The first of what is expected to be a series of legal actions filed by squatters of CaneView/Mocha, whose houses were demolished by the Ministry of Housing and Water, is set for hearing in early October before the Chief Justice.
Displaced residents Mark Gordon, his partner Shenika Simpson, and her mother Lucrecia George are seeking more than $200,000,000 in damages; seeking various orders against the government for the destruction of their homes and personal property.
Their case comes up for hearing before acting Chief Justice Roxane George SC on October 9th.
This is according to a statement released to the press from their attorneys Dr. Vivian Williams and Lyndon Amsterdam who said that this is the first of a series of actions they have filed against the government.
Back in January of this year, the trio was among residents whose houses were destroyed in government’s bid to have them relocated to facilitate road routing
Gordon is seeking more than $200,000,000 in damages. He is also asking the Court to declare that he acquired legal rights to 11 Cane View.
The Attorney General, Minister of Housing & Water and the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) are the listed Respondents.
Among the reliefs being sought by Gordon, Simpson and George (the Applicants); is that the Supreme Court would declare that the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) acted beyond the scope of its powers and therefore in violation of its mandate when it demolished their homes and personal property.
Specifically, they want the Court to declare that the CH&PA’s decisions and actions and also that of Housing Minister Collin Croal were unlawful and invalid; while stating that Croal’s “resort to self-help to demolish” their homes infringed their right to natural justice and protection of the law.
Against this background, the Applicants are contending that “the way employees, servants, agents and or contractors” of CH&PA and Croal, “trespassed and demolished” their home “without a court order or warrant,” infringed their right against arbitrary entry of their home; and they want the Court to so declare.
The go on to advance in their fixed date application (FDA) that the Constitution places a positive obligation on the State to prevent ill-treatment and debasement of citizens in resolving disputes over occupation and ownership of government or State land regardless of whether ownership of the land is resolved in the government’s favour.
They want the Chief Justice to so declare.
Their argument is also that the Title to Land Act as amended in 2011 does not extinguish, retroactively or retrospectively, any prescriptive right that accrued in favour of the State, before the amendment took effect.
The Applicants are asking the Court to prohibit the Respondents from “conveying, using, occupying, or erecting any structure” or further altering the land on their Lot 11 Cane View premises.
Meanwhile, Gordon is asking the Court to direct Croal and GUYSUCO to transfer fee simple title (a landowner’s complete and total ownership of a piece of land and all properties on it) of the lot to him.
Gordon argues that he is the fee simple owner of 11 Cane View, by operation of law.
Alternatively, he contends that the conduct and interactions between himself and employees, servants and agents of the CH&PA “created a licence with equity in favour” of him with respect to the land.
Gordon’s position is that the licence remained in force and effect at the time the Respondent demolished his home.
The Applicants are seeking in excess of $100,000,000 for damage to property and more than $100,000,000 as exemplary damages.
They are also asking for more than $50,000,000 for loss and damage they say they have personally suffered and an award of more than $100,000 for trespass.
They are also seeking more than $100,000 in damages for what they say is the breach of their rights.
They are additionally asking for court costs, legal fees and any other order the Court deems fit and just to grant.
Background
In early January, seven houses were demolished by the Ministry of Housing & Water at the Mocha squatting area.
The 32 residents who were occupying those homes at the time suffered tremendous losses. They had been engaged in a month-long standoff against government’s appeal to voluntary relocate so as to facilitate the routing of a road.
Some of the squatters accepted the ministry’s offer after the fact, while others remain indecisive.
Croal, had explained in a Facebook video that offers were presented to the squatters for relocation. Also included were valuation and compensation for existing properties, house lots offered in Farm and Herstelling, and a move-in-ready house deal with land for livestock farming.
President Irfaan Ali, in a live video subsequent to the demolition, had also said that the offers remained open to the affected squatters. According to the ministry, the squatters were in the path of the four-lane highway road project.
The day after the demolition, Stabroek News returned to the area and observed the scattered detritus of damaged beds, kitchen utensils and other household items. These household items could not be retrieved because of the damages the sustained.
The Mocha Arcadia squatters had been warned on October 9 last year that they had to move to make way for an East Bank road link. The government said it had made offers of alternative housing and land but that all offers were refused and the squatters then made unreasonable demands at the instigation of the Opposition.
During the standoff, residents attempted to prevent an excavator from demolishing the structures and bridges by throwing petrol bombs, bottles, and bricks, causing the excavator to briefly catch fire.
The police, who were present at the scene, responded by firing tear gas into the crowd; residents further retaliated by hurling more bottles and bricks. About 15 Mocha residents, including squatters, APNU+AFC members and an MP, were seen trying to stop the police and the excavator operator from proceeding so that the remaining squatters could have time to remove their belongings from the buildings slated for destruction.
A member of one of the families being evicted was arrested and taken to the Providence Police Station after trying to save her home from being demolished.
Some squatters were able to save some of their home appliances, such as refrigerators, washing machines, mattresses, stoves and other items while others were not so lucky.
Pointing to efforts made to have the squatters relocate in an amicable manner, Croal informed that since 2008, the PPP/C tried to engage those living illegally along the proposed road alignment.
Those efforts continued up to 2015, to no avail.
The group had initially agreed to move, but according to Croal, the issue got political.
He said that one Opposition parliamentarian was “very confrontational”, and without reason, wanted the squatters to remain at the site of attention.
The Ministry of Housing and Water had offered houses in the Little Diamond Housing Scheme on the East Bank Demerara, to the remaining Mocha squatters, while warning that their homes would be demolished if they did not move from the path of the road project.
