BY Lincoln Lewis
The afternoon of Saturday, August 22nd Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, held a meeting with persons who are seeking to illegally occupy the Kingelly, West Coast Berbice lands of my proud ancestor Cudjoe McPherson. At that meeting he reportedly advised those land grabbers to break down the fence Cudjoe’s heirs erected. At the conclusion of the meeting the interlopers marched to the fence and started dismantling it with the tools they brought. As soon as I received word from the family members who were working on the land as to what was taking place I headed straight there. The moment I arrived on the scene those land grabbers began dispersing but not without a hail of expletives.
The media reported Nandlall told the interlopers to occupy the lands until Cabinet states otherwise. What the Attorney General-the principal custodian of the Constitution and Laws of Guyana- is engaging in is a clear act to stoke violence. This government is using people, some innocent and some willing, to carry out a devious agenda. The false claim by the Attorney General that Cudjoe’s lands are State lands and the PPP will give the interlopers the lands is to encourage them to feel entitled to something they know in their hearts they are not entitled to but with political power they can seize ownership of.
The Attorney General knows very well that Cudjoe’s descendants will not give up those lands, but this is part of a wider political agenda that is seeing a Black attack, giving rise to concern. I feel that this government is threatening. I feel if I do not succumb to their bullying and grabalicous tactics to take what does not belong to them and what rightfully belong to the heirs of Cudjoe they are setting to stage an act to lock me up or kill me.
We have seen the sign of a planned racial violence with that young Indian man sharpening his cutlass and walking round and round me in a menacing manner as I was going about my business in fencing the land. Another instance is Sadhu, a known PPP representative, who lives in Kingelly. While I was standing on the dam, he came up to me, put his hand in my face in a menacing and proactive manner, cursing my deceased mother, grandfather and uncles. He was hoping I would have retaliated rather than step back, smile and reminded him who the lands belong to. I note that he has not been charged for assault or using abusive language in as much as the police is in receipt of a tape with him on full display.
Sadhu, who is originally from Plantation Ross, West Coast Berbice, came to Kingelly and lives on the spot he currently occupies, which is Cudjoe’s land. His initial presence on this land was due to the generosity of my family who allowed him occupancy. Whereas today he may have been able to acquire prescriptive rights or under the land law could be so entitled, I cannot help but note the saying, ‘sorry fuh magga dawg magga dawg tun round bite yuh.’
The PPP/C government is using African ancestral lands in Kingelly to create a race riot. The government is preparing the ground for violence, to lock me up or have me assassinated. The entire north of Kingelly public road which by transport dated July 1851 is in the name of my great-great-great-great grandfather Cudjoe McPherson. He bought those lands which to this day they remain in his name and the rightful heirs are his descendants. I put the Attorney General and land grabbers on notice- if they set out to have my blood on their hands it would not end there.
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