Dear Editor,
There is an ongoing impasse between squatters on the Demerara East Coast and the Government of Guyana, and from all indications, it is getting lawless and out of hand.
The squatters, for their part, have illegally taken up lands, as all squatters do, with the sole intention of owning these lands, as they have clearly expressed. “We have rights, too, to this 83,000-square-mile country.”
The Government, on the other hand, contends that the squatters are illegally occupying lands earmarked for other developmental purposes. This is a position to which the Government is legally entitled, as a governing authority.
The squatters, however, have completely rejected Government’s position. They are of the view that they must own land wherever and however they will, and the Government should not stop them.
So, at the present moment, the squatters are doing what squatters do; that is, baring their souls to the world, saying that we have an uncaring Government who is “fighting down” its own people for a piece of land that they want to call home. The squatters have even spiked it up by putting their children on the frontline, claiming that they are single parents and their situation is dire.
I shall expand on this single-parent issue in a subsequent article; but the point is: they are making out a case of neglect, dire and appalling, on the part of the Government.
Of course, the Opposition is lending a sympathetic ear with the ultimate aim of making the Government look bad while shoring up its own political standing.
But is this the true picture? I respond with a resounding ‘No’, because the record shows that the PPP/C Government has dealt with this problem in the most successful manner during its term in office; and here again in 2020, it will be no different.
A PPP/C Government rose to the occasion and regularised squatter settlements which are now sprawling townships. I am talking about places such as La Parfaite Harmonie, Sophia, Diamond, and many others. We are looking at a record of over one hundred thousand homes that were successfully established under a caring and people- centred PPP/C Government.
Now, in closing, we have to recognise that squatting has been a perennial problem in Guyana ever since we can remember, and what is ongoing on the Demerara East Coast is not a new phenomenon.
Therefore, I am suggesting that we should put politics aside and get this squatting issue properly addressed.
I advise the squatters to work with the Government and things would work out right. The political touts who are now urging them on had done nothing for them, but had used them for their own political ends, then had dumped them. It is time for the squatters to open their eyes and see who really cares. The PPP/C Government is here to serve you.
Respectfully,
Neil Adams
