NCN still legally owns ‘Pradoville 2’ Lands – SOCU Head

Land CoI hears

By Lakhram Bhagirat

Head of the Special Organised Crimes Unit (SOCU), Assistant Police Commissioner Sydney James, told the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into ancestral land ownership that the National Communications Network (NCN) is still the legal owner of the controversial Sparendaam-Goedverwagting Housing Scheme, commonly referred to as ‘Pradoville 2.’

James told the CoI that SOCU is currently investigating the findings of the forensic audits of the Central Planning and Housing Authority, the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited and Pradoville 2.
He made those revelations at the CoI when he testified on Wednesday. He told the Commissioners that the issue of land titling became a subject of their investigation after perusal of audit reports and submitted a statement to the CoI detailing several discrepancies in the vesting and transfer of lands under the Public Corporations Act.
He explained that transport #381 of November 4, 1920, states that 15.25 acres of land was transported to the British Guiana Broadcasting Company and subsequently NCN.
“The order vested in the area of Goedverwagting-Sparendaam into a company National Communications Network Incorporated that land was never sold or legally exchanged with NCN nor was a proper vesting order or other instruments effective to remove the ownership of the land from NCN,” James testified.
Based on SOCU’s investigations, he said, the land was transferred from the British Guiana Broadcasting Company to the National Communications Network and there is a vesting order. The vesting order, vested to the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited. Order 6 of 2004, this order was made by former President Bharrat Jagdeo on February 5, 2004, dissolving the Guyana Broadcasting Corporation and Guyana Television transferring the assets to NCN and NICIL and among the assets of this order transferred to NCN was the area of land at North Sparendaam, East Coast Demerara, comprising of 649,653 square feet, he told the CoI.
James said that during their investigation, one man by the name of Fitzroy McKenzie produce documentations that showed that the area on which Pradoville 2 sits might be ancestral lands bought in the early 1800s by some 65 freed slaves. However, he added that he urged McKenzie to produce the documents to the CoI since they were unable to verify its authenticity as well as the exact location of the land.
He added that there are some 67 such investigations involving NICIL and approximately 28 of those have been completed. The files are with the Police Legal Adviser for review.
Earlier the Commission heard from the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GL&SC) Manager of Land Administration, Michael Hutson, who said that the application for lands at Sparendaam-Goedverwagting Housing Scheme did not pass through his department. He added that the transaction was done through NICIL, which has a tendency to intermeddle in the Commission’s affairs.
“And it’s our view that based on order #36 of 2004, NICIL should have only kept lands that had infrastructural development on it for privatisation and should have reverted all other lands under the authority of the Commissioner of Lands and Surveys,” Hutson told the Commissioners.
Manager of Surveys at GL&SC, Rene Duesbury, told the tribunal that he was satisfied that all statutory requirements were followed in relation to the Pradoville 2 Housing Settlement. He added that the request for land at Goedverwagting came from NICIL but pointed out that his department only did the conveyance plan and not the surveying.
CH&PA Director of Operations, Denise King-Tudor told the Commission that she could not say if there was a breach in the protocol in the access of the lands at Sparendaam-Goedverwagting Housing Scheme but noted that the normal application process was not followed.
She explained that the transfer of documents was not signed at the CH&PA nor were payments made to the Authority as per norm adding that there are no documentation to confirm the transaction nor any records of the application within the CH&PA database.
Meanwhile, Pomeroon farmer, Muriel Allen said her 3000 acres of leased and licensed lands are under threat since the GL&SC had no documentation of her owning it. She added that she had to provide the Authority with all her documents so that they can create a file for her within their database.
Violet Jean-Baptiste of the African Cultural Development Association (ACDA) also made a presentation before the Commission.
The CoI was established under the Commission of Inquiry Act, to examine and make recommendations to resolve all issues and uncertainties surrounding the claims of Amerindian land titling; the individual, joint or communal ownership of lands acquired by freed Africans, and any matters relating to land titling in Guyana. However, the Amerindian lands aspect of the CoI have been put on hold until further notice.
The Commission is headed by Reverend Oswald Peter Chuck-A-Sang and includes other members such as Paulette Henry, David James, Carol Khan-James, Professor Rudolph James, Lennox Caleb and Berlinda Persaud. The public hearings are being conducted at the GL&SC Secretariat in Durban Backlands.