By Antonio Dey | HGP Nightly News|
TRIUMPH, EAST COAST DEMERARA — A long-running land dispute on Agriculture Road in Triumph has boiled over into a full-blown property crisis. A local leaseholder has been left to count her losses after unauthorized construction crews used heavy machinery to breach her fence, clear her land, and destroy her agricultural livelihood.
Alacia Connell, who has held a legally binding lease for a 600-foot by 60-foot parcel of agricultural land at Lot 177 Agriculture Road since 2013, is making an urgent appeal for government intervention. She claims that state agencies and local police have completely failed to protect her property rights, despite her holding a High Court judgment that validates her tenure.
A Bureaucratic Double-Lease Loophole
The roots of the property dispute trace back to 2021, when Connell discovered that the Beterverwagting/Triumph Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) had allegedly double-leased her exact agricultural plot to two other individuals without her knowledge or consent.
The standoff intensified in 2023 when the NDC refused to renew her lease agreement, ignoring her attorney’s requests. This move prompted Connell to launch a formal legal challenge in the Supreme Court to assert her statutory renewal rights.
When contacted by Nightly News, Attorney-at-Law Kashir Khan, representing the NDC, noted that the legal framework of the matter had already been thoroughly addressed and resolved by the High Court in 2023. Legal documents provided by Khan’s chambers show that the court firmly upheld the validity of Connell’s 2013 lease, confirming her boundaries and recognizing her right to seek a renewal. However, while the court order affirmed her legal rights, it did not provide an active enforcement mechanism to police the boundaries, leaving her vulnerable to physical encroachment.
January 2026: Heavy Machinery and Fractured Fences
Despite her clear legal victory, Connell’s worst fears materialized in January 2026 when an unauthorized construction team arrived at the property with heavy earth-moving equipment and began forcefully developing infrastructure on her land.
“In January of 2026, someone showed up with an excavator and took my sand and dirt that was out in front of the parcel and they started building a culvert and started building a bridge,” Connell recounted in distress. “I went to the NDC and I complained about an individual or people being here building stuff. They turned around and they said that they don’t know anything about it and I should go to Public Works.”
Passed Around by Officials Amid Devastating Losses
Connell’s subsequent efforts to secure protection from law enforcement and local government officers have been met with a wall of bureaucracy and inaction. She alleges that responding ranks and administrative officials have repeatedly deflected her complaints, with some openly siding with the aggressive new claimants.
The property, which Connell cultivated for over a decade, has been decimated. Construction crews used her own stored sand to build a ramp over her demolished fence, allowing the excavator to roll onto the land and clear out her operations.
“Nobody’s taking responsibility for it. How am I being compensated? Who’s compensating me?” the frustrated landholder asked. As the unauthorized building continues on her agricultural plot, Connell is urging central government authorities to step in, enforce the 2023 High Court ruling, and hold the rogue developers accountable for the destruction of her livelihood.
