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Harmon admits Success squatters were there before PPP/C Govt

– claims APNU/AFC was not aware of situation
Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon visiting squatters on Friday

While admitting that the persons currently squatting on lands owned by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) at Success, East Coast Demerara (ECD), would have had to be doing so for quite some time, Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon has related that his party – the APNU/AFC – was unaware of the situation when they demitted office just over two months ago.
The APNU/AFC had spent over five years in office and Harmon served in several senior positions including Minister of State, Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency and Member of Parliament.
Harmon made the statement on Monday, during a press conference, when he was asked whether his party had any idea of the situation at Success and if they had made any efforts to address the issue.
“I can say that me, I was not, aware until it became public news. Maybe the occupation would have started in a quiet way, a creeping way at the behest of certain elements in political life, to the extent to which it became a problem. It was when the police went in there and there was some shooting and all of that. That was when it became public knowledge. I cannot say that we (APNU/AFC) were aware that it was this extensive because the extensiveness of the activity I can see part of it was very recent,” he told the media.
About 150 persons have taken up residence on the cane lands owned by the Sugar Corporation but now that GuySuCo is embarking on efforts to revitalise the sugar industry by reopening three estates closed by the APNU/AFC regime including the East Demerara Estate (Enmore), which is expected to recommence operations early 2022, attempts have been made to remove the squatters from the lands.
In fact, the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) has visited the area to commence the land application process for unlawful occupants, so that they could be eligible for a house lot. Arrangements are being made for other parcels of land to be made available.
It was previously reported that lands in 22 areas on the East Coast, East Bank, and West Bank Demerara; Linden; Berbice and Essequibo were approved in the 2020 Emergency Budget and this publication understands that allocations for the residents will fall under this project.
But, still, many are refusing to relocate from the squatting areas.
GuySuCo had disclosed that some 17,000 varieties of sugarcane have been damaged by the squatters in those areas.
Harmon on Friday last led a team of Opposition Members of Parliament to the Success area where they met with many residents in small groups. He noted that the situation at Success is not only about housing but it is also a humanitarian one.
“The bulk of these persons are Guyanese who are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many have lost their livelihoods and income and have been evicted as a result of their inability to pay rent. APNU/AFC repeat its call for a humane and caring approach to be adopted by the State and for there to be meaningful consultation with a view of regularisation of the residents,” he said.

Non-support for provision of temporary shelter
However, Government has identified the Graham’s Hall Primary School on the East Coast of Demerara as a temporary shelter site for the persons squatting on lands belonging to the Guyana Sugar Corporation at Success. The squatters are refusing to be relocated to the school and are calling for the area to be regularised even as the Sugar Corporation is preparing the land to be cultivated.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Brigadier Mark Phillips visited the area and offered shelter to the persons, however, this offer was rejected by the squatters.
Harmon said he cannot support the decision to have the squatters temporarily relocated since it does not address the issue of land.
“What you are seeing here is that the PM basically offering a temporary solution. Because when you are putting people to go live in a school, when school reopens what is going to happen. You have to be careful that you are not setting up a situation where you make Guyanese people refugees in their own country. When the school reopens you have to move them from there and put them somewhere else.
“I believe the solution of this problem rests with consultations with these residents and try to find a way to regularisation…I do not support this question of shifting them from one place to the next. If you are moving them from land you have to put them on land not a school,” he explained.
He said that Government is in the position to regularise the area since both GuySuCo and the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited are agents of the State. He called on the Administration to find a solution that is practical in the circumstance, adding that it is the responsibility of the Government to find a solution to the problem that will see the squatters not put in a school but rather on land.

