This transaction raises eyebrows and a host of questions

Nov 06, 2019 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

Issuance of leases or sales of large tracts of land attract plenty attention in Guyana. Government is in ‘caretaker’ status and is extremely limited in legal function, which has been further exacerbated since the 19th of September.
To read that a lease of 700 acres of land located at Wales has been granted for a coconut plantation caused pause; to learn that the company was only registered six weeks ago raises eyebrows and a host of questions.
Firstly, is there a feasibility study done for future usage of the Wales estate? If this were done, were former GuySuCo estate workers or their union representatives made aware of the opportunities deemed viable?
Coconut estates are not labour-intensive, and it would be interesting to see if the study shows this to be the best use of the former sugar lands. If however, there was no study, how could a project move from application to grant of lease in such a short time?
This would be highly abnormal, especially given the ‘caretaker’ status of the Granger administration.
I do not believe this or any other major land transaction will be able to withstand scrutiny in the very near future, investors must do due diligence before making commitments. A simple Google search would show that the Granger administration was deemed a caretaker for the affairs of the country and that in light of its caretaker role it should be restrained in the use of its legal authority.
To add to this, any government is restricted during an Election period in matters of policy, expenditure and appointments – to activity that is:
A) Routine
B) Non-controversial
C) Urgent and in the public interest
D) Reversible by a new Government without undue cost or disruption or,
E) Agreed to by opposition parties (in those cases where consultation is appropriate).
The rushed approval of a lease to a six-week-old company, is in clear violation of all of the above, A to E inclusive. The lease cannot stand. I look forward to the publication of any feasibility study done for the Wales (or any other) estate and the extension of ‘first refusal’ rights to former GuySuCo employees and residents of the area.
In the absence of a feasibility study, and given the indecent haste with which it was conducted, this large-scale transfer of state assets would understandably raise suspicions.
Yours truly
Vickram Bharrat
Member of Parliament
People’s Progressive Party

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