Ramotar approved Red House lease after Jagdeo refused applications

Ramotar approved Red House lease after Jagdeo refused applications – Court hears

Nov 02, 2018 News

Former President Donald Ramotar

Former President, Donald Ramotar yesterday stated that he had approved the 99-year lease for Red House after his predecessor Bharrat Jagdeo turned down three applications by the Cheddi Jagan Research Institute, (CJRI) to rent the property.
The information came to the fore when Ramotar testified in the High Court, yesterday.
Under cross-examination by Attorney General,(AG) Basil Williams, yesterday Ramotar told the Court that he sanctioned the approval of the lease by the CJRI after he took office in 2012. Ramotar admitted too that he is a founder member of the institute to which he approved the 99-year lease.
He also accepted that previous applications for lease were not granted by former President, Bharrat Jagdeo. Williams asked the former President whether he is aware of the application to lease the property in 2006, 2010 and 2011.
“Are you aware of application in 2010 which he (Jagdeo) refused an application again?”
“I don’t know that he refused the lease. I would say he did not sign it.”
However, the Former President noted that he gave approval for the Commissioner of Lands to issue the 99-year lease in 2012.

Prior to that, the witness recalled the CJRI was in occupation of the property dating back to 2000.
“The institute was there with permission not without permission. I can’t say more than expect. Mr Jagdeo did not sign the lease.”
Ramotar told the court too that he was not aware that the property was operated by the National Trust of Guyana.
“I only knew that it was Government property.” Ramotar specifically noted that as President he did not sign the lease but only gave his approval.
“Did you know that you had to signify your approval?”
“I didn’t know that”
The AG, therefore, contended that the law provides for the President to give his approval in writing. “He cannot just sanction it.”
Attorney Anil Nandlall in representing the CJRI, however, contended that if the parliament wished for the President to sign off on the lease, specific reference was made about signing in the law.
“However, Parliament used the term sanction and did not express further how the President should sanction his approval.”
In his initial arguments, Nandlall had opposed the contention that the lease is invalid because the President “did not ‘sanction’ it, is an argument that is manifestly wrong.” He emphasized that the practice of delegating these responsibilities to subordinate functionaries is one that started since the tenure of President Arthur Chung, and has continued on to this day.
“So, while the President’s name may appear on the face of a lease in relation to State Lands, the President’s signature is not at the end of the lease. Instead, some authorized public officer signs for the President. I have seen leases, for State land issued by President Granger which does not bear his signature and I can make one public at any time.”
Williams, on the other hand, had maintained that the lease was incorrectly drafted and is in effect invalid and ineffectual in law.
He outlined Sections 13 (1) (2) and (3) of the Deeds Registry Act, Chapter 5:01 relating to the purported lease.
The Act stipulated that no lease of immovable property for a term of (21 or more years) shall be good and valuable in law or pleadable by the Court of Justice in Guyana unless it is passed and executed before the Court in like manner as a transport filed as of a record in the Registry.
“The respondent submits that the applicant failed to produce any evidence that the purported lease was ever executed in the manner prescribed by the sections outlined in the Deed Registry Act. The matter, as such, cannot be pleadable by the Court,” Williams said.
Ramotar had previously supplied an affidavit in the matter for which the State is challenging the validity of the 99-year lease granted to Red House. The matter is ongoing before Chief Justice Roxane George.
The Red House lease became a source of contention when President David Granger revoked the 99-year lease to the property issued under the PPP/C Administration.
The President’s decision to revoke the lease was premised on information obtained by the current government which outlined that on March 30, 2012, the Red House lease agreement was initiated without the approval of either the President of the day or the National Trust of Guyana, in contravention of Section 10 of the Lands Department Act Chapter 59:01.
The lease was granted by the PPP/C Government to the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre Incorporated (CJRCI), a company formed by the members of the same administration. But the PPP quickly moved to the Court to prevent the eviction of CJRCI from Red House.