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Roger Luncheon’s ‘cousin’ blocks construction of CPG outpost
…cops ‘scared’ to intervene
A Vreed-en-Hoop businessman is taking the fight for a reserve to the police, the community policing group and even the Neighbourhood Democratic Council, over a piece of Government reserve.
The police appear scared to intervene and the people constructing the outpost cannot complete the construction.
“I am Luncheon’s cousin and nobody can touch me. I am not moving and nobody can move me,” the businessman identified as Godfrey Bess reportedly told the community policing group that wanted him removed.
They added that the man has said that Sam Hinds is his uncle.
A Vreed-en-Hoop businessman has clashed with a CPG group that is building an outpost and fence along this Plastic City entrance. His car is seen parked between the structures.
The site is at the entrance to the location called Plastic City on the West Bank of Demerara.
The matter came to a head earlier this week after the businessman used his car to block the entrance to the outpost which is currently under construction. The police turned up, but did nothing.
Yesterday, Bess said he has applied to the High Court for an injunction to block the construction of a fence that the CPG is putting up. He is also against the fence since he claims that the CPG had no permission to erect one.
Bess said, yesterday, that he was not against the outpost; rather, it was the fence that he is upset about. He said that the CPG had no permission and even an NDC statutory meeting on Wednesday failed to issue any such permission.
“I have been operating here for seven years. Why would I have a problem with an outpost that will offer security to everyone?”
He accused one of the CPG members of wanting to benefit, since that member is also an NDC councillor. He said the councillor wanted the fenced reserve for personal benefit and he decided to act.
“The police came and because they know it is a wrong what the CPG is doing, they decided not to act. They fenced around my car and I had to get the police to remove it.”
However, yesterday another car that the businessman had reportedly placed there to block the entrance to the fenced area, was still there.
Members of the Best Jetty CPG, which is building the outpost, disclosed that they decided to do something about crime in the Plastic City area after continuous reports of robberies in the area.
“We applied to the NDC (Best/Klein/Pouderoyen) for a spot on the reserve land and they gave us permission to put up an outpost,” a member of the CPG explained. The reserve in question is located along the Vreed-en-Hoop School Road, just north of the junction and leading into Plastic City, a squatter settlement and a depressed community on the wrong side of the seashore.
The CPG officials said that they informed the Region Three Office. The NDC, on May 9, gave permission for the outpost to be constructed.
“We decided to build the fence to stop persons from squatting. They thought we were building a stall and they wanted to do so too.”
However, Bess who is renting a spot in an adjacent building, protested the construction of the fence. According to one CPG member, the businessman allegedly ripped out a post during a clash with the CPG earlier this week. The police were called in once more. Again they did nothing
Yesterday, the CPG members said the outpost is needed as nurses, school children and even teachers have reportedly been robbed repeatedly. They claimed that the businessman is taking over sections of the reserve, without permission. He even blocked a critical drain by building a fence over it and not maintaining that drain. Kaieteur News was unable to make contact with the NDC Chairman, Omesh Balram.
Government has been on a campaign to remove squatters and vendors from state reserves throughout the country.
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