Latest update February 10th, 2025 2:25 PM
Land grabbing claims… I didn’t know court ordered lands returned – Jagdeo
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo had attempted to convince the public, last week, that Government executed a massive heist of near 20,000 acres of state lands, but it was revealed that more than half of the lands he referred to were lands that were being returned to their rightful lessees, by the instructions of several court orders made over two decades ago.
Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, as he made his land grab claims last week
The Cheddi Jagan-led People’s Progressive Party (PPP), during its time in Government, had refused to honour the court orders to have the lands returned.
During a press conference yesterday, Jagdeo was asked whether he knew that the 10,000-plus acres he referred to were being returned due to court orders. He said “No.”
The most significant of the claims he had made were of three giveaways in the Pomeroon River, which amount to over 10,000 acres. These acres, he said, are for someone who is an ex-PNC MP. He said that one of the ex- MP’s family members got 2,229 acres of land; that the ex-MP himself got 1,200 acres, and that another file has 6,400 acres up for approval.
Commissioner of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC), Trevor Benn, had responded swiftly last Friday, a day after the accusations made by the Opposition Leader, labeling Jagdeo’s claims as misinformation.
The Commissioner referred to Maria Allen, someone whom he said was allocated 2,912 acres of land. Benn provided that Allen had acquired the land in the 1980s, but the lands were taken from her under the previous administration. Because of that, Benn said that Allen had gone to court to have the lands re-issued to her, and won. Benn added that, when the court ordered the PPP government to return the lands to her in 1996, the government refused. He said that all that he, as Commissioner, did was to have those lands issued to Allen, as the court had ordered.
The situation was quite similar for another person, who Jagdeo described as an ex People’s National Congress (PNC) Member of Parliament. Benn also declined to name the individual, but said that, like Allen, the PPP government took two tracts of land – 6,400 acres and 1,200 acres – and when it was challenged, the court ordered the lands returned. He said that the government had refused to return the lands, and that all he did recently was to have the already approved lands issued to the rightful client.
Presented with this information yesterday, the Opposition Leader said, “The fact is I said that the leases were given out. It’s a fact.”
He questioned why the focus was on that, despite the fact that those leases amounted to more than half the acreage, which he made claims about.
“[Benn] said it’s court orders, but how come you’re focusing on the court order one? Was a court order there for Marlon Bristol? Was a court order there for this one that he gave to Ceres? How come you’re not focusing on these? How come you’re not focusing on the Eric Phillips one, where he said in February [that] Jagdeo is lying and [that he should] provide evidence?”
In addressing the claims, Benn had noted that he could not have spoken on every single claim Jagdeo made, and for those he mentioned, that he could not have spoken more liberally, since the confidentiality of those persons had to be respected.
The Opposition Leader had accused Kaieteur News of misrepresenting the facts on his claims, following Commissioner Benn’s statements.
Yesterday, he said that, “The good thing about media today is that this is carried live on social media. So, no matter what you write, people see.”
He said that it’s important that people pay attention to the other aspects of his claims, because he believes that there is an attempt to “sterilise… the story”.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Forward to the past
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News-Guyana’s debt profile, both foreign and domestic, has become a focal point of economic... more
OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus
Antiguan Barbudan Ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The upcoming election... more
Weekend Cartoon
