Dear Editor,
In the season when most nations proclaim charity, goodwill, and humanity, Guyana faces a chilling contradiction. Over the past few days, citizens have watched in disbelief as government-directed forces descended upon a well-known squatting settlement along the East Coast, sending bulldozers to flatten homes—many of them standing for years, built brick by brick through hardship and hope.
While squatting is indeed prohibited under policy, the manner and timing of this state action lay bare something far more serious: a callous abuse of authority cloaked in administrative justification. With Christmas barely two weeks away, and the rains pouring relentlessly, dozens of families have been rendered homeless overnight. Mothers cling to salvaged timber and zinc sheets; children stare at the ruins of what were once vibrant communities. This is not policy implementation—it is a public execution of dignity.
Residents were reportedly given just days’ notice to vacate—an impossible demand even in the best economic climate, let alone amid a national affordability crisis. No comprehensive plan for relocation, no transitional assistance, no sign of empathy. The state that speaks so frequently of “homeownership for all” now seems more intent on demolition than compassion.
The double standard is glaring. Only recently, those found with fraudulent driver’s licences were granted six weeks’ grace by the Head-of-State to correct anomalies—a demonstration of administrative leniency and care. Yet, in this case, citizens who have invested years, sweat, and scarce earnings into their modest dwellings received neither consideration nor dialogue. When the powerful are shielded and the powerless punished, governance loses its soul.
This moment demands public reckoning. It is inconceivable that in a nation celebrating unprecedented economic promise, our government responds to poverty with bulldozers instead of building plans. The exercise betrays a disturbing contempt for the very people development is supposed to uplift. Authoritarianism rarely declares itself outright—it often creeps in through moments like these, when silence from leaders signals consent to cruelty.
For a government that prides itself on “people-centered development,” the optics and morality of this demolition campaign are indefensible. Human displacement cannot be reduced to administrative tidiness; it carries generational trauma, economic ruin, and social fragmentation. The true test of leadership is not how efficiently laws are enforced, but how compassionately hardships are managed.
The administration’s silence so far speaks volumes. Only the newly elected opposition WIN has raised its voice, availing themselves to the cries of the suffering, highlighting once again the diminishing space for empathy in governance. It is time for citizens, civil society, and every conscience-driven observer to speak out.
Let us demand a halt to such crude exercises of state power. Let us insist that policy never becomes a weapon against the poor. And let us remind those who govern that development without humanity is nothing more than organized cruelty.