Residents of CaneView/Mocha, whose houses were demolished by the Ministry of Housing and Water, have, through their attorneys, requested that government enter into pre-litigation mediation within seven days. In a statement released to the press, the overseas-based attorneys Vivian Williams and Lyndon Amsterdam said letters were dispatched to Attorney General Anil Nandlall SC and Minister of Housing and Water Collin Croal.
The letters were sent on behalf of Lashonda Ellis, Joyann Ellis, Roxanne Allen, Mark Gordon, and Candacie Williams. In the letter, the lawyers stressed that the affected residents have numerous meritorious claims arising from the acts and/or omissions of employees and/or agents of the Ministry of Housing. “The government erred in the way it handled this matter. The resort to the use of the coercive arms of the state was precipitate and without legal basis,” the statement said. However, Vivian Williams, a New York-based attorney, added that it was useful to give government an opportunity to resolve the issue just before resorting to litigation.
In early January, seven houses were demolished by the Ministry of Housing and Water at the Mocha squatting area. The 32 people 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.
