Mother’s Day weekend was a nightmare for residents squatting in Amelia’s Ward, Linden, as they were forced to watch government officials destroy their homes in an effort to clear the way for a road to be constructed. One mother, who moved to the squatting area to escape domestic abuse, is now left with no shelter for the family she is fighting to protect.
The story closely resembles the PPP’s infamous decision to use flooding to force squatters out of their homes in success ECD. The land was being claimed by GUYSUCO, which has cut its sugar production by 35% since the PPP came to power. Defending the decision to flood the families, Attorney General Anil Nandlall claimed that “removing success squatters is for the greater good of the entire country”.
Nandalall announced this weekend, as Linden families scrambled to find shelter, that over 300 families in the Region 2 community of Walton Hall will receive land titles for the land they are squatting on.
An IDB study in 2016 concluded that Guyana has a housing deficit of 20,000 homes. The deficit has led to inflated rent and widespread squatting by families desperate for housing. Squatting is common in every geographic area of Guyana. What stands out is the PPP’s double standard of draconian anti-squatting policies in opposition-controlled areas and regularization and titling of lands in PPP-controlled areas.
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