AFC Leader Nigel Hughes welcomes any investigation into lands he acquired

Feb 08, 2025 News

Kaieteur News- Leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC) Nigel Hughes on Friday made it clear that his attempt to acquire lease lands along the Essequibo River was “above board”. Notwithstanding, he said he welcome any investigation into the acquisition.

“…I welcome, I absolutely welcome and encourage a full investigation into my acquisition of lands on the left bank of the Essequibo River…” Hughes said.

The prominent attorney also told reporters at his party’s weekly press conference that he also welcomes an investigation into any role he played in helping a company acquire lands at Plantation Ogle, East Coast Demerara (ECD).
He made it clear that he is not a shareholder of the company nor a direct beneficiary of the lands.

On Thursday, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, while defending his government’s sale of over 35 acres of prime land to convicted fraudster Edul ‘Ed’ Ahmad, at his party’s press-conference highlighted a bid by Hughes to acquire 75 acres of undeveloped state lands. He also said that Hughes was part of a company that acquired lands at Plantation Ogle, ECD.
However, on Friday, Hughes said that he purchased 50 acres of lands along the Essequibo River for $2 million from Simon Munroe. He told reporters that, “I still had to go to Guyana Lands and Surveys. I had to apply to them and they went through the process.”

Hughes said he does know how long Munroe had acquired the land prior to his involvement. “Squatting or not, I wouldn’t know. Whether he is, is really irrelevant to the process because at the end of the day, I still had to go to Guyana Lands and Surveys. I had to apply to them and they went through the process…Whether he was squatting…none of that was relevant to the Guyana Lands and Survey,” Hughes explained.

The AFC Leader said he was issued an approval for his application to acquire the state lands in October 2019 from the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GL&SC). The approval came with conditions and he maintained that he has complied with all of the said conditions and was then granted provisional lease for the 50 acres of land in 2020.

“Since then, I have been writing, attending, asking the Guyana Lands and Surveys to issue to me the actual final lease,” Hughes said while adding, “Every letter we have sent to them… and there has been four… they have refused to respond to either and they have indicated that there is nothing they can do.”

Further, he said he was told, unofficially, that the Commission was instructed not to issue lands to him.

“Unofficially, we have heard that they got a specific instruction not to issue lands to Nigel Hughes. I have been waiting since then. All the documents are there, and I welcome an investigation,” Hughes told reporters.

Hughes disclosed that he applied for the land for business purposes but all of his partners have since moved away given the long wait for the final lease to be granted.

Meanwhile, the AFC leader has called for a full investigation into the sale of over 35 acres of prime city lands to convicted fraudster, Ed Ahmad.

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Alliance For Change Leader, Essequibo Coast, Nigel Hughes, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo

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