Home Top Stories Govt will push to uncover illegal land deals in Georgetown – VP
…similar instances in Plaisance to be audited
With eleven People’s Progressive Party (PPP) councillors expected to take up seats in the Georgetown Mayor and City Council, the Government is aiming to uncover alleged illegal transactions to sell city lands.
Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo disclosed on Thursday that one of the major concerns is the lack of transparency at the Opposition-controlled Georgetown municipality. He mentioned instances where city lands were allegedly sold in secrecy to businesses. Pushing heavily for such to be uncovered, he said they are also working on ensuring that tax waivers are dealt with following due process and in a transparent manner.
“We will be pushing heavily our 11 councillors in there to livestream the proceedings. I hope they will accept livestreaming City Hall proceedings. Secondly, we want to find out about all the land deals in the city. We want anybody who wants to have a waiver of their taxes, it must be done through a transparent, open process; not the mayor and a group of councillors negotiating with a group of businessmen,” he detailed.
Apart from land sales, he said, leases have been granted in several questionable arrangements. Just a few months ago, documents came to light showing that the People’s National Congress Reform-controlled Georgetown City Council had, in 2021, granted almost 4000 square feet of land to the PNCR through a representative of the party.
The lease, which was signed and took effect on January 28, 2021, was signed between acting Town Clerk Julian Orgista and PNCR Chairperson (Agricola) Elizabeth Williams-Niles as the lessee for 3877 square feet of land at Plantation Rome (East Bank Demerara).
According to the terms and conditions of the lease, PNCR would hold the lease for 99 years from January 2021 until December 31, 2119, with an option to renew it for another 99 years upon giving notice to City Council. They would pay an annual sum of $20,000 to the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) for the first five years.
Jagdeo opined that in any democratic organ, where questions are publicly raised about lack of accountability, there should be an audit. Government is seeking to have same done at the Industry/ Plaisance Neigbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), where such land issues also surfaced.
“In this case, we’ve had at least three instances where there were complaints about the sale of land in Plaisance by the NDC that were in the newspapers. So, I think it is only fair that the people in this NDC, that they see exactly what happened, the best thing to do is have an audit,” he asserted.
In the Local Government Elections of 2023, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) tied with the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) in an unlikely place — in the Local Authority Area (LAA) of Industry/Plaisance. Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo had admitted last year that the Government is still in the process of coming to grips with all the land that the former APNU/AFC Government sold to friends and family while in office. He had made it clear, however, that even as the Government takes stock of the land sold out, it would continue to make an effort to recover those lands. (G12)