East Canje family living in abhorrent conditions

Apr 29, 2013 News

– forced to halt construction of new home

An East Canje Berbice family of ten is being forced to live under intolerable conditions and a court battle is preventing them from improving their lot.
The Niles family of Lot 16 Douglas Street No. 2 Village, East Canje, Berbice includes Mr. Seon Niles, his wife Juneann New Year and eight children aged 16, 15, 14, 11, 10, five, three and two.
The old, dilapidated structure that they call home fell in 2003 and has been resting on the ground ever since.
The building they started to construct is left unfinished because of the ongoing court matter.
According to Niles’ wife, Juneann New Year, she has lived there for over 17 years with her husband. The family has no electricity, running water, telephones, no proper bath or toilet facilities.

The dilapidated structure and the unfinished one are in the background.

The family had started to build a new structure since 2011, but were taken to court for the second time by a neighbour over ownership of the property on which their house rests.
The first court matter ended in 2000 with judgment being given to the Niles family. However, the legal challenge was re-filed and not much has been heard since about the matter.
Mr. Niles said that he has lived all his life at the said property as did his parents, grandparents and great grandparents. He and his six siblings were born there and his children were born right there and they will fight for what is theirs, Niles said.
From his recollection, his great-grandparents leased the land from ‘the Rodneys’ a very long time ago. He said they were no problems until his great grandmother died. Sometime after that they were given notice by the neighbour to vacate the land. They were much surprised by the notice and decided to challenge the vacation order.
The village council is not permitting them to do any renovation or new construction because of the court battle over the property.