people to go live in a school, when school reopens what is going to happen. You have to be careful that you are not setting up a situation where you make Guyanese people refugees in their own country. When the school reopens you have to move them from there and put them somewhere else.
“I believe the solution of this problem rests with consultations with these residents and try to find a way to regularisation…I do not support this question of shifting them from one place to the next. If you are moving them from land you have to put them on land not a school,” he explained.
He said that Government is in the position to regularise the area since both GuySuCo and the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited are agents of the State. He called on the Administration to find a solution that is practical in the circumstance, adding that it is the responsibility of the Government to find a solution to the problem that will see the squatters not put in a school but rather on land.

Not last week or last month
Harmon said that when he visited the squatting area, he was advised that the occupation of the lands did not commence last week or last month, rather the squatters were there for a lengthy period and they have expended all their resources to make the area habitable.
“When I went there, I saw an organised occupation of land. I saw lots properly lotted out with names on the lots, I saw drainage and temporary roads. To the extent of which the individual’s resources could have been used to provide these facilities, was being done,” he said.
He reported that some of the squatters have indicated that they took all of their savings to construct their houses and they cannot afford to relocate at this time, hence the reason they are pushing for regularisation.
“I recall under this same Administration when they needed to remove persons from the Railway Embankment that they were able to remove them, they provided land for them, they gave them a moving assistance and, in some cases, even help them construct new homes on the land which they were given. So, there is a precedent of the way in which things can be done and I trust that we are able to do that with these persons,” he informed.
GuySuCo’s Chief Executive Officer, Sasenarine Singh was quoted as saying that while the squatters have been affected by steps taken in preparation for the recommencement of operation, the successful outcomes from the sugar mills at Enmore require a supply of one-year-old matured sugar canes. As a result, land tillage needs to commence next January.
It was against this backdrop that the sugar corporation on Thursday last flooded the field including the area where the squatters are occupying at Success, where a majority of the persons have taken up illegal occupancy.
However, the inundation of the plots at Success led to an escalation of the situation as armed men pounced on a security guard stationed at the Success backlands, disarmed him and shot at a drainage pump before escaping on a motorcycle.
Meanwhile, there has been outrage from some quarters over the treatment of those persons at Success.