The Mayor and City Council of Georgetown have filed court action against the State, seeking an injunction to halt any construction on the former City Constabulary Training Complex on Water Street, while asking the High Court to declare that the Government, its servants, and agents have trespassed on property that rightfully belongs to City Hall.
Mayor Alfred Mentore made the announcement at an APNU press conference on Thursday, confirming that the Council has initiated legal proceedings against Attorney General Anil Nandlall and Roshan Khan, owner of RK’s Guyana Security Service, in a bid to reclaim what it describes as its property by right of transport dating back to the 1800s.
“We have moved for injunctive relief to ask the Court to grant us the necessary reliefs so that we can have back our property, so that we can be able to have access, and be able to determine what is the best use for that property,” Mayor Mentore told reporters.
The Council contends that despite holding ownership of the property at Lot 15 Water Street, South Cummingsburg, Georgetown, the State — with the assistance of the Guyana Police Force — has barred elected Council members from accessing the premises. A sign reading “No Trespassing, Site Earmarked for immediate development by Government of Guyana” has since been erected on the property, while a previous sign indicated the site was being secured by RK’s Security Service — a firm the Council says it never hired or authorised to enter the premises.
City Hall is asking the Court to declare both the State and RK Security as trespassers with no entitlement to occupy or take possession of the property, and is seeking damages in excess of $5 million for the trespass committed by the defendants.
Mayor Mentore said the Council’s legal team, led by attorney Dexter Todd, is also preparing a separate court action challenging the Government’s reclassification of 57 Municipal roads through Ministerial Orders — a move City Hall considers unlawful.
“We are almost at the stage of filing our action in relation to that matter. Our attorneys have been looking at this matter, and they are getting up the necessary facts and evidence to be able to proceed,” the Mayor said.
Mentore maintained that the Council holds transports and title documents to support its claim over both the Water Street property and the 57 roads in question.
“We have transports and titles for those streets and we will need to have those kinds of discussions,” he said, adding that ownership in this case is not a matter of guesswork but of legal title.
The Government, through the Ministries of Local Government and Regional Development, Public Works, and Legal Affairs, has maintained that the Municipality has neglected its duties — a position City Hall firmly rejects as it prepares to fight the matter through the courts.
