The public deserves answers on Lumumba ‘land deals’

May 17, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,

I couldn’t help but become engrossed in the Odinga Lumumba land deals, his responses and more particularly the one made about former Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Patrick McKenzie.

One couldn’t help but notice in Lumumba’s bid to get out of the trap he put himself in he is prepared to stoop to the level of rebutting Dr. McKenzie’s response to Peeping Tom’s (Kaieteur News May 2) claim about his land ownership to that of McKenzie’s “age.” His allusion to McKenzie’s age, and failure to provide evidence to prove McKenzie wrong says it is not McKenzie who is looking ‘dotish’ but more like one with a darn good memory recall.

The issues Dr. Pat McKenzie, former Minister of Agriculture (1986-1992) in his May 8 letter put forward are:

1. He is not aware as the then responsible minister that the Akiwini lands were leased to Lumumba, and

2. That “Manarabisi lands were to be leased for 25 years with the right of renewal provided adequate development works were undertaken…[and] to my knowledge no lessee obtained the required capital for investment prior to the end of 1992 when there was a change of government.”

Editor, those are the two issues Lumumba must be rebutting. Instead he is allowed to use the papers to play games with the public by skirting the issues and now getting the Department of Lands and Survey to provide information on Manarabisi that has nothing to do with what Dr. McKenzie said. In your May 15 article you reported that McKenzie “denied that he ever did okay the Manarabisi land to Lumumba.” Nowhere in the McKenzie’s May 8 letter did he make such a statement, explicit or implicit.

What needs to be known:

1. Was Akiwini land given to Lumumba during Dr. McKenzie ministerial-ship?

2. Was Lumumba able to achieve the “required capital for investment prior to the end of 1992?” Note well, McKenzie has not focused on ownership of Manarabisi lands, he is contending “required capital for investment.”

The public deserves answers. Lumumba must not drive the story. The truth must drive the story. And the truth is yet to be told.

Thomas Bradford