The Mahaica/Mahaicony/Abary-Agricultural Development Authority (MMA-ADA) was on Thursday accused by West Berbice farmers of illegally leasing their lands to other people.
Lloyd Moore, of Seafield Village, West Coast Berbice, and Joylyn Nicholson, of Number 40 Village, West Coast Berbice, who appeared before the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into ancestral land issues, have won court battles against the MMA-ADA over the situation.
Moore told the CoI that the residents of Seafield had occupied the land there for over 200 years, undisturbed. They were, however, never individual title holders as the surveyor had never completed the task of charting the land. He related that Seafield had never been regarded as state lands and noted that in the 1970s, when the MMA distributed land in 30-acre parcels, Seafield was not included in the exercise.