…in the leases’ details
Most bullies are cowards, and like to “give it” but can’t “take it. Take this fella Eric Phillips, who spent the last decade cussing out Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo for disempowering ordinary African Guyanese. When Jagdeo finally exposed him for the fraud he’s always been by showing he was hustling behind the scenes to secure huge swathes of land for his personal enrichment through his SARA connections, and nothing for those ordinary Africans, he cries “RACISM”!!
Phillips is from Mahaicony. So how come, when all those African farmers from neighbouring West Berbice were being disposed of their lands (and livelihoods), he didn’t use his connections to help them out? And he dares to call the GS of the party that DID help those African Guyanese farmers out a racist?
The other ironical revelation over the land giveaway scandal is that, rather than complimenting the mostly African Guyanese staff of the GL&SC, who had the courage of their convictions to blow the whistle on the frittering away of their country’s patrimony, Phillips goes in cahoots with CEO Benn to deal with them “condignly”!
But, apart from the betrayal of his high-sounding rhetoric about helping the small African Guyanese man, Phillips fell victim to that ever present danger for all “smart flies” – invariably ending up in a cow’s backside!! In the law and order field, it’s a cliché that crooks who talk too much inevitably trip themselves up; since, the more details they provide, the harder it becomes for them to keep everything aligned.
Phillips cooked his goose with the welter of documents he released. He showed he had made the application for 1000 acres of land along the Essequibo River for farming in May 2013. What he didn’t say is that this was because, at that time, President Ramotar had resuscitated the Del Conte Road project from Parika to Bartica, and he saw an opportunity to make a killing, since the road would make the land very valuable!
Why didn’t he tell ordinary African Guyanese about this possible windfall and get them also to invest??
He then claimed his application was ducked at GL&SC, and only the intervention of Burrowes at GO-Invest and Roger Luncheon had revived it on 20th Jan 2015 – the day Ramotar called elections for May 11. He then claimed the lease was supposed to be approved “before end March”, but wasn’t, because of the PPP.
But his receipt showed he only part-paid for inspection of the land on March 30, and the balance “AFTER the inspection”! So how could the transfer have been for “end March”?
Did he have friends in the GL&SC to waive inspection, or did he have a time machine?
…in the approval details
Phillips then showed copies of a letter he had written Harmon on June 19, 2015 about the Essequibo 1000 acres. The application was revived, and he paid the cadastral (marking boundaries) fee in November 2015 – AND ONLY THEN FOUND OUT THAT 400 ACRES WAS SWAMP!! So what happened to the inspection from March, smart fly??
He then, in Jan 2016, applies for presumably substitute land in “Region 3”. Then, out of the blue, in April 2019, two months ago, not only does Phillips get the lease for the 1000 acres in Demerara, BUT ALSO THE 1000 ACRES IN ESSEQUIBO!! Were those 400 acres of swamp also miraculously drained?
Yet, in Feb 2019, Phillips denied in the press that he’d even APPLIED for land anywhere!! Further, last November, Trevor Benn, CEO of GL&SC, revealed that his department had a backlog of over 30,000 applications for land. By what miracle did Phillips’s application rise to the top of Benn’s ‘in’ basket??
Maybe he could’ve sprinkled some of that miracle dust on all 30,000 applications, and not just on PNC applicants.
…in Art 161 (2)
Which part of Art 161 (2) doesn’t Granger understand? That he must select a GECOM Chair from a list of six names SUBMITTED BY THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION!
Has he hired that GECOM lawyer Marcus??
