Sturge: UNC government will resume CoC distribution in Sangre Grande

UNC candidate for Toco/Sangre Grande Wayne Sturge has said that the issue of squatting is a reflection of a failure of government. Particularly the PNM government who Sturge says has failed to protect citizen's rights by demolishing squatting settlements and failing to provide them with basic utilities.

Speaking at a UNC campaign meeting in Sangre Grande on April 15, Sturge gave the example of the demolition of squatters’ houses in Ramjattan Trace, off Tumpuna Road, La Horquetta, in February.

At the time, then prime minister Dr Keith Rowley expressed sympathy for squatters but maintained that the law needed to be upheld.

In contrast, on April 15, Sturge said, “Ladies and gentlemen, you have a right to any part of the soil that is government soil in Trinidad and Tobago.”

Sturge said the government’s plans to give house numbers to squatters would not protect them from their home being broken down.

“What protects you is what the UNC did in 1998 to give you a certificate of comfort (CoC). Why after five years they couldn't give you a certificate of comfort. How hard it is?”

According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development's website, a CoC is a document which gives a squatter a personal right to protection from ejectment from state land.

Collins online dictionary defines ejectment as an action brought by a wrongfully dispossessed owner seeking to recover possession of his or her land.

However, a CoC does not give a squatter any right to the state land that is occupied. If a squatter with a CoC has to be relocated, the CoC provides a guarantee that a lot would be provided.

Under the provisions of the State Land (Regularisation of Tenure) Act No 25 of 1998, a squatter who was illegally occupying state lands prior to January 1, 1998, could only have applied for a CoC on or before October 27, 2000. This would have been the first step in a three-stage regularisation process to obtain a deed of lease.

Sturge said if successful on April 28, the UNC would resume distribution of CoCs especially in large squatter settlements within the Toco/Sangre Grande area.

He also promised to pave a new road every week within the area if elected MP.