UNC senator David Nakhid, his family and a group of farmers in Maracas/St Joseph have squared off in a battle for several acres of land in the community.
The farmers claim they have been planting on the private lands at Acono Road, St Joseph, for several years while the Nakhid family say they have owned the land for over 150 years and want the farmers off their property.
Byron Sinanan, PRO of the Acono Farmers Association, told Sunday Newsday about 15 families had been planting the land of the Santa Maria and San Joachim Estates in St Joseph undisturbed between 15 and 40 years.
“Within the last three years, before the (2020 general) election, the Nakhids came and started to say the land is theirs.”
[caption id="attachment_1007601" align="alignnone" width="867"] UNC senator David Nakhid. -[/caption]
He said in 2020 the Nakhids took pictures of their gardens, asked the type and quantity of plants on the land. He claimed they later brought a tractor and destroyed several trees.
“(In 2021) they brought us some documents stating they want us off the land, with no attachment, no deed number, nothing. So, it wasn’t even a proper document.
“We said if it is that it’s their land, we have no problem. So, we went and we do we checks, we have all the documents, all the cadastral sheets, everything, stating that the land has no owner.”
On the map the farmers showed Sunday Newsday, both estates were identified by their respective names, while adjoining land had the names of owners. However, Sunday Newsday could not confirm the validity of the map or how current it was.
[caption id="attachment_1007602" align="alignnone" width="1024"] A section of one garden at the disputed lands at Acono Road, St Joseph. - ROGER JACOB[/caption]
UNC senator David Nakhid said, “When I came back from Europe and the Middle East, and I got into politics, we decided to use the land for the family to get into agriculture. So, we told them they would have to vacate the land, we gave them three months' notice and they refused to leave.
“We subsequently issued them an eviction notice from the lawyers, and they thereafter said they were owners of the land.”
When Sunday Newsday contacted him about the incident on March 14, he said his intention was not to confront the farmers. He said he went to visit his brother Colin, who lives near the estate, with his friend Ancil Elcock, a former national footballer.
He said Colin was planting christophene near his home when Elcock noticed three men nearby. David said he “went walking” and the men started to shout at him, telling him not to come onto that piece of land.
David said the Nakhid family was working with lawyers on a possession order to have Sinanan, his cousin Christopher Sinanan, and his uncle Andrew Sinanan, evicted. He also intended to sue them for defamation.
He firmly believed all the Sinanans wanted to do was gain publicity and sympathy and cause him political embarrassment.
[caption id="attachment_1007606" align="alignnone" width="972"] A map depicting the boundaries
