The administration’s establishment of ‘Pradoville 2’ signals that the country’s elite have given themselves the right to claim lands as they see fit, PNCR-1G Shadow Housing Minister Aubrey Norton charged yesterday in the National Assembly.
As the 2011 budget debate continued, Norton strongly criticised the establishment of the new housing scheme and accused the government elite of “abusing their power and giving itself the best of what Guyana has to offer.” Norton’s statements about the new housing scheme at Sparendaam went unchallenged as Housing and Water Minister Irfaan Ali did not respond to any of the allegations during his presentation.
“This housing scheme signals to all that the elite in this country has devolved on itself the right to parcel off the lands of the people to itself and to even go close to the seawalls in violation of the law and with no consideration for the challenges posed by climate change they claim will have negative effects on Guyana,” Norton said.
He stated too that the establishment of ‘Pradoville 2’ went against the established rule which says that “once you obtain a house lot, you cannot get a second.” He said that the elites continued to abuse their power by running a main from the water plant at Better Hope straight to ‘Pradoville 2.’ He said this was done while residents of Dazzell, Bare Root, Victoria and many housing schemes along the East Coast of Demerara still do not have access to water.
Norton also referred to other instances where members of the government failed to abide by its own rules. He pointed to another rule which barred house lot owners from selling those lots within a ten-year period of them being allocated. “Mr. Speaker, is it not the case that at least one holder of very high office in this land who obtained land after 2000 disposed of it in 2010 in total contravention of this rule?” he asked, in an apparent reference to President Bharrat Jagdeo, who in May last year sold his Goedverwagting, East Coast Demerara property for $120M to Guyana’s Honorary Consul to Trinidad and Tobago Ernie Ross.
The PNCR-1G MP also alleged that there was discrimination in the manner in which house lots are distributed and called for “inter-ethnic equity” in their allocation. He said that the minister needed to “end his political interference in the distribution of house lots” and said that there was the need for the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) to be an independent body that would implement the housing policy fairly. Norton said that while the government may try to deny that there is any discrimination, the names and photographs of persons who have received house lots would prove otherwise.
Ali later refuted Norton’s claims, while saying that he was a man who lived in the past and could only see things through “a separatist window.” “We’re a government for all Guyanese and that will not change,” Ali said, to the table-banging support of government members. He said that because of the government’s sterling performance it will be re-elected when general elections are held later this year. Ali said that government’s increased expenditure is as a result of “good planning and implementation.” He said too that his ministry allocates 17 house lots per day, including on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays and noted that it had conducted 15 “One Stop Shops” during 2010.
Meanwhile, Norton said the provision of house lots is not enough, since an average worker in Guyana could not even afford to construct a house. “Mr. Speaker, this government will do well to give free land to the working poor and to create the conditions for them to access loans and build their houses. The systems developed to do this must be one that is an independent authority and be insulated from the usual PPP corruption,” Norto n said. He also called for the establishment of a mortgage finance bank to assist the working poor.
Norton said too that while the government may be distributing house lots, this did not necessarily mean that people were building houses. “What the government fails to tell the populace is how many houses have been actually built on the house lots that were distributed, how many have been repossessed and how many have no houses on them,” Norton said.
Regarding the water sector, Norton expressed his concern that the country was not getting value for money despite the large sums that were being invested. “There is clearly an absence of a comprehensive plan to deal with water,” Norton said. He said that as part of this plan, there needed to be one on metering. He suggested that meters be placed in the areas that would generate income. He noted that currently meters are placed in the poor areas as opposed to the residential areas.
Ali, in response, said that over the last four years, access to water moved from 85% to 98% across the country. He said that in recent times, water treatment plants have also been built. Ali promised that in two years time, the team at GWI will develop in Guyana the best water system in the Caribbean and across Latin America.
