The International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly – Guyana (IDPADA-G) has written to Housing and Water Minister, Collin Croal, requesting a meeting at the soonest available time. The meeting is said to focus on amicably resolving the impasse at Mocha Arcadia, East Bank Demerara (EBD) involving the removal of alleged squatters.
Some 28 families have since been relocated to make way for a multibillion-dollar road. Only seven families have stood their ground, claiming that the land is their birthright. The government has reiterated that the lands are in fact State reserves and not ancestral, shooting down Opposition clamour for multimillion-dollar compensation packages.
IDPADA-G said it responded to the complaints of the people of Mocha Arcadia by conducting a “fact-finding” visit to the community on Wednesday. Its delegation was headed by IDPADA-G Chairman, Vincent Alexander, members of its Coordinating Council and representatives of several member organizations.
The body said it met with affected families and has discussions with the Chairman of the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), Rudolph Adams and Member of Parliament, Nima Flue-Bess.
“All raised questions about the inhumane displacements. Above all, they registered a lack of understanding about the motive. Why were these families being pushed out when their properties are not in the path of the road? Why was the area surveyed, lots demarcated, and lot numbers assigned by former Minister of Housing, the Honourable Irfaan Ali? Why were they encouraged to re-position the front of their properties towards the new road if they could not remain there? Why did the current President assure them that their lands would significantly appreciate value because of the new road, only to remove them now forcibly?” IDPADA-G queried.
The agency told the minister that the residents of Mocha Arcadia and the African Guyanese community are traumatized by what appears to be an attack on their rights as property owners and citizens in a democratic state.
“IDPADA-G requests to meet with you as quickly as possible to discuss the situation in Mocha Arcadia and, given Guyana’s rapid growth, to establish a protocol for managing similar situations in the future. We would appreciate your prompt response to this urgent request,” the agency told the minister.
So far, the 28 relocated families have been given houses and land in nearby communities as part of the government’s “compensation” package.
