Squatters in trouble as new streets surveyed
Civilization, in the form of roads, drains, electricity and water, is slowly coming to the wet and wild areas of Lake Independence. The problem, as we found out this morning, is that sometimes there’s a house in the way.
It all began Tuesday morning when Shawn Lemmott woke up to the sounds of someone chopping trees in her yard on Mahogany Street extension.
Shawn Lemmott, Homeowner
“Yesterday I deh a mi house and I hear wan chopping noise ina di yaad, and I know I no get nobody fi chop, so when I get out I see the surveyor deh ina mi yaad. So wen I ask di man, him stand right up there and seh da wan street he di put through the yaad.”
Q: “Straight through the middle of your house?”
Shawn Lemmott
“Straight through the middle a mi house he seh he di put wan street.”
It is the case of the house in the middle of the road or the road running through the house. Lemmott, a mother of seven who had occupied the land eight years ago, filled the lot, and built a small house for her family, was more than upset that this may be taken away from her.
Shawn Lemmott
“All of a sudden dey di put wan street through my place and I no see no reason why they have to di put wan street through my place. See wan open lot right there, wan street right over deh so why they have to deprive me and my children and my grandchildren a wan place fi live already and weh I done develop.”
Q: “Have you done anything to try to own this land?”
Shawn Lemmott
“Ina 1993 I gone and I apply fi di the land. I pay fi mi five dollar stamp and get mi letter but the letter done mislay. But I pay mi five dollars stamp and the man seh when the surveyor come a fi check een. So now I see the surveyors, I gone check een and the man tell me he cyan gi me no answer, deh no have map fi yah.”
Getting no answer from the Lands Department, Lemmott sought the help of her area representative Hubert Elrington, who would not give her a definite explanation about the construction of the street. Neither was she offered a piece of land elsewhere. At this moment she is at a loss as to where to go.
Shawn Lemmott
“Nobody notify me about nothing. I no even sleep last night when I see this happen; I no even sleep. I no even eat because this really bug me and it hurt me. If you know yesterday, day before yesterday I had a home and today I have nothing where I going to.”
Arreini Palacio for News Five.
We tried to find Minister Elrington this afternoon and were told that he would be at his constituency office on Mahogany Street at two. After waiting for fifteen minutes we attempted to find him elsewhere without any luck. Two other houses similarly occupied by squatters were also observed to be in the path of newly surveyed streets.