Not last week or last month
Harmon said that when he visited the squatting area, he was advised that the occupation of the lands did not commence last week or last month, rather the squatters were there for a lengthy period and they have expended all their resources to make the area habitable.
“When I went there, I saw an organised occupation of land. I saw lots properly lotted out with names on the lots, I saw drainage and temporary roads. To the extent of which the individual’s resources could have been used to provide these facilities, was being done,” he said.
He reported that some of the squatters have indicated that they took all of their savings to construct their houses and they cannot afford to relocate at this time, hence the reason they are pushing for regularisation.
“I recall under this same Administration when they needed to remove persons from the Railway Embankment that they were able to remove them, they provided land for them, they gave them a moving assistance and, in some cases, even help them construct new homes on the land which they were given. So, there is a precedent of the way in which things can be done and I trust that we are able to do that with these persons,” he informed.
GuySuCo’s Chief Executive Officer, Sasenarine Singh was quoted as saying that while the squatters have been affected by steps taken in preparation for the recommencement of operation, the successful outcomes from the sugar mills at Enmore require a supply of one-year-old matured sugar canes. As a result, land tillage needs to commence next January.
It was against this backdrop that the sugar corporation on Thursday last flooded the field including the area where the squatters are occupying at Success, where a majority of the persons have taken up illegal occupancy.
However, the inundation of the plots at Success led to an escalation of the situation as armed men pounced on a security guard stationed at the Success backlands, disarmed him and shot at a drainage pump before escaping on a motorcycle.
Meanwhile, there has been outrage from some quarters over the treatment of those persons at Success.

https://guyanatimesgy.com/harm...e-before-ppp-c-govt/

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This will back fire on the PNC, the PPP government will now address the squatting problem and eventually give them house lots.

Pnc failed to elevate the poor and prefer they remain in poverty.

Good ting PPP WON.

K
@Mitwah posted:

Those squatters were there long before the PPP were thrown out in 2015.

squatting in the cane fields only started after the PNC along with Rumjaat closed the Sugar Estates, that's within the past FIVE years. Harmon playing the fool, as a matter of fact ,they were encouraged by the PNC to Squat after the PNC knew they lost the election.

Five long years plus Five long months the PNC did SQUAT for the Squatters. They were busy giving away cane land at Wales and East Coast to their RICH supporters.

K
Last edited by Django
@kp posted:

Harmon admits Success squatters were there before PPP/C Govt

– claims APNU/AFC was not aware of situation
https://guyanatimesgy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Opposition-Leader-Joseph-Harmon-visiting-with-squatters-on-Friday-696x522.jpgOpposition Leader Joseph Harmon visiting squatters on Friday
While admitting that the persons currently squatting on lands owned by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) at Success, East Coast Demerara (ECD), would have had to be doing so for quite some time, Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon has related that his party – the APNU/AFC – was unaware of the situation when they demitted office just over two months ago.
The APNU/AFC had spent over five years in office and Harmon served in several senior positions including Minister of State, Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency and Member of Parliament.
Harmon made the statement on Monday, during a press conference, when he was asked whether his party had any idea of the situation at Success and if they had made any efforts to address the issue.

https://guyanatimesgy.com/harm...e-before-ppp-c-govt/

Perhaps the PNCR/AFC/APNU were also unaware of what was happening in Guyana for years and years.

FM

“You cannot make Guyanese refugees in their own country” – Harmon

Oct 20, 2020 News, Source - https://www.kaieteurnewsonline...-own-country-harmon/

Kaieteur News – The move by the governing People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) to house the displaced Success Squatters at the Graham’s Hall Primary School is being criticized by Opposition leader, Joseph Harmon. Harmon is of the strong view that Guyanese should not be allowed to become “refugees” in their own homeland.

Just days ago, after a visit to the area by Prime Minister, Brigadier Mark Phillips; the Guyana Civil Defence Commission (CDC) announced that the Graham’s Hall Primary School in Cummings Lodge was being prepared as a shelter for the displaced squatters.

