WCB cash crop farmers seeking over $10M in damages

…in civil suit against Region 5 REO

By Shemuel Fanfair
Three of 30 farmers in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) have taken the district’s Regional Executive Officer (REO) Ovid Morrison to court after their farm lands were bulldozed and several cash crops cut down over the last few months. The three claimants – Krishna Sewlall, Kristopher Sewnarine and Kaleel Jameer – are seeking over $10 million in damages for what they contend was the unlawful destruction of their property.
The farmers are occupying land in the Tract 3 ‘X’ of Block ‘1A’ and Tract ‘Y’, portion of Plantation of Naarstigheid, being part of Bath, West Coast Berbice (WCB). They retained the services of Attorney Anil Nandlall who filed a Statement of Claim application on behalf of his clients at the High Court on Tuesday.
According to court document obtained by this publication, many of the farmers have been occupying the land since 1989 and were granted a two-year lease for 1.4 acres in the March 2000 under the Social Impact Amelioration Project (SIMAP) for large-scale farming. They claimed that since the expiration of their lease they developed the said property, cured the soil and prepared it for farming.
As part of their case, it was cited that they were the beneficiaries of grants or other financial aid from various international organisations that they used to develop new systems of farming infrastructure and farmhouses on the said land. Sewlall, Sewnarine and Jameer said they never gave anyone permission to enter, clear, farm or build on the property.
However, the Region Five REO in October 2016 requested that some 50 farmers, including the three claimants, vacate their WCB farmland. More than that, they observed that Morrison threatened to bulldoze the crops and forcibly eject them from the land.
Upon being threatened, they contacted Attorney Nandlall who wrote the REO in a letter dated November 3, 2016, which highlighted that some of his clients built dwellings and other permanent structures on the land. It added that the regional administration disassociated itself from Morrison’s actions and that he, Nandlall, advised his clients to use reasonable force to defend their crops and properties.
The attorney also advised the farmers to report the matter to the Fort Wellington Police Station. This letter was copied to several Government Ministers, including Agriculture Minister Noel Holder, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan and then acting Police Commissioner, David Ramnarine.
Regional Chairman Vickchand Ramphall also received a copy of Nandlall’s letter and after the farmers made several complaints to him, he wrote the REO in a letter dated March 21, 2018, where he observed that crops were being destroyed by an excavator on Morrison’s orders. Ramphal urged him to desist from the practice so that the farmers could provide for their families. He informed Morrison that the Region Five RDC never made a decision to evict farmers.
The court documents also revealed that in April 2018, agents linked to Morrison “unilaterally decided” to enter the said farmland the three claimants occupied and cleared a portion of the land, cutting down several cash crops including sweet peppers, lettuce, eschalot, plantain, calaloo and banana plants. Thereafter on August 6, 2018, two excavators entered the land and flattened another portion.
The claimants added that on August 7, 2018, the REO’s agents entered again and destroyed Krishna Sewlall’s wooden farmhouse valued $300,000. Kristopher Sewnarine’s farmhouse was also destroyed and that building was valued $800,000. Sewlall is seeking special damages of $3,254,000 for his destroyed crops and farmhouse, while Sewnarine wants Morrison to pay him $950,000 for his losses. Meanwhile, Jameer is seeking $1,170,000 from the REO. The special damages claim amounts to $5,374,000 while the general damages claim requests in excess of $5,000,000 for trespass.
“The defendants wrongfully continue to bulldoze and flatten the land, damaging valuable crops and depriving the claimants of their property, livelihood and only source of income,” a section of the legal document stated.
Nandlall has petitioned for an injunction to restrain Morrison and his agents, representatives or officers from continuing to enter, occupying, bulldozing the claimants’ use of the WCB farmland. He added that Morrison is “guilty of trespass and damage to property and [has] caused the claimants great loss, damage, great anguish and mental distress.”