…debunks claims of land grabbing
…accuses him of corruption, racial bias

WELL-KNOWN Geotechnical Engineer and Groundwater Hydrologist, Charles Ceres, on Friday debunked claims that he had benefitted from land ‘giveaway’ by the APNU+AFC administration, even as he tore into Leader of the Opposition (LOO), Bharrat Jagdeo, accusing him of racial bias and corruption.

Ceres said Jagdeo was a visionless politician who has long past his time. Ceres’ sharp response came on the heels of Jagdeo accusing him and several others of benefitting from state lands ‘giveaway’ – a claim Ceres debunked while providing evidence to counter the LOO’s allegations. Ceres was also backed up by Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission, Trevor Benn, who at a separate news briefing rubbished Jagdeo’s claims as misleading. (See other story)

Meanwhile, Ceres who is known for his bluntness clarified in a lengthy press release that two leases were granted to him – one as Charles Ceres et al. for 1297 acres of land in the Canje Creek area under the Jagdeo administration and the second was granted to GSEC, a company he and his children own for 4.5 acres of land in 2017. Ceres took time to note that several others were granted land in Liliendaal including Jagdeo’s friend and owner of National Hardware, Ed Boyer, for the Demerara Estates Development – an Indian University located east of GSEC’s location. Ceres said GSEC paid approximately $4,000,000 per acre with a yearly leasing fee of $900,000.00 for the land at Liliendaal. “I, Charles Ceres was never granted lease(s) for any other lands,” he stated.

RELINQUISH
Ceres et al. later relinquished the lease to the 1297 acres of land at Canje since, according to him, several partners were unable to afford the development costs, and “I was unwilling to absorb those costs while others benefitted. Failure to develop the land is a contravention of the terms of the lease and the land was relinquished.”

Ceres pointed out that the PPP, under Jagdeo and Donald Ramotar, granted land to China Paper for $50.00 per acre per year, whereas he paid $1000.00 per acre per year for the land in Canje Creek up to the time of relinquishment. “I continued to pay $200,000 per acre per year for the land at Liliendaal, which is being beneficially utilised as dictated by the terms of the lease.” Ceres who delivered a copy of the Liliendaal land lease at Jagdeo’s office on Friday morning, stressed that he paid more per acre for land at Liliendaal, which was reclaimed from the swamp that Jagdeo and his cabal paid for lands developed at the expense of taxpayers for their lands in Pradoville One and Two. “If I recall correctly Jagdeo sold his land and house in Pradoville One to Ernie Ross, the Guyana Consul to Trinidad for $120,000,000” Ceres reminded.

He noted that he has converted the swamp at Liliendaal into a modern engineering office and continue to pay the yearly lease agreed to with GLSC, while Jagdeo and his “cabal” have, however, contravened their agreement with the Central Housing and Planning Authority and have sold the lands developed at the expense of the Guyanese taxpayers for healthy profits.”

GO PUBLIC
Additionally, Ceres challenged Jagdeo, Eddie Boyer and the Indian University to make public the agreements for the lands acquired by them at Liliendaal. Further, he challenged Jagdeo to release the agreements he had with BK International, BaiShan Lin, China Paper and others to the public. “He must also identify which member of his cabal was granted gold lands which were subsequently sold to Sun and Sand of India for US $10,000. Jagdeo’s silence on the offshore oil blocks granted to members of his cabal is deafening. His comfort with those allocations, none to African Guyanese, is affirmation of his belief that African Guyanese have no rights to anything in Guyana,” Ceres declared.

According to Ceres, the land he is leasing at Liliendaal is beneficially occupied and its development commenced one day after the lease was granted to GSEC. “GSEC currently provides employment for 40 young Guyanese including nine young people who are provided with allowances of US $110,000 per month to attend the University of Guyana. I am not aware that any of the individuals to whom Jagdeo and his cabal, including of course Jagdeo and his Presidential Candidate, Irfaan Ali, provided land and other resources providing similar opportunities for anyone. Most of the lands provided by them are not beneficially occupied in accordance with the terms of the lease,” Ceres said.

DEDICATION TO GUYANA
Extolling his love for Guyana, Ceres said he had returned to this country as a young man “since I owe everything I have to Guyana. My dedication to Guyana and to its development is evidenced by free services I provided to the Jagdeo-led government during the great flood of 2005. He can contradict this claim by providing evidence of any payment made to me for the services provided. I continued to provide services to the Granger administration similarly, free of cost. The reason the Granger government was unable to provide a salary in response to a question asked by Gail Teixeira about payments to Ministerial Adviser, Charles Ceres, because I never requested payment for my services.”

Additionally, Ceres said he will provide to the Guyanese public evidence of every cent he has earned and spent in Guyana since January 2000, the year Jagdeo entered office, provided that Jagdeo performs a similar feat. Ceres also said he will also authorise his bank, if requested to provide validation of all his financial transactions, if the costs to generate those statements are paid by the person(s) requesting the information. “Jagdeo, I am contented and well educated, I do not need to steal to acquire wealth. I can be successful anywhere in the world because of the education provided to me by the people of Guyana. I challenge you Jagdeo to prove that you are equal to me by demonstrating equivalent levels of absence of corruption and ability to succeed without access to the taxpayers’ resources. The new Mercedes Benzes driven by my wife and me were bought with my money; the evidence is there in the accounts. I will make public when you make yours public. The Land Rover and BMW driven by me and wife were paid for with my money. All duties and taxes, except that for the Mercedes Benz driven by my wife were paid by me. My wife exercised her right as a lowly paid employee of the people of Guyana to accept the duty free concession.”

DENIED WORK
Saying that he is flattered that Jagdeo considers him worthy of his attention, Ceres said the LOO should explain to the Guyanese public the reasons why GSEC has never been qualified enough to work for his and/or the Ramotar administration “while we have provided quality engineering services to practically all international private sector companies working in and out of Guyana. While at that task, I challenge him to identify one of the companies, his and Ramotar led administration have nurtured, which has the wide ranging project portfolio of GSEC.”

Ceres observed that Jagdeo sees no difficulties awarding land at ‘peppercorn rates’ to people who are neither Guyanese such as China Paper and BaiShanLin of China and Sun and Sand and a non-functional University of India. “He has no difficulty awarding land to BK International and the Ogle Airport Owners Group since none of them are African Guyanese. Mr. Jagdeo, Guyana is my birthright. It was developed by my enslaved fore-parents. My African fore-parents were chained, whipped, tarred and feathered to develop the Guyana which you are intent on ensuring provides no access to African Guyanese. Your home in Pradoville Two is protected by sea defences initially built by my African fore-parents who were chained, whipped, tarred and feathered.” “Jagdeo, your ranting and raving is affirmation of your racism and racist mentality. I suspect you are intent on validating Cheddi Jagan’s statement that “black people are at the bottom of the ladder”. I assure you and others in the PPP that me and my descendants respect the memories of our enslaved ancestors and will never fit the PPP mold and definition of African Guyanese and Africans in general,” Ceres stated.

Ceres called on the LOO to take an example from the path his company has blazed “and use your vast resources to provide education opportunities for the less privileged Guyanese young people. I need not defend your false accusations. The evidence is in the records I have provided,” the engineer stated.