Residents, Co-op workers clash over demolition of homes

Enmore Co-op feud

As the spat continues with residents of Enmore, East Coast Demerara (ECD) and the Co-Op Society, at least one house was demolished on Thursday and the occupants’ belongings tossed onto the streets after demolition workers were ordered to do so.

Based on reports received, the instruction was given by leader of the Co-op Society. When Guyana Times visited the area, residents claimed that they were awakened by persons trying to dismantle several homes which were on transported land.
The Society reportedly attempted to dismantle the buildings on several occasions after transports for the land which persons had occupied for the past 30 years were issued to other persons without their knowledge. This state of affairs, however, would have stemmed from the ongoing feud.
The residents also claimed that they were threatened that if they should return to their property, the co-op will send its members to burn the buildings.
One of the residents, whose home was ransacked, Nadia Rambarran told Guyana Times that this was the third time that her home was invaded. She noted that a meeting was scheduled for Thursday morning by the Co-op Society to discuss the land issues but that turned into a tragedy.

“Since 1982, the land was there. My uncle was living there and after he die in 2015, we started to live there…now a man just come this morning, he just show them a transport and they start to break the door down,” Rambarran recalled.
Rambarran’s husband, Avinash Chatura, said that they were told that if they entered their house, they would be beaten and killed.
The situation had gotten to a point where the residents were completely helpless and, as such, sought the guidance and assistance of the former Attorney General and Member of Parliament (MP), Anil Nandlall.
During his visit to the area to hear the plight of the people, Nandlall stated that by law, it is wrongful for those actions to be committed.
He is holding out that while the Co-Op is in a process of redistributing the land, they cannot merely give it to another member while noting that when a person is deceased, the beneficiary is supposed to be given the land. However, it is not a case whereby the residents were squatting on the land.
“That is not what the law says. The law of cooperative society recognises transmission of interest upon death. If a deceased was a member of a co-op, and would’ve been entitled to a plot of land, when that person dies, that interest passes on to the beneficiary of that deceased person,” the former Attorney General stated.
“Those who are administering the Co-Op ought to recognise that and rather than assign the property to another member of the Co-Op, they’re supposed to assign it to the beneficiary,” he added.
Furthermore, if the matter is not resolved, Nandlall related that he would represent the residents in the High Court for their lands to be retrieved.
“This matter will have to be resolved either amicably at the level of the Co-Op Society or the Chief Co-op Officer. If not, we’d have to engage in a head-on battle in the High Court and I’ll be representing all these people who are affected by this problem,” he said.
As residents of the community were fearful for their lives, Nandlall visited the Cove and John Police Station, where the situation was discussed and it was promised that senior officers would be dispatched to the community to provide protection.
“I just had a brief meeting with the commander of this division and due to his attention and the seriousness of the situation, which now exists at Enmore North, I explained to him that unless the Police intervene in a firm way, the situation can descend into violence,” said Nandlall.
“He has assured me that he will assign two senior Police ranks immediately and deploy them to go to the scene and to have a continuous Police presence,” he added.