Dear Editor,
Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, yet again had to articulate that “the law (in Guyana) provides no protection for persons who unlawfully occupy state lands, Government reserves, or public reserves, and (as such) the Government will be compelled to take firm action to address the growing problem of squatting across the country.”
This is like a relentless oozing sore in Guyana, and it must be most tiresome for the Attorney General to be at this problem almost ad infinitum.
As we all agree, and quite rightly so, the Guyana Government is most proactive in seeking to foster housing developments and therefore will not aid and abet squatting. Citizens are fully aware that they can pursue the ambition of “lot and house ownership” via the assigned Central Housing & Planning Authority (CHPA), although they have the due process of the waiting period for “things to fall into place”, but there is “no fear” here, so long as the applicants meet the specific age and residency requirements.
The Minister lucidly made this known during his weekly show, “Issues in the News”, during which he indicated that while “demand for land often exceeds supply”, “this does not justify squatting”. I add that nothing truly justifies squatting, and I say this even without considering the consequences, environmentally and medically.
The Minister, as such, warned that the administration maintains a “zero-tolerance” approach to the illegal occupation of public lands while continuing to expand access to legal housing and land ownership. He cogently reiterated that “We (PPP/C) have a no-tolerance policy in relation to squatting” while simultaneously encouraging eligible citizens to apply through the Government’s housing, agricultural, and industrial land distribution programmes.
According to the Attorney General, “Guyana operates one of the region’s most aggressive housing and land distribution programmes, with significant investments being made to transform undeveloped lands into fully serviced residential communities.” He noted that, in contrast to previous administrations, this Government, the PPP/C, does not allocate undeveloped plots. He referenced that “Instead, lands are first equipped with essential infrastructure, including roads, drainage systems, potable water, electricity, and other services before being distributed to beneficiaries.”
Editor, on this note of Guyana’s aggressive housing drive that the AG alluded to, I point readers to a few important things that are ongoing and should be capitalised on. It is a fact, undisputed too, that the current Government has facilitated, and is facilitating, quite a number of avenues and provisions to help aspirants obtain that “once elusive” dream of “house ownership”.
First, there are the massive “Subsidised House Lots” (and I speak in numbers and cost), as via the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), countless allocatees acquire residential lots, heavily subsidised, as in up to 85 per cent.
My recent check showed that housing in the US is significantly more expensive than in Guyana. In the US, housing costs roughly 226 per cent more overall than in Guyana. Purchasing or building a home in Guyana typically ranges from US$200,000 to US$450,000 for a 2000-square-foot home, whereas the US median home price sits around US$420,000. Add the mortgage burden in the US, and home ownership takes a family into the second generation most readily. I advise readers to become au fait with the fact that the Government collaborates with local banks in offering very reduced interest rates and expanded mortgage ceilings.
Then how about the actual construction assistance via the Home Construction Assistance Programme and the Ministry of Housing and Water’s provision of technical guidance?
So, the mind-boggling question is, “Why squatting?”
Leaving the local scenario, I think that we all know that squatting on illegal land poses severe, documented risks to human health due to the absence of basic municipal infrastructure, safe housing materials, and legal protections. In fact, according to UN-Habitat reports, over one billion people globally reside in informal or unauthorised settlements, facing disproportionate exposure to environmental, physical, and psychological hazards.
It means if squatters are left to their own whims and fancies, at least that particular squatting locale will furnish a potential haven for all kinds of problems that will be very costly to the people and the Government. I think here in terms of contaminated water, as a lack of potable water forces squatters into the use of unsafe water sources, which can spawn recurrent diarrhoea, cholera, and typhoid. There is also the frightening reality of inadequate waste disposal, as the absence of formal trash collection leads to illegal dumping and stagnant wastewater, creating breeding grounds for disease-carrying vectors like mosquitoes.
I think also of the inconvenience of unsanitary shared facilities leading to overuse of communal toilets that will definitely lead to an increase in the transmission speed of infectious gastrointestinal and skin infections.
So, when the administration is “talking about an end to squatting” and making provisions for affordable housing, it is about the human factor as well. All countries thrive on a salutary environment, and it is good to know that this is an ongoing quest of the PPP/C.
I fully agree that there is therefore now “no excuse to go and squat”, as the AG laconically articulated. I am also aghast that opposition forces are still publicly sympathising with informal settlers, particularly in disputes where residents face eviction from both private and state properties. No good force will ever tolerate the suffusion of that which is non-salutary and deleterious.