Home Top Stories Nigel Hughes secured 75 acres of State land from APNU/AFC after NCM,...
…AFC leader denies State acquisition, claims was transferred from previous leaseholder
Alliance For Change (AFC) Leader, Nigel Hughes, had received 75 acres of land during the period when the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) administration was in caretaker mode and after the March 2020 elections while the coalition hung onto power for five months.
Recently, Hughes had raised concerns about land deals by the current People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government and called for all transactions regarding the sale of state lands be halted until after the upcoming 2025 elections that are slated for later this year. 
However, during his weekly press conference on Thursday, Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo called out Hughes for his “duplicity,” reminding that he benefited from large tracts of land. These land, he explained, were given out at a time when the APNU/AFC Coalition had fallen to a No-Confidence Motion (NCM) and the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) had ruled that the government was in caretaker mode and also during the post 2020 elections period. He also noted that the PPP Government is a legitimate administration. “We’re not in a caretaker mode. We’re a govt vested with full powers,” he told the media.
The vice president disclosed that these lands included 25 acres that were approved on October 19, 2019 and two other parcels, also 25 acres each, in March of the following year – mere days after the 2020 polls. The 2020 General and Regional Elections was held on March 2 but the Coalition surrendered power until August 2 – five months later.
“Nigel Hughes, on 24th October, 2019 got 25 acres of leased land – prime lands… So, the elections came and APNU lost the elections, and then on the 19th of March after the elections, Nigel Hughes go another 25 acres of land contiguous to the [first 25 acres]… And then again on 19th March, he got another 25 acres of land.”
“So, 75 acres of land… 25 [acres] before the elections but after the CCJ had ruled that we go into a caretaker mode and 50 acres after the elections,” Jagdeo told reporters on Thursday.
Based on the documents that were shared with media, these lands are located on the left bank of the Essequibo River and below the mouth of the Groete Creek.
The provincial leases were granted by the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC). According to the documents, they were purportedly being leased for “agricultural purposes” at an annual rent for G$800 per acre.
“Imagine, just [three days] days ago, he said we must pause – a legitimate government not a government in caretaker mode – must pause on giving out land and he secured for himself, 75 acres of land after the CCJ had ruled and after the [2020] elections… We’re not in a caretaker mode. We’re a government vested with full powers until the elections and he wants us to pause on any transactions this year because this is an elections year,” the Vice President countered.
He went onto highlight other instances whereby Hughes, a prominent lawyer by profession, represented clients to purchase state lands at low costs. “Nigel Hughes was central to those negotiations,” the VP asserted.
For instance, Jagdeo noted that just before the 2020 elections but after the No-Confidence Motion, Hughes’s client – a Trinidadian company – had secured 25 acres of land at Ogle, East Coast Demerara, from the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) at $26 million per acre. At the time, other lands in the area were being sold at $30 million per acre.
Additionally, the Vice President revealed that the same Trinidadian company had also secured another 10 acres of land at $10 million per acre at Earl’s Court, La Bonne Intention (LBI) on the East Coast of Demerara.
“They represented that they were going to build a 72-apartment luxury building in exchange for the low price they got of $10 million per acre. This land was vested in them just before the [2020] elections… Nigel Hughes was not just the lawyer for the company… He was an officer of the company. He became a director of that company and he then became Company Secretary to the company that secured…”
“So, he as an officer of the company represented that they will build this luxury apartment building at Earl’s Court within four years. They were vested with the land – they had the land [but] nothing has been built as yet and there are penalties under that agreement,” the VP stated.
Efforts by Guyana Times to contact Hughes for a response to the revelations by VP Jagdeo were futile. Several calls to his phone on Thursday evening went unanswered.
However, while Hughes did not respond to Guyana Times, he posted on his social media page he said that he never acquired the lands from the State but rather it was from a previous leaseholder.
He said that in relation to the lease at Groete Creek, in January 2016 he purchased 50 acres of land from Simon Munroe for the sum of $2 million and made an application at the GLSC for the land to be transferred. He claimed that since the grant of the provisional lease in March 2020 March the GLSC has persistently refused to issue a final lease and has refused to accept the payment of rent. He said that the same is the status with lease he attempted to acquire with another person.