But such a move, according to Harmon, is only a temporary solution.
Harmon, during his weekly press briefing, was asked pointedly whether the residents should accept the offer of shelter.

https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/images/2020/10/H12.jpg

To this he said, “I did say in my statement that this does not address the issue of land and what you are seeing here is the Prime Minister basically offering a temporary solution…because when you are putting people to go and live in a school, when school reopens, what is going to happen?”

According to the Opposition leader, the move is merely setting up a situation where “you make Guyanese refugees in their own country.” He questioned further what other solution would be made available if and when school reopens, forcing the displaced residents to move once again.
In his view, the only solution available rests with consultations that lead to the regularization of the area.

He said, “It is not about being heartless. This is bad. It has a bad taste. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth of these persons and I do not support this question of shifting them from one place to the next. If you are moving them from land, you have to put them on land, not in a school.”

The Success Squatting issue has been brewing for weeks and escalated days ago when the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) decided to flood a large section of the lands – a move seen as calculated in order to flush out the dwellers.

A later standoff with law enforcement officers resulted in a number of squatters being shot and injured with rubber pellets.

Many of the dwellers reside in shoddy shacks with little sheltering capacity and with the lands now being inundated; they are now forced to live under worse conditions, suffering significant loss to their makeshift homes, clothing, household possessions, gardens and livestock.

But the issue is not a new one, as squatters were occupying the land during the APNU+AFC’s tenure in office. But when asked whether he was aware of the situation, Harmon answered in the negative, stating that it only came to his attention when the issue hit the media.

“Maybe the occupation may have started in a quiet way, in a creeping way,” Harmon explained “but to (the) extent to which it became a problem, after the standoff with the residents and police, I cannot say that we were aware that the squatting was this extensive.”

The lands there are expected to be prepared for the Enmore Estate’s reopening, slated for 2022. GuySuCo had issued a prior notice to squatters occupying the East Coast lands which included Success, Vryheid’s Lust and Chateau Margot, warning them that the lands were a part of GuySuCo’s Cane Breeding and Research Station at the Enmore/La Bonne Intention Estate.

With this in mind, a question was put to Harmon on how the Opposition intends to ensure that the governing regime regularize the lands at Success. To this, he contended that the land belongs “to the state” and the state can regularize same.

“It is the state’s intervention that had the Prime Minister going there to make decisions,” Harmon said. “It is the state’s intervention, GuySuCo and NICIL are agents of the state. They do not act just like that on their own and so it is for the state to make a decision with respect to these people.

Treat them as Guyanese human beings and find a solution that is practical in the circumstance. It is the responsibility of the regime to do that. To find a solution to this problem that would not find these people being put into a school but they must be placed on land,” he added.

FM
@Former Member posted:

“You cannot make Guyanese refugees in their own country” – Harmon

Oct 20, 2020 News, Source - https://www.kaieteurnewsonline...-own-country-harmon/

Kaieteur News –

But such a move, according to Harmon, is only a temporary solution.
Harmon, during his weekly press briefing, was asked pointedly whether the residents should accept the offer of shelter.

https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/images/2020/10/H12.jpg

To this he said, “I did say in my statement that this does not address the issue of land and what you are seeing here is the Prime Minister basically offering a temporary solution…because when you are putting people to go and live in a school, when school reopens, what is going to happen?”

According to the Opposition leader, the move is merely setting up a situation where “you make Guyanese refugees in their own country.” He questioned further what other solution would be made available if and when school reopens, forcing the displaced residents to move once again.

In his view, the only solution available rests with consultations that lead to the regularization of the area.

Perhaps, the Opposition Leader can freely offer to a few of the individuals land space on his property for them to build their houses.

FM
@Former Member posted:

Perhaps, the Opposition Leader can freely offer to a few of the individuals land space on his property for them to build their houses.

Let him sell his yacht and buy houses for the PNC folks.

FM
@Former Member posted:

Perhaps, the Opposition Leader can freely offer to a few of the individuals land space on his property for them to build their houses.

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. Perhaps there is a cure for you.

Mitwah

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