From our Files: 29 Years Ago
WHAT sort of people’s government would refuse to pay a woman rent for premises they occupy?
That is the question residents of Upper Oxford Street in Port of Spain have been asking themselves after a big cussout which took place last Friday between toprankers of the National Joint Action Committee (NJAC) and proprietress Pearl Davis.
The fireworks was all because Mrs. Davis accused the Black Power boys of illegally occupying premises at downstairs of No. 62 Oxford Street.
The frustrated woman said that she first rented the premises to NJAC lawyer – they call him their Justice Minister – Jaruwa Mobota in October, 1981, at a monthly fee of $1,500.
Since then it has been home of the organisation’s Neracom Printery.
The lease for the building expired in October of last year, and Mrs. Davis said NJAC asked for an extension and she agreed to give them until January 2 to get out.
No. 62 Oxford Street … which NJAC is not giving up
At the same time, however, she said she hiked the rent up to $2,700 because she felt she had given the group a present because fees were much higher elsewhere in the city.
Especially as they occupied the whole downstairs.
Since then, Mrs. Davis says NJAC has been paying her with cheques that bounce.
“Not only that, but they have also been paying me piece, piece like a sou sou.
“They only talking about how things bad downstairs, but when I tell them to close down and give me my money, they say that and God’s face I will not see.
“To make matters worse, a couple of days before Christmas, Mr. Granger (NJAC leader Makandal Daaga – formerly Geddes Granger) walk up here and say he want upstairs too.
“Can you imagine that? They giving me bounce cheques for rent, and now they want to rent upstairs too.
“I tell Geddes I living here so what he trying to say.
“You know the man tell me he will look for a place for me to stay.
“You ever hear such farseness?
“He say he don’t want to move because he taking over the government by the middle of March.”
When Mrs. Davis sent for the Mirror, she felt we would not print a word of the story.
After all, the Black Power boys are not averse to spreading fear and terror throughout TnT in their bid to wrest political power from the ruling People’s National Movement.
“I want the whole nation to know the kind of treatment I am getting from NJAC.
“I thought I would give them a chance.
“I even voted for their Lasana Kwesi in 1981 because I thought he was a nice, quiet boy and I didn’t want to support Cutty Joseph anymore.
“So I not a poor Black sister too?
“Imagine NJAC own two restaurants – one on Duke Street and the other in San Fernando.
“Every night you should see the big bags of money they collect from the Kumasi place on Duke Street.
“Those fellas must be doing real good because most of them have their own cars.
“When they order paint to paint up the streets and the walls, is by the truckload they ordering.
“And every week you bound to hear about six or seven of them going somewhere.
“If they not going to Grenada or Barbados or Martinique, they heading for Nicaragua or El Salvador.
“Where they getting this money from if they can’t find money to pay me?
“I don’t want no crying from them now.
“I want my rent and they should pay me!
“They can’t get on like this when they say they want to take over the government.
“And they can’t talk of respecting and elevating the woman when that is the way they are treating me.
“What head they pushing?
“Right now they have my whole place nasty.
“Downstairs is in a dilapidated condition with stinking toilets and broken stinks and stained tiles.
“They won’t spend a cent to fix the place.
“You should see the amount of roaches and mice. I even asked them recently to bring in Rentokil to spray the premises.
“On Friday we had a big cussout for the rent and my place.
“They feel I ’fraid them but they wrong.
“I tell them ‘me ain’t’ fraid allyuh at all’ ….. and I meant that.
“They are not behaving like any people’s government, and no matter how I keep searching for Mobota in town, no one seems to know where he is any longer.”
