Dear Editor,
I have to agree with President Ali and the Government side when they say that the Opposition PNC is instigating and politicizing the issue of moving the remaining 5-7 holdout squatters who have refused Government offers for alternative land and housing. Now that the bulldozing exercise led to the throwing of petrol bombs at the authorities, the 5 squatters being used by the PNC for narrow, political motives, stand to lose both “corn and husk” as we say in the country. The public road works in Mocha are behind schedule.
Videos on the web show a PNC Minister of Communities saying in 2017, “squatters must prepare to get off the squatting lands” and “we have to do what we have to do” (https://www.facebook.com/collin.croal/videos/730205824945589). There was another video showing a Harris report on Prime News where 21 structures were demolished in “A” Field, South Sophia during the PNC Coalition’s time (https://www.facebook.com/joseph.hamilton.752/videos/476723224662212).
The issues of squatting and roadside vending are long running issues under both the PNC and PPP. Unauthorized structures were demolished by both the PNC and PPP Governments over the years. All factors considered, it seems as if the Government has done due diligence, exercised patience, and made a good faith effort to provide alternative house lots and housing for people who were allowed to squat for too long. Twenty+ squatters accepted Government offers and happily received transported properties. There are videos where they testified, they were treated fairly, that the Government officials were supportive and responsive. It seems as if the holdouts were being encouraged by Opposition politicians who used them as pawns to fight political wars. So, while 20+ squatters took a “growth” mindset approach (a la Spencer Johnson’s “Who Moved My Cheese”), 5-7 squatters allowed themselves to be in “a fixed mindset” and refused the Government offers. I am not sure throwing petrol bombs at operators of heavy machinery is a smart thing to do.
In the US, we use condemnation and eminent domain routinely with legal owners to facilitate public works. In Mocha, they are not legal owners of the land, but the Government has been most gracious. It was never a race issue, never a discrimination issue, as the PNC and their “race baiters” are churning it up. Going forward, Government must respond swiftly when people begin to squat on public lands. Squatting has become a strategy for land grabbing. We must be strict with planned development and zoning rules.
The Mocha community’s hypocrisy towards squatters was on display according to a 2017 article, when the PNC Coalition was in power – “Mocha residents insulted at moves to relocate squatters to community,” (NR, Oct. 14, 2017). The article said, “Majority of residents residing in Mocha/Arcadia on the East Bank of Demerara (EBD) are against government’s unilateral decision to relocate Lombard/Broad Street squatters to their community… Residents in the community have applied for their own house lots for years but their applications are not yet processed…The NDC Chairman also noted that most residents do not want the squatters to move into their community because of their ‘questionable characters’…” They were eventually resettled to Prospect and Cummings Lodge – mostly Indian communities. That’s the same PNC egging on the 5 remaining squatters not to move so they can use the pictures of the unavoidable last resort bulldozing for political mileage. The PNC created squatting. They squatted illegally in Government for 28 years through rigging until they were defeated in 1992. They squatted illegally again for a year after they were defeated in the December 2018 no-confidence motion, and squatted in Government for a traumatic 5 months after they were defeated at the 2020 elections and had to be thrown out by a CCJ decision.
Our politics is a poisoned chalice. If PPP says or does “A”, PNC says they should have done “Z”. They both want each other to fail. They go out of their way to politicize everything, especially if they can invoke some race demons. The politics of expose, oppose, and depose is used for all situations. They never acknowledge each other’s accomplishments. As we become a modern society, we have to deal with squatting, obstructive roadside vending, littering, etc. It’s a dirty job to regularize longstanding issues, but somebody has to do it. In these matters, I support the Government’s efforts.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jerry Jailall
