Timehri North relocation…Residents locked out of meeting with Works Minister

Aug 29, 2013 News

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Tempers flared yesterday as chants of “We ain’t going nowhere” were made by Timehri North residents in protest against their imminent removal even while a meeting was being held between Minister of Public Works Robeson Benn and other residents at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) Works Branch Department.
Residents deemed their actions civil in nature and not political.
Some 336 houses, 37 shops, 13 government buildings, three churches are located in the contentious area which is earmarked to facilitate the extension of Guyana’s major international airport.

The area consist a total of 2500 residents or 394 families, made up of 697 men, 789 women and 878 children.
Some of the placards read: “Timehri North, we are settlers not squatters”; “Timehri North, all for one, one for all”; “Timehri North, this is a housing matter we dealing with housing”; “We are organised, we are mobilized, we are recognized, we will not compromise”; “Build us a Pradoville to take our homes” and “Massah days done.”
Kaieteur news understands that a letter was circulated to the Timehri North residents which stated: “Pleased be advised that the construction phase of the Airport Expansion Programme is about to commence. Your place of residents has been established as falling within zone A-the first of three priority relocation zones.”
Residents were also invited to a meeting yesterday to discuss issues pertinent to their relocation. However, only persons who had these letters could have attended the meeting or those who had their names on a list.
Daniel Fraser, Chairman of the Timehri North Development Council said an emergency community meeting was held yesterday with residents to discuss “why no relocation plans were ever presented to us by Government. We were never contacted in any way by any official from the government, and the better thing to do would be for all of us to go to this meeting, rather than government trying to deal with us in sections.”
He continued, “This is a whole community and we want them to deal with us as a whole. We came here this afternoon only to be told that is just a few persons that will be allowed into the meeting. They said Minister Benn is prepared to meet with three persons of the Timehri North Development Council in the executive lounge at the airport after the meeting is held inside.”
Emphasizing that the Council does not want a private meeting with the Minister, Fraser said, “Since he has been making public statements all the time, he has been saying he met with the community and had discussions, if that is the case then why are there so many people locked out of the meeting.”
Noting that every action of the government is looked at suspiciously, Fraser further said that since former Member of Parliament Philomena Sohoy Shury in 1997 began a process of regularization, it was never completed.
“The competent Ministry to deal with our matter is the Housing Ministry, not Minister Benn or CJIA. We totally reject Minister Benn, since he is a total affront to the people, especially Timehri North.” Fraser stressed. “We are of the view that the government intends to force us off the land to re-issue those lands to the five or more applicants to build airport hotels as announced by Minister Irfaan Ali on NCN during a corruption debate on Sunday August 26, 2012.”
A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament Annette Ferguson, who was present at the protest, said she was locked out of the meeting because her name was not on a list. “They said to me that I cannot enter, however, the Minister subsequently came and some of the residents became agitated because they did not receive a letter inviting them to the meeting so the Minister was seeking to have my attention and I refused because he had wanted the meeting to be held behind closed doors.”
She explained that it is her impression that the letters were dispatched to make the residents aware of their relocation to Yarrowcabra on the Linden /Soesdyke Highway to facilitate airport expansion.
“As a community, people have to come together if they feel they are being treated unjustly. I heard many residents say this fight should not be a political one but a civil fight and the Ministry of Public Works is not responsible for their relocation, and the Ministry of Housing is responsible since that Ministry engaged them from time to time,” Ferguson explained.
According to Public Relations Officer for Timehri North Development Council, Sherlanda Daniels, “our issue is a civil issue and not a political issue and we are asking the government to treat it as such. The Ministry of Housing already did an occupational survey and persons were given lots numbers with utilities. They ask for us to fill applications forms and for us to pay $70,000 for the land. Many have invested their all, so we are saying the government should not have fragmented meetings, since to date, they have not shown us a plan and we would like to see the plan they have for us. Relocation is more than moving a house, there are economic and social implications.”

 

 

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