The words of Jimmaul Baggot, the BV/Triump NDC chairman to me

Oct 19, 2022 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Kaieteur News – Mr. Jimmaul Baggot is in the news. He was (still is) the chairman of the BV/Triump NDC when that NDC sold John Fernandes Ltd (JFL) 143 acres of land for roughly $230,000 per acre late last year.

The sale has now turned into a scandal and a very ugly and sickening one that should engage the entire nation. But of course you know that is wishful thinking on my part because this is Guyana. The dimension of the deal has become scandalous for a reason that will be outlined below. The NDC informed JFL that the sale was a mistake because the NDC thought it was their land but in fact, it was private land.

The matter was settled amicably as JFL agreed to the termination of the sale and repayment. Then a Draculean twist appeared. JFL passed on the sale of agreement to a company whose biology is yet to be determined. On Monday, Mr. Baggot was the guest on the Gildarie-Freddie Kissoon Show and his output was interesting. You need to hear what he had to say. Go to Youtube and hear the things that Mr. Baggot revealed.

On the programme, Baggot made an accusation against me for the following statement I made in my column of February 16 this year. Here it is, “Last year the story of entitlement and betrayal in Guyana was laid bare for the world to see. The NDC of Beterverwagting (BV) sold John Fernandes Ltd, 134 acres of land for 35 million Guyana dollars. That is about $240,000 per acre. There isn’t any parcel or plot of land in Guyana where an acre of land is less than five million dollars. The NDC of BV is all-African and elected under the PNC ticket in the 2018 local government elections. It is closely associated with ACDA and is part of the annual emancipation festival. BV is 99 percent an African village. The land was not sold to an African family but a Portuguese one. After the price tag was made public, the NDC cancelled the sale agreement. There hasn’t been one word about this transaction from those who advocate African entitlement.”

Mr. Baggot intoned on the show that such an outlook of mine could turn the issue into an African versus Indian affair. I strongly disagreed. I indicated that in penning those words, my intention was to expose the double standards of those who purport to speak for African Guyanese.

My strongest point to him was that I believe in my heart (I used the word heart on the show) that if it was an Indian group that was involved in that cheap purchase of land then some African leaders for narrow, political purposes would have introduced the Indian-African binary into the controversy.

There is not even an infinitesimal doubt in my mind that once that land deal was made public two dimensions would have been born. One was that African resources were been taken over by rich Indian capitalists. Secondly, there must be a fight to preserve African entitlements.

I believe it then (February 16, 2022) and I believe it now. From February 16 when I penned that statement onto October 2022, not one African rights activist has analyzed this land purchase. On the contrary, me who thought the wrong should have been highlighted suffered an accusation by one of the leading voices of African entitlement in BV and an executive in ACDA.

Mr. Elton McRae, a friend since 1974, wrote these words to me; “It was not the NDC that pulled out but John Fernandes because of the embarrassment it would have caused them, in a scheme of underhand dealings. I think this time you owe the people of BV/Triumph an apology, which I expect to see shortly.”

I did not apologise because I think the demand to make one was foolish and misdirected. I did not chastise the people of BV/Triump for any mistake or collusion. I condemned the NDC for selling ancestral lands very cheaply and called on African rights activists to do the same.

There is a mental fixation certain African rights leaders have in this country. They arrogate to themselves the special privilege to ruminate on developments involving Afro-Guyanese and that is an exclusive area that non-Africans must recognize. African-Guyanese are subliminally seen as Africans but not Guyanese.

That is not going to work with me. I don’t care about your ethnicity. This is my country and when Indians, Africans, Chinese and Portuguese do wrong things or have wrong things done to them, I will speak up because I see them as Guyanese.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not this newspaper)

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The words of Jimmaul Baggot, the BV/Triump NDC chairman to me

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