Enough with the PPP’s manipulation of the truth

Jun 30, 2019 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

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If you still have doubts about where you place your X on Election Day, here are some more compelling reasons to keep the PPP far away from the “corridors of power” as they like to call it. For them it was not ‘Government’, it was their “Administration”. They described themselves as the ‘party in power’, and even after the people, you, expressed your disgust at the last elections, the PPP today believes that Guyanese voters have forgotten their pain and suffering and will “return them to power”. Not a chance!
We still remember the pain and the shame, so we will not put this country back in those hands. Guyana’s best known Geotechnical Engineer & Groundwater Hydrologist, Charles Ceres, a well-respected citizen, has been at the bitter end of a vicious character assassination campaign and he is fighting back. Below is an abridged version of his story.
“Two leases were granted to me, one to Charles Ceres et al. when Bharrat Jagdeo was President for 1,297 acres of land in the Canje Creek; the other to GSEC, a company owned by myself and children, for 4.5 acres of land in the Liliendaal area in 2017. GSEC paid approximately $4,000,000.00/acre, and a yearly leasing fee of $900,000.00 for the land in Liliendaal. I was never granted lease(s) for any other parcel of land.
Charles Ceres et al. relinquished the lease to the 1,297 acres in Canje Creek since some partners were unable to afford the development costs. I was unwilling to absorb those costs while others benefited. Failure to develop the land is a contravention of the terms of the lease so I relinquished the land.
It is public knowledge that the PPP granted leases to an Asian investor for $50.00 per acre per year while I paid $1,000.00 per acre per year for the land in Canje Creek. All dues were paid up to date until the time of relinquishment. Today, I continue to pay $200,000 per acre/per year for the land in Liliendaal, which is being beneficially utilized as dictated by the terms of the lease.
I have spent my own money to convert the Liliendaal swamp into a modern engineering office, and continue to pay the yearly lease as agreed with GLSC. In contrast, Pradoville was developed (roads, lights, drainage, etc.) with taxpayers funds, yet some beneficiaries have contravened their agreements with the CHPA and sold out for healthy profits.
Plus, I paid more per acre for this piece of former swamp than past president Jagdeo and his neighbours paid for the land at Sparendaam which is cynically called Pradoville 1 and Pradoville 2. All of my information has been released for public scrutiny, and I challenge Mr. Jagdeo, his party, and the many private beneficiaries to make public their agreements for the lands they acquired in Liliendaal and elsewhere, including Guyana’s gold mining districts.
This land at Liliendaal is beneficially occupied, and its development commenced one day after the lease was granted to GSEC. GSEC currently employs 40 young Guyanese, 9 of whom are provided with allowances of $110,000/month to attend the University of Guyana.
I returned to Guyana as a young man after studying overseas since I owe everything I have to Guyana. My dedication to Guyana and its development is unquestionable. I pay my dues by providing free services to Governments, of note to the PPP during the great flood of 2005, and more recently to the current administration as a Ministerial Adviser. I asked for no payment.
I will provide evidence for the public of every cent I have earned and spent in Guyana since January 2000, the year after Jagdeo entered office, provided that Jagdeo does the same thing. I am contented and well educated, so I do not need to steal to acquire wealth. I can be successful anywhere in the world because of the education afforded me by the people of Guyana.

Since Jagdeo considers me worthy of his attention, since he considers me so important, he should explain to the Guyanese public the reasons why my company, GSEC, which has a wide ranging portfolio, has never qualified to work for the PPP government, even while GSEC was providing quality engineering services to many international companies in and outside of Guyana.
Guyana is my birthplace and my birthright. It was developed by both our foreparents. I hope the PPP does not bequeath their “ethnic” mentality to the young people of Guyana. Please take an example from the path my company has blazed and use your vast resources to provide educational opportunities for the less privileged Guyanese young people.
It will be remiss of me not to address the Facebook posts by a certain party member and declare that the assertions are false. I was sold land in Canje by the PPP government that was then led by Jagdeo. I was never granted land in Bohemia. I strongly believe that anyone who steals taxpayers’ money or property should be imprisoned if the corruption which plagues Guyana, institutionalized by several PPP regimes, is to come to an end.
As an experienced Engineer I am trained to be logical. Jagdeo’s rantings are illogical and lack substance, and they show us that the leaders in that party are void of ideas; they lack vision and are focused on being rulers not leaders.
The party members should be careful who they choose to parrot. Some started out representing the optimism of the future and they earned some respect for themselves. However, these people have been radically turned and not in a positive way. I recall the troubling recorded conversation between a PPP member with a once promising legal mind, and a Kaieteur News journalist. The once promising legal eagle has now chosen to parrot the party’s leader instead.”

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