People living free in Govt house

When a man rent his house to people and dem give him trouble, he can’t throw dem pon de road. He got to go to court.

Now de government in de same boat. People living in Government houses and dem ain’t paying a cent. De government want dem out. De way how dem trying to put out de people got dem boys laughing till now.

De same government wha does jail people or at least mek people get charge now begging fuh help fuh get people out de houses. Dem send notice, dem ask de Ministry of Finance fuh help. Dem boys want to know why dem ain’t use de police to put out de people. Dem does use police to break up strike.

De people who living in dem Government house move in when Jagdeo party win de elections. Some of de original people was Government officers and dem dead. Is dem children or some family who got nutten to do wid Government living in dem house.

Some private people don’t rely on de court. Dem does do dem own thing. Some people does hire men to remove de step. Some people does tek off de roof. But dem got odda people who does paint de house black.

Dem even got people who does do more cruel things. Dem does set de house pon fire. De government can’t do dem things but fuh certain dem could go to court because dem can prove de people who live in de house don’t have no contract.

Dem got nuff bailiff who would glad fuh de small piece to put out dem people. Fuh sure, if Jagdeo did want dem out, he had people who would go straight and put dem out. He had people who beat people who put up party banner. One of dem threaten people wid gun and dem boys sure de people who live in dem house frighten gun.

It got to be dat people right about Soulja Bai. Dem believe he soft. And he proving dem right.

Talk half and watch how people living free.

Hundreds occupying Govt. quarters for free refuse to leave- Region Four Chairman

May 08, 2019 News, https://www.kaieteurnewsonline...egion-four-chairman/

Despite efforts of the Region, hundreds of persons continue to occupy government quarters for free and are refusing to leave.

Giving an update on the issue, Regional Executive Officer, (REO) of Region Four, Pauline Lucas has said that the State is now considering taking court action against the unwelcomed boarders.

Lucas noted that the Region has been working with the other agencies to try and remove the squatters. Their efforts have so far yielded minimal results.

REO Region Four, Pauline Lucas

The REO said that State Asset Recovery Agency (SARA) was asked for assistance to have the occupant leave the premises.

According to Lucas, the Region has issued hundreds of warning letters to occupants. However, out of a close to 100 households, the REO said only six households have heeded the warning and moved out.

The Region Four official said that many of occupants do not pay a rent and are basically freeloading off of the State for decades. Lucas said that squatting in government living quarters has been an incessant problem, which she inherited.

One of the buildings utilised by the Government to provide housing for State employees

In many cases, Lucas said the current occupants are descendents and relatives of retired/deceased government employees, who refuse to leave the State’s living quarters.

At this juncture, the REO said, the State is relying on a multi-stakeholder approach to remove the squatters. She said that among other things, the State is considering taking the persons to court to recover the properties.

In 2016, Auditor General Deodat Sharma found that out of 300 buildings owned by the Region Four Administration, 132 were occupied. However, only 26 of these occupants were actually paying rent, and the SARA has since been called in to assist in the eviction of those not paying rent

In his report, the Auditor General had noted that the squatting continues unabated.

Sharma flagged the issue in his 2017 report, detailing that over $1 million in rent remained outstanding. According to the report, the issue is of particular concern with the Ministry of Public Infrastructure.

The Ministry had a total of forty-two flats available for rental to public officers during that fiscal year.

According to the report from a perusal of the rental file, rental register and other supporting documents, the AG was able to determine that 37 flats were rented, five flats were vacant, and 14 were rent free.

“In addition, it was noted that, as at December 2017, the sum of $1.444 million. This includes the sum of $669,000 for 2016 and $775,000 for 2017. It should be noted that some tenants have rents outstanding since January 2016.”

“This contradicts clause two of their rental agreement, which states that the tenant agrees to pay to the landlord in advance the monthly rental,” the Auditor General reported.

Meanwhile in his capacity as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Irfaan Ali has expressed dissatisfaction with the situation after it was revealed that 27 Region Six officers lived rent-free in Government quarters for over a year when they should have been paying rent.

In a bizarre twist, one of the officers has taken the Region to court to continue living at his quarter for free.

He questioned why it has taken so long for the matter to be addressed. He had called on Lucas to say how the Region has been responding to the issue. The REO had revealed that in addition to the guidance from the Auditor General’s findings, she asked SARA to get involved in the matter since the previous year.

The issue was also flagged by the Auditor General’s Office in 2015. During an audit of the region’s affairs, it was found that 72 residential buildings were occupied by officers of the Region, however the Regional administration was not in receipt of rents from the occupants.

Additionally, regional officials could not say if any of the properties were furnished, neither could they verify who were eligible to live rent-free.

This issue had raised serious questions of accountability by senior officers in the Regions, and why under the watch of a Regional Executive Officer and a Deputy Regional Executive Officer such an issue was not known.

It is believed that this issue may have cheated the government’s purse of over $7M over that period on non-payment.

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