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The reckless firing of pellets and shooting tear gas in a crowd of squatters living at Success East Coast Demerara, earlier this week, not only exposed an inhumane act by the Guyana Police Force but the extent to which the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government will go to achieve its end. Squatting is a national disgrace that has public health implications. Squatting is the consequence of the state’s failure to have an appropriate housing development plan.
Admittedly, squatting is not legal, and occupation of the land could have financial and other consequences, but the situation could have been handled better. Guyana is not short on land in relation to its population. What Guyana is short on is visionary leadership that would recognise and appreciate the fact that all are entitled to the opportunity for acquiring a home, so the country continues in its housing quagmire. The intellectual bankruptcy is being masked through brute force and ignorance, using the police to bring law and order to a lawlessness created by the government.
Even more shameful is the order to shoot. This order failed to recognise people, having nowhere to live and in cases thrown out by their landlords for not being able to pay rent, are seeking to maintain what for many is the last vestige of human dignity. Instead of wandering the streets they have chosen to occupy public empty lands and erect a house. They reflect a sign of determination to preserve their dignity by finding a place they can call home even as others may deride the type of construction. Any caring government would seek to harness the human qualities for development of self and nation. Instead a barrage of pellets and tear gas were hurled.
These are not people who are seeking handout from the state. These are people who the state has let down but who refuse to give up on themselves. This government must bow its head in shame. Acting Commissioner of Police Nigel Hoppie should have resisted his officers being sent to engage in the inhumane act of shooting citizens, including children, for occupying land when the state has failed them. The wails of children who were shot, injured and some forced to seek medical attention, over a situation they have no control over, the police and government will have to wrestle with their conscience for the rest of their lives.
It is a human rights violation to shoot in a crowd that has children. Even in war children are considered sacred. What happened in Success is not unlike the crazy attacks on children by extremist groups around the world, bearing guns. The only difference is that in Guyana it is the Police Force. Instead of sending the police to act in a manner that endangered and inflicted wounds on lives and limbs, government officials should have gone into the area and talked with the squatters. The acting Commissioner could have suggested a non-military approach was better.
Squatting is a social widespread problem. With certainty members of the force may have squatted, are squatting, have a family or know someone who is. For instance, Sophia, Georgetown started out as a squatting area. Anybody driving through this area today would be surprised to see the quality of homes, which range from the poor to well off. The current PPP/C leadership should not forget it was Leader of the Opposition Dr. Cheddie Jagan who promoted and encouraged squatting as Prime Minister Forbes Burnham promoted a land policy of “land to the tiller.” It is these historical perspectives that are shaping occupation of state land. It is way past time for a structured approach that recognises the right to land and owning a home, the need for infrastructural development and public health safety in any housing policy.
The humane way to correct the more than half-century problem of squatting is not through the barrel of a gun. And it is not lost on citizens that after the brutal attacks by the police, Minister of Housing, Collin Craol, said the government will meet with the squatters and help them to relocate. Outside of this approach which is more appropriate and should have been done first not last, it would be met with cynicism that it was deliberate to first have the police attack the people, and the government come in after acting as saviour. Guyanese remember only too well it is the same minister who wanted to return money to those who paid the ministry, during the Coalition Government for a house lot, saying the PPP/C government does not have land to distribute. That decision was revoked after outcries by the Coalition- A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC).
