The three Berbice cash crop farmers who earlier this month moved to the court to challenge eviction from their lands by the Region 5 Regional Executive Officer (REO) Ovid Morrison on Monday secured an injunction against him.
The injunction was granted by High Court Judge Navindra Singh, who has ordered that Morrison cease all acts of eviction until the matter would have been fully heard and determined.
The injunction application was filed by the men’s attorney, Anil Nandlall.
The farmers—Krishna Sewlall, Kristopher Sewnarine and Kaleel Jameer—are seeking in excess of $10 million in damages against Morrison’s move to evict them from farmlands they said they have owned for the past 16 years.
They are contending that after investing millions to develop the Naarstigheid and Bath, West Coast Berbice lands, on which they were granted permission by the Regional Democratic Council to farm some 16 years ago, Morrison is now unlawfully ordering them off.
The farmers have said that despite their pleas to Morrison and lodging several complaints against him with the Regional Chairman, he continues to trespass on their land, while threatening to bulldoze their crops and forcibly eject them.
In their application, they complain of not only being forcibly evicted by Morrison, but that he had also bulldozed their crops.
They said that they have always been farming on the lands, which they have developed into prime property with cured soil, prepared for the purpose of large scale farming.
According to the applicants, at no time was their property compulsorily acquired nor have they ever given the REO or agents of his permission to enter, clear, farm or build on their lands.
They said their woes with Morrison began in October of 2016, when he requested that a group of approximately 50 farmers, including them, vacate their farmlands.
They said that sometime in April of this year, Morrison and/or his agents wrongfully and unilaterally decided to enter their land and cut down, or caused to be cut down and removed crops.
They said he caused the bulldozing of a portion of their land, thereby damaging a variety of cash crops, including but not limited to sweet peppers, lettuce, eschallot, plantain, banana and calaloo, resulting in financial losses.
As recent as the 6th of last month, the farmers said that Morrison and his agents again went onto their lands with two excavators and flattened another portion of the land continuing to damage crops.
The applicants are asking the court for special damages in the sum of $5,374,000 and general damages in excess $5,000,000 for trespass.
