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March 27, 2026
Acting Chief Justice Roxane George today dismissed the case brought against the State by six Mocha Arcadia/Cane View squatters.
The individuals, who challenged their removal in 2023, had refused to relocate from the Mocha location despite having been served adequate notices by the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) and numerous efforts by the government to incentivise their relocation.
An update from the Office of the Attorney General stated that the acting Chief Justice found “that the squatters have no rights, interests, or title to the lands, which are lands owned by the State”.
Those lands, properly known as Block ‘X’ Plantation Herstelling, East Bank Demerara, are traversed by the four-lane highway now known as the Heroes Highway, the office said.
It was noted that the applicants (squatters) claimed, inter alia, that they held prescriptive rights over the Mocha Arcadia lands while also seeking declarations for breaches of their fundamental rights under Articles 141 (protection from inhuman treatment), 142 (deprivation of property), and 143 (protection against arbitrary entry) of the Constitution. They sued the State for damages totalling over two hundred million dollars.
The Attorney General’s office highlighted that the landmark judgment addresses the critical issue of squatting on public lands, particularly in cases where squatters attempt to obstruct and delay important national projects for the public good.
In her ruling, the acting Chief Justice also emphasised that the case has implications for how persons occupying parapets and reserves that belong to the government or are managed by local authorities are to be dealt with.
The full written judgment will be delivered at a later date.
