The Ministry of Housing and Water has offered houses in the Little Diamond Housing Scheme, on the East Bank of Demerara, to a group of squatters remaining at Mocha, while warning that their homes will be demolished if they do not remove from the path of a major road project.
According to a notice published in this newspaper by the ministry, it is prepared and has available “move-in ready single flat two-bedroom housing units” for the squatters, whom it identified as five families.
“Should the last offer be rejected by these illegal squatters, the Ministry will have no other choice but to proceed with a demolition exercise,” the notice said.
The families have been identified as those of Joyann Alexis Ellis, Mark Gordon, Junior Ellis, Abigail Ifill, and Anneita Beaton.
In an interview with Stabroek News, Beaton maintained that the families are willing to move if they are compensated properly. The woman mentioned that the remaining families are commercial business owners and use their properties for their livelihoods. This includes cattle rearing. As a result, she said they want the ministry to also provide places, such as farm lands, so that they can continue with their businesses as they are their respective sources of income.
The notice said the squatters were given two-week final notices from November 5 but these had all been ignored. “Every effort by the Ministry has been met with harsh, baseless and irrational resistance,” it added, while noting that like others the squatters had been offered full compensation for their properties, a free residential house lot and a grace period for the construction of their new homes. “These offers have been rejected on all fronts,” it said.
The Mocha squatters are said to be in the path of a link for the Eccles to Great Diamond Highway, which is expected to ease traffic congestion for thousands along the East Bank Demerara corridor.
In its notice to the squatters, the ministry said more than 20 families have relocated to nearby residential areas and have built new homes through government compensation.
The notice said the government and by extension the ministry stands ready to work with all Guyanese in their best interest. “However, we will no longer stand by and allow a nation’s development to be held hostage by illegal activities of any sort,” it added, while warning of the planned demolition should its last offer be rejected.
