–Harmon dismisses Jagdeo’s land-grabbing claims as divisive

DIRECTOR-General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon has said that Guyana’s patrimony should be to the benefit of all Guyanese, regardless of ethnic and religious persuasions.

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo had claimed that the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GLSC) indiscriminately disbursed some 20, 000 acres of leased land to citizens of Guyana close to the current administration.

According to Harmon, he finds it amiss that those who were subject to Jagdeo’s ridicule are of one ethnic persuasion.
Harmon, who was at the time speaking at the Linden River-Front Opening Ceremony, said the rhetoric by the former President is divisive.

“We have always preached unity of our people; we have preached social cohesion. In fact, when we came into office, we made a whole ministry out of social cohesion, because it is our belief that social cohesion is what we need in this country for it to be developed in an equitable way,” Harmon said.

He said that despite the fact that over 1543 leases were disbursed by GLSC since 2015, Jagdeo only targeted five or six persons as he believes these persons should not personally benefit from Guyana’s patrimony.

“We believe Guyana belongs to all of us; we believe that all Guyanese must enjoy a good life,” Harmon said. Among those who have been targetted are Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield; Businessman, Charles Ceres; Businesswoman, Muriel Allen; Special Assistant at the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA), Eric Phillips; and a Member of Parliament.
Harmon noted that land for regular citizens is one of the most challenging matters the government is trying to correct.

At the various government outreaches, the most visited booth have been that of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA).

The current government, when in opposition, had noted that many in the upper echelons of the former People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government were allocated hundreds of acres of prime land.

The government believes that social standing should not be a deterrent for any Guyanese to own a plot of land, and the CHPA is working to fix this problem.

Popular Geo-technical Engineer and Groundwater Hydrologist, Charles Ceres had also debunked claims that he benefitted from ‘land giveaway’ by GLSC.

Ceres has since accused Jagdeo of racial bias and corruption, saying that several persons close to the former president had received several acres of land through indiscriminate allocations during his time in office.

GLSC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Trevor Benn has said that Opposition members have also benefited from the acquisition of land not only pre-2015 but post-2015 as well.
He said that those persons that Jagdeo has singled out had applications in the GLSC system long before 2015.

“Most of the people who were named had applications long before our time; these applications were pending for a long time,” Benn said, adding, without goimg into any details: “I have dealt personally with members of the Opposition who came to me for help, and they were granted leases.”

It was also recently unearthed that PPP presidential candidate Irfaan Ali, was a recipient of two plots of land on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway in 2015.