How can Granger offer free land to foreigners when Guyanese still longing to get their own? - Nandlall asks

How can Granger offer free land to foreigners when Guyanese still longing to get their own? – Nandlall asks

Sep 28, 2017 News

Opposition Member of Parliament, Anil Nandlall, is of the opinion that President David Granger overstepped his authority, acted recklessly and without consideration for his own people when he made an offer of free lands to persons across the Caribbean affected by recent hurricanes.
Recently, Granger was quoted by several local and regional media houses offering Guyana’s vast land mass as ‘a gift’ to all people from several Caribbean nations to relocate and rebuild their lives in the aftermath of devastating hurricanes, Irma and Maria.
He said this in the United States, in a side interview just before addressing the United Nations’ General Assembly.
Nandlall recently said that he empathises with all his “Caribbean brothers and sisters who have been devastated by these horrific natural disasters and I fully endorse the Government’s efforts to assist these persons.”
However, he said, “With the greatest of respect, His Excellency, the President cannot arrogate unto himself the power and authority to offer Guyana’s land mass to foreigners without a word of consultation with or approval of the real owners of these lands – the citizens of Guyana.”
Nandlall noted that the issue was not discussed with Guyanese before. “It was neither raised in nor debated by the Parliament of Guyana. Neither the Leader of the Opposition nor anyone else was informed or consulted in any manner whatsoever.
“Are we so unimportant in the President’s mind? From whence has President Granger derived the authority to offer our patrimony and our sovereign territory to foreigners?”
Nandlall noted that President Granger personally revoked more than 50 multi-year-old leases held by rice farmers in Region Five.
He said, “This is a President whose Government has attempted to seize Core Homes and the lands upon which they are constructed, which are owned by Transports and Certificates of Title by our single mothers.
“Again, these actions have been declared by our Constitutional Court to be unconstitutional and unlawful. In the same vein, this is a President whose Government has scrapped a housing programme, which has delivered over 100,000 house lots to Guyanese of every ethnicity and all walks of life.”
Nandlall also questioned how can President Granger then offer Guyana’s most important national asset to foreigners without even offering the nation the courtesy of a consultation? “What about the thousands of Guyanese who are still clamouring to own a piece of land in their own country? Do they not matter to the President?”
Nandlall is not alone in his questioning of how Granger can bypass Guyanese in need of land to offer foreigners; that and similar sentiments were reflected by Guyanese who commented on an article in Trinidad’s News Day which announced Granger’s offer.
That article and comments can be read following this link:http://newsday.co.tt/2017/09/21/guyana-offers-land-for-hurricane-victims/.

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