A dispute over a plot of farming land at West Coast Berbice has caused farmer, Rawlston Cambridge, to have recourse to the High Court and Justice Diana Insanally is now calling on the Chairman of the Mahaica-Mahaicony-Abary (MMA) board to defend his decision to repossess the land from the farmer.
The MMA chairman has been ordered to show cause why he stripped Cambridge of the land and returned it to farmer, Naraine Ramlochan, when the former had permission to occupy the land, and he has also been ordered to show cause why he should not be prohibited from taking back the land.
Cambridge is claiming he was not given an opportunity to be heard when the plot was repossessed, and that he was the victim of several sabotage incidents prior to being stripped of the land. He filed the court action through his attorney-at-law Basil Williams last week.
The farmer recalled that he received the land by a ‘Permission to occupy’ from the MMA in June 2008 for a period of one year with an option of renewal. He said the authority had notified him at the time of a debt of $400,000 owed by the previous allottee which he had to pay before occupying. Cambridge said he paid the debt off and took possession of the land.
He said the land comprised just around 23 acres and that it was in a bad state and heavily forested when he took over. The dense bush on the land resulted in him cultivating only 15 acres. Cambridge said he received threats to his life soon after from an individual who was named in the action. He also alleged the land was sabotaged since water was drained from the cultivation over-night whenever he would fill it. Cambridge said he was only able to reap 13 bags of paddy from the first crop. During the next crop, he recalled preparing additional acres, but he alleged that the same individual loosed around 200 head of cattle on the cultivation.
Subsequent to this, Cambridge said he spent money preparing the land for the next crop when he was informed orally that a [named] government official had requested that the land be returned to Ramlochan. Cambridge said he was later informed in writing of the decision and according to him, he was denied a hearing before an official position was taken. He said too that he spent a considerable amount of money on the land.
The famer said that after paying off the debt he considered that it was unreasonable and in breach of his legitimate expectation for the authority not to renew the permission for him to occupy the land.
He said too that he believes a fraud was perpetrated on him by the MMA since he had paid off the debt. The matter comes up for hearing next month.