No decision yet by Cabinet on land acquisition -AG to present report next week
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, and his predecessor, Anil Nandlall, in conversation
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, and his predecessor, Anil Nandlall, in conversation

CABINET will make a decision on the possible acquisition of two plots of privately-owned land which could be acquired for public purposes, after the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, presents them with a report next week.Minister of State Joseph Harmon made this disclosure to reporters at a post-Cabinet press briefing held at the Ministry of the Presidency on Friday.

It was revealed recently that Government had issued an order to acquire the eastern quarter of Lot 92 Middle and Carmichael streets under The Acquisition of Lands for Public Purposes Act.

The Official Gazette of September 24 described the lands as follows: “East quarter of Lot numbered 92 …Middle and Carmichael Streets…with all the buildings and erections thereon, save and except the building and erections situate on sub-lot lettered ‘A’  part of the said quarter lot, the property of Patrick L. O’Dowd, and save and except the said sub-lot `A’ as shown and defined on a plan by Sugreen A. Nehaul, Sworn Land Surveyor, dated 19th June 1947, and deposited in Deeds Registry on 26th June, 1947, transported to the said Patrick L. O’ Dowd on 23rd May, 1960 – No.910.”

The plots of land belong to Guyana’s High Commissioner to Canada, Clarissa Riehl, and the Beharry Group of Companies. Stabroek News has reported that the Beharry Group has since retained an attorney to deal with the issue, and has hinted at possible legal action.

And while the AG has said that the acquisition process was initiated by the former administration, that party has since denied those claims.

Minister Harmon said Cabinet decided on Tuesday, in the absence of Minister Williams, that he (Williams) is to provide a report on the matter, after which a decision would be made on the way forward. The AG was at the time in Paris, France, attending a meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

In the interim, however, Harmon noted that nothing more is to be done in regard to the acquisition until such time that the AG presents his report and Cabinet deliberates on it. The AG has until next Tuesday to present his report to Cabinet.

Minister Harmon also made it clear that subsequent to the disclosure of attempts to acquire the lands, Cabinet was briefed on the matter, but at that time, the AG was also out of the country.

Contrary to reports carried in the Stabroek News and Guyana Times last week, both of which were later debunked by the Government, no decision was made by Cabinet last week to have the AG submit a report. Rather, the decision for a report to be submitted was made this week during Cabinet’s meeting.

Meanwhile, the Legal Affairs Minister has since maintained that when he entered office, he began making attempts to establish a permanent law reform commission and a law-review unit, but the current premises could not accommodate those units.

As such, he opted to rent a building to house those units, and expressions of interest for that rental have been received. Subsequently, however, he was made aware that attempts had already been made by the former administration to acquire the plots.

“So the issue of the compulsory acquisition was something inherited from the PPP,” he said.

However, the PPP’s spokesperson on Legal Affairs, former Attorney General Anil Nandlall, has described the move to acquire the lands as one which “sent chills down the spine of right-thinking Guyanese, especially property owners.”

The PPP, during its term in office, had compulsorily acquired several plots of land, including a large portion on Water Street to facilitate vending and lands in Berbice acquired from the Berbice Bharati Saywa Sangha for the construction of the University of Guyana’s Tain Campus.

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