Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton today accused the government of discriminating against several families of Cane view, Mocha Arcadia, who had their properties bulldozed to facilitate drainage works, close to where the government is building a highway.

During a press conference today, Mr. Norton said the government’s actions are unacceptable and should be condemned.

He said he is convinced that the removal of the residents has little to do when them being in any path of development works.

“We categorically reject the government’s assertion that these families must be relocated because they are in the way of the proposed Eccles to Great Diamond Highway. It is clear that this road will pass a significant distance from these properties, and the real motivation behind these demolitions appears to be racially motivated against the mainly Afro-Guyanese residents, as other villages on the path of the road have not been treated with this same malice. It is also clear that the PPP wants to allocate these lands to their elite, friends, families and favorites,” Mr. Norton stated.

The Opposition Leader said the government should have further engaged the residents and their leaders in the Mocha community and arrived an amicable settlement rather than a heavy handed approach.

He noted that “in similar cases in PPP strongholds, people’s lands were not only regularized but in those cases where people had to move they were adequately compensated and had legal representation. This is true about those persons who were in the path of the Berbice Bridge. In Pigeon Island and Charity, two PPP strongholds, the government regularized squatters but now is seeking to move African Guyanese from their own lands under the pretext of promoting development”.

Norton also observed that right along the path of the highway, there are houses in communities which are closer to the roadworks than the residents of Mocha who are being bulldozed.

He said only the Mocha residents appear to have gotten the demolition attention of the Government. Norton said the Government was not honest about the Mocha residents being in the path of the highway.

“It does appear to me now that as they see the value of the area, they are seeking to take it away from them, so that they can give it to themselves, their families, their friends and their favorites,” Norton said.

Some twenty families have already re-located from the area where the government has deemed as a squatter settlement, even as they were given their lot numbers from the government.

The Mocha lands are communal lands covered in the 1834 gazetted order as land bought by freed slave.

Related posts:

Flue-Bess hammers Government on high inflation and destruction of Mocha, Cane view houses Remaining Mocha squatters given final notice to move to allow start of new highway plan Norton tells Canadian radio show that discrimination in Guyana is real; Accuses Govt. of targeting perceived supporters Opposition steps into campaign mode as Norton hammers Govt. on corruption and discrimination