Attorney-at-law Darren Wade is preparing to appeal a High Court decision that rejected the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) claim to a State-owned building in Lethem that served as the party’s regional headquarters for decades.
The court ruled on August 24 that the PNCR had no legal right to occupy the property and that its removal from the building in March 2023 did not constitute trespass or violate the party’s constitutional rights. The PNCR was also ordered to pay $300,000 in costs.
Wade, who represented the PNCR, has indicated that the ruling will be challenged, keeping alive a dispute that began more than three years ago.
The building had been used by the PNCR as its Lethem headquarters since the 1970s. The Government maintained that the land and building belong to the State and are vested in the Region Nine Regional Democratic Council (RDC).
According to the Attorney General’s Chambers, the High Court found that the PNCR could not produce a lease, title or other legal document establishing ownership or a continuing right to occupy the premises.
The court further determined that the party’s decades-long occupation was based on permission from the State and did not amount to a permanent legal entitlement.
The dispute escalated in 2023 when the RDC moved to recover the property. Government authorities said the PNCR had been served with notices to vacate beginning in November 2021, followed by a final deadline in January 2023. The building was eventually reclaimed in March.
The PNCR had alleged that Regional Executive Officer Karl Singh, contractor Dale Kennedy and police officers entered the premises without permission, demolished portions of the building and removed party property.
The party also challenged the State’s actions as a violation of its constitutional rights.
The High Court rejected those claims, finding that once permission to occupy the property had been lawfully withdrawn, the State’s recovery of the premises did not amount to trespass. The court also found that property removed from the building had been inventoried and stored by the RDC and remained available for collection.
The ruling contrasts sharply with Wade’s position when the building was taken over in 2023.
At the time, he argued that the Government should establish its claim through the courts rather than remove the party from the premises.
“If the State needs possession and they claim that they own it, then they need to go through the courts and if the court finds that the State is the lawful owner of it, the court would grant them an order showing that,” Wade said in March 2023.
He subsequently maintained that the PNCR had not surrendered possession.
“We were always in possession of the premises. And at no point are we giving up possession either.”
The High Court has now found otherwise, determining that the State was the lawful owner and that sufficient notice had been given before the PNCR was removed.
The planned appeal will give Wade and the PNCR another opportunity to challenge the legal conclusions surrounding the State’s ownership, the party’s years of occupation and the circumstances of its removal.
The case also carries political significance. The building had been a longstanding PNCR base in Region Nine, and its removal occurred amid broader tensions between the then-opposition party and the PPP/C administration.
The appeal will determine whether the High Court’s ruling stands or whether the PNCR can persuade a higher court that its occupation and the Government’s actions should be viewed differently under Guyana’s law.
