Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon yesterday urged that the state find a mutually acceptable solution to resolve the plight of squatters at Success, East Coast Demerara, while vowing that the opposition would seek to ensure that they are treated fairly.
Harmon made the commitment while visiting the squatters against the backdrop of recent efforts to force them to vacate the land, which GuySuCo says is necessary for the resumption of cultivating cane.
“The fact of the matter is that it is the state and therefore whatever takes place here, the state has to [have] a responsibility for it. Whether it’s GuySuCo, whether it’s NICIL, whether it’s Central Housing and Planning, all of it is the state. So, whatever takes place here it is the state that is responsible for everything that happens here. I want you to get that clear. You don’t have to make any distinction that it’s this one, that one or that one. Is the state. So, it is really our concern that the state must negotiate with you to find a settlement which allows for regularisation. Too many people here have spoken about the problems you have with COVID-19, that they have been thrown out of jobs, thrown out of their homes and are therefore left homeless and penniless,” Harmon told the squatters as he observed the devastating state that some of them have been living in.