A brewing ownership dispute over a prime Georgetown waterfront property has erupted into open controversy, with Georgetown’s top municipal administrator publicly distancing herself from an unauthorised High Court lawsuit filed against the Guyanese government and a private security firm.
In a statement issued to Demerara Waves Online News on Friday, Town Clerk Candace Nelson clarified that court documents naming her as the applicant in the legal action against the Attorney General and RK Security do not carry her signature, nor do they reflect any formal decision by the Georgetown City Council. Nelson, who is currently on official leave, emphasized that the listing of her name on the filing is only a procedural legal convention that places council-related legal actions under the office of the Town Clerk, not an indication of her personal or official involvement.
Nelson detailed that when she was first approached about the potential lawsuit last Thursday, she immediately flagged concerns about the validity of the claim and pushed for formal procedural steps to be followed. She instructed Councillors Clayton Hinds and Lelon to consult with Mayor Alfred Mentore, submit an official memorandum, and circulate a round-robin poll among council members to authorize another official to sign the required court documents. To date, that signed round-robin has never been delivered to her office, she said.
“I never signed that document. I had nothing to do with it,” Nelson reiterated, noting she had already been formally recused from the matter after the council assigned another representative to handle related issues. The lawsuit, which was filed in the Town Clerk’s name, demands High Court orders and injunctions to force the government and RK Security to vacate the Water Street property that formerly housed the City Constabulary Training Complex, claims GY$5 million in damages, and alleges the defendants trespassed on land the council says it has owned since the 1800s.
Nelson also directly disputed a key claim laid out in the court filings: that the Georgetown Municipality passed a formal resolution at an extraordinary March 27, 2026 meeting authorizing the mayor to pursue legal action to protect the council’s claim to the training complex. According to Nelson, the extraordinary meeting was convened exclusively to address the central government’s takeover of several municipal roads, and no resolution related to the Water Street training complex was ever approved by the full council. While the mayor briefly raised the property issue during the session, no vote or formal decision to proceed with litigation was taken, she said.
The controversy has deepened with other council members also denying knowledge of the legal action. Don Singh, a People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) representative on the city council, told reporters none of the PPPC councillors were notified of the lawsuit or received the round-robin poll for approval. “As a councillor of Georgetown, I have no knowledge of this. No action was taken by the council to officially vote, that I am aware of, to proceed with legal proceedings,” Singh stated.
Attempts to reach acting Town Clerk Carlyn Joseph to ask whether she authorized or signed the court filing have been unsuccessful to date.
The legal action was launched after Mayor Mentore discovered members of the Guyana Police Force and representatives of RK Security on the property on March 27, with a new official sign posted on the site’s perimeter fence. The dispute has roots in competing claims of ownership: Local Government Minister Priya Manickchand has recently affirmed that the property is state-owned, with title dating back to the colonial era, while Mentore maintains the city council holds formal documentation proving its ownership.