Land allocation under the PNC

May 16, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
Presidential advisor Odinga Lumumba admitted that he received $20,000 acres of land at Manarasbisi and Akawini during his tenure as a comrade of the PNC and there is no reason to doubt him.
This revelation however may just be the tip of the iceberg with respect to allocation of lands to comrades of the PNC, both individually and collectively through co-operatives during that era.
At Kuru Kuru on the Linden Soesdyke highway thousands of acres of lands were allocated to comrades of the party to do farming.
Some may also recall that front lands at Enterprise used to plant rice were forcibly acquired by the PNC and fiercely protected by a PNC bigwigs riding shotgun on a tractor terrorizing those who protested. A co-operative was subsequently formed and those lands were given to the armed services to build houses. Perhaps, this is the land Lumumba gave to the armed services.
At the same time while lands were allocated to comrades of the PNC, many Indians had to preserve theirs by swearing allegiance to the Kabaka. Some of them are still big landowners today.
Lands were also distributed to comrades of the PNC for agricultural purposes at the MMA and at Essequibo by the famous “Bagie” who was the local governor.
Since this issue has now become public, Kaieteur News should follow up on the Peeper’s article and do some investigative journalism to determine what amount of lands were allocated during that period; to whom; what is the current status in terms of ownership, or whether those lands were since rented, leased or sold, and to whom and for what purpose.
D. Sookdeo

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