Resist move to rescind house lots

Dear Editor,

I am astonished, though not surprised, that the Housing Minister has declared that he will refund monies to persons who paid the 50 percent downpayment for house lots because there is no infrastructure. This position borders on idiocy and is hypocritical.

It should be recalled that the PPP/C issued house lots in Farm, Herstelling and other places without water, electricity or proper roads. It was the APNU+AFC government which delivered infrastructural facilities to those areas. It was the APNU+AFC government which strived to ensure that, as far as possible, development of house lots was accompanied by the development of community infrastructure. This was hampered by the lack of a national budget in recent months but that intention was always there. Conversely, it is the PPP/C that is known for issuing house lots in areas with no accompanying infrastructure and it is the PPP/C that is known for seeing no issue with this. It is therefore ridiculous for the PPP/C to hide behind the claim that the absence of infrastructure is the driver for the decision to rescind these houselots. This argument is not only nonsensical but points to the discriminatory nature of this regime.

But, let us assume that there is indeed no infrastructure. What prevents this government from budgeting for it in the upcoming budget and providing the needed infrastructure like they did in Pradoville 1 and 2? Nothing! Why would the already issued houselots have to be rescinded for further infrastructural development to be undertaken? They don’t!

As always, the PPP/C wants to be vindictive and do not care for the Guyanese people. This is a blatant and crass attempt to not give house lots to poor people, to young people, to the ordinary man and woman because they benefited under the APNU+AFC government. This is petty, childish.

I encourage all Guyanese to resist this ridiculous act by the PPP/C and to challenge it in the courts. Every citizen who was awarded a house lot and made the requisite downpayment should have received a receipt and agreement. Main-tain those records and use them to challenge this illegal move the PPP/C.

The PPP/C is already manifesting that it has no interest in the small man and the people of Guyana generally, regardless of race, gender, age, or any other demographic.

Guyana belongs to all Guyanese, no matter who they are, what they look like, which God they pray to or which political party they support. That is my belief. It is the position of the party that I support and so we will fight for equity, fairness and development that reaches and benefits Guyana and all of her peoples.

Yours faithfully,

Aubrey C. Norton