Given until the end of today to vacate, some squatters at Success, on the East Coast of Demerara, yesterday said they had no plans to leave as they have nowhere else to go.
When Sunday Stabroek visited the area yesterday, some parents and their children could be seen reassembling their homes, which had been bulldozed last week.
Although the operator left after being threatened by a group, the damage was already done as some structures were levelled.
After explaining that they have invested money in building the “shacks” that they occupy in an area that stretches from Success to Vryheid’s Lust, some insisted that they are not leaving.
They told Sunday Stabroek that they have formed a community group and have even decided on a Chairperson, Roslyn Beresford. Beresford explained that some people have been living on the land for many years. While she could not give a specific year, she indicated that many had been “shacked up” there since before 2015 and have lived through evacuation threats and even had their homes bulldozed. Nevertheless, she said they remain there because they have nowhere else to turn to. Some others moved to the area after losing their jobs or finding it hard to pay utility bills and rent during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The squatters collectively said that they live for free but with many challenges. There is no electricity or potable water supply to the area. Some even said they use trench water, which they treat, for their cooking, cleaning, hygiene and consumption needs. Sometimes they buy water so they don’t have use the trench water. However, with the destruction of a bridge which connected their dam to Success last week, they have been unable to do so.
On Friday the Chairman of the Region Four Regional Democratic Council (RDC) Daniel Seeram met with government officials and he later indicated to this newspaper that the authorities are maintaining that the land belongs to the government holding company, the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) and that the government’s position remains that the settlers need to vacate. He had also said that the government promised to provide two trucks from yesterday to help the settlers to remove from the area. However, when this newspaper visited the area yesterday, there were no trucks there but police were present.
Hundreds of persons who have been squatting at Success, Vryheid’s Lust and Chateau Margot, on the East Coast of Demerara, met with officials from the Central Housing and Planning Authority last Thursday in order to legally access house lots. Seeram said on Friday that he was told by government officials that of some 700 persons who turned up, it discovered that almost 350 of them had standings applications for house lots and as a result they would be given some priority.
Reacting to the government’s insistence that they vacate the land, the persons who spoke with this newspaper yesterday said that they authorities should have indicated that they wanted the land before allowing them to build and invest.
“If they want to do that they should come and say this is your piece, pay so much so they could recover the cost for whatever they gotta pay. Everybody pay a portion,” said one.
The frustrated group said that they were threatened that the land would be flooded but they maintained that they would not let the money invested go to waste.
Some also claimed that the PPP/C had promised to give them the land as a gift if they won the 2020 elections and were adamant that they would not vacate the area unless house lots are allocated to them.
While they could not state the person who made the promise, they claimed that it was made during a campaign rally at Success Line Top.
Last Wednesday, the authorities fired pellets and teargas at the squatters whom they claimed were hostile to NICIL/GuySuCo officials who had visited the area to meet with them. Both adults and children were injured after the authorities opened fire. (Lazeena Yearwood)
