Government has records in its possession to prove that the parcel of land at the corner of Vlissengen Road and Thomas Lands belongs to the state and not the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), according to Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon.
Speaking on the matter yesterday at his weekly press conference at the Office of the President, Dr Luncheon said the law would recognise that the land belongs to the state since there is documentation to prove this.
Luncheon’s reference to the law came in the wake of the union’s hint that it may move to the courts since it also has documentation which indicates the land has been in its possession for many years.
Since a stand-off between workers of the Ministry of Public Works and union representatives on Tuesday when the government workers erected a fence around the land, several opposition parties have since thrown their support behind the GPSU.
On Wednesday the union held a press conference at its headquarters at Shiv Chanderpaul Drive and Regent Road during which its president Patrick Yarde was flanked by PNCR Leader Robert Corbin, City Mayor Hamilton Green, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine and Desmond Trotman of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) all of whom offered support to the union. At the press conference, Yarde said he was alarmed at the government’s move to claim the parcel of land in question and said the union viewed the move by the administration as a “serious development which requires a national response”. He had said that the union was consulting with its attorneys on the way forward while union members, and affiliates of the GPSU further afield as well as Caricom, have been updated on the issue.
According to Yarde, when the current administration assumed office in 1992 the GPSU and the government had several discussions on plans to develop the parcel of land. He had said that the two sides met on February 14 last year and on May 23 with a team appointed by President Bharrat Jagdeo, which was led by Luncheon and included Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh, Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President Dr Nanda Gopaul and Public Service Minister Dr Jennifer Westford at the Office of the President.
He said that he was “disappointed” that the team of government officials who met the GPSU contingent last year would participate in the decision making process where the recent moves by the authorities were concerned. “I want to see what they have to tell me… and to think they have a political future which will not end in Guyana,” an emotional Yarde stated.
Yarde said he was made to understand that following the May 23 meeting, survey work was carried out by the administration on the parcel of land. But he said the GPSU was unaware of the survey until recently when it was brought to his attention.
The government has claimed the parcel of land by way of transport which the administration stated was leased for a brief period by the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GL&SC) on May 30 last year and the property was subsequently relinquished to the GL&SC this year.
