PPP farmed out MMA/ADA lands to outsiders …legitimate WCB residents hail revocation order

guyana chronicle, October 14, 2015

RESIDENTS of No. 40 and Seafield Villages on the West Coast of Berbice are up in arms against statements by General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party Clement Rohee, claiming that they are “invading” and “staking out rice lands “ and terrorising other legitimate rice- farmers. And the residents maintained that in fact the lands were illegally leased to several outsiders by the former PPP administration. “The lands Mr Rohee was referring to as mentioned in the Guyana Times newspaper dated October 13th 2015 are lands which belong to the No. 40 Rice Farmers Cooperative Society Ltd and Seafield Rice Farmers Cooperatives since 1972. The “legitimate” farmers that he is referring to are people who were given leases for these self-same lands less than a year ago,” an irate farmer explained.

JUST RESOLUTION He said that a recent decision by the Mahaica/ Mahaicony Abary Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ADA) to cancel these leases and return the land to the co-operative societies was a just resolution to an injustice meted out to members by the previous administration in its final months in office. “It was a gross injustice to us; a gross act of oppression against us by those acting under orders of the previous administration. Thank God it is over,” the farmer said. In the case of the Seafield Coop, the MMA/ADA cancelled the almost one-year-old leases in September this year after admitting that these granted by then President Donald Ramotar on October 31st, 2014 had been contrary to a court order on the matter dated October 15, 2014. The MMA/ADA in a notice in the Kaieteur News dated September 27, 2015 had said inter alia: “The MMA/ADA had issued leases for state lands situated in the rear of Seafield Village, West Coast Berbice. The leases issued are contrary to an Order of Court dated October 15, 2014 in Action No. 2014-HC-DEM-CIV-M-114. In the circumstances notice is hereby given that all the leases as described hereunder have been cancelled with immediate effect.” “The MMA/ADA admitted violating a court order in taking away the co-op lands and giving it to others of their own choosing. So what’s legitimate about those Johnny-come- lately Mr Clement Rohee?” he queried.

LEGAL BATTLE In the case of the No. 40 Cooperative, members had since October 2014 fought an expensive legal battle against the MMA/ADA to regain ownership of its 247.37 acres of land. One member detailed for the Guyana Chronicle an emotionally painful process, starting in March last year and culminating on October 21 last year, during which the MMA/ADA under the previous administration, arbitrarily cancelled the lease of the No. 40 Village Cooperative, reduced the holdings of some members, completely dispossessed other members and brought in selected people from other villages onto their West Coast Berbice lands, some from as far away as Essequibo. The society had expended in excess of $10M in clearing bushes and maintaining the secondary dams, supplying PVC tubing for drainage and irrigation, and clearing and empoldering the said land over the years of its occupation.

The MMA/ADA had collected rent and drainage and irrigation charges from the society over the years. The problem started in March 2014 last, the farmer said, when the MMA/ADA issued the society with a notice reminding them that they owed in excess of $3M in rates and taxes and they should pay promptly or their lands would be repossessed. The spokesman said that members complied and paid more than 80% of the sum owed, but it was after this that an MMA/ADA official told them that notwithstanding that they had paid most of their monies due, the MMA would still proceed to take the lands away from them and regularise occupation.

LEASES TO OUTSIDERS “So it started off as pay up your outstanding rates or lose the land, we paid 80%; then it went to we will regularise your land anyway and then finally we [are] cancelling your lease and reallocating your lands as we see fit,” the farmer said. “This started in March. And on October 31, 2014 they issued new leases signed by President Donald Ramotar; many to outsiders.” “They never called us in; they never gave our members a hearing or a notice,” he said. “In addition, those lands which they gave leases for even if they were justified in doing so, should have been handled by a Land Selection Committee; there was no Land Selection Committee hearing to grant our lands to those “legitimate” farmers . They seemed to have done the reallocations on the basis of advice from a chosen few and needless to say, those chosen few were handsomely rewarded,” the farmer declared. The bitterly disputed leases were finally revoked by the MMA/ADA, according to the same Kaieteur News publication dated September 27, 2015. The spokesman said that at the moment the situation is that the new leases had been cancelled after the newcomers had already planted crops. “They have paddy on the ground, planted at great expense. We have not made any attempts to prevent these illegitimate farmers from harvesting,” he said.

FAR FROM THE TRUTH He said that statements about “invasion” and “terrorising” those with cancelled leases were far from the truth. He disclosed that members of the No. 40 Society had agreed for those illegitimately on the land to harvest their crops and then vacate the land. They had not requested any compensation. With respect to the Seafield Co-operative, members had told their illegitimate farmers that they needed to pay a rent to the cooperative or reach an agreement to pay before they harvest. “They are co-operating so far,” a member of that society said. He also stressed that the lands have been returned to the co-ops and not to big rice farmers whom Mr Rohee alleged were being given lands as a reward for bankrolling the APNU+AFC government elections campaign