Dear Editor,
Presidential Advisor Lumumba admitted that he received twenty thousand acres of land at Manarabisi and Akawini during his tenure as a comrade of the PNC and there is no reason to doubt him. This revelation however may just be the tip of the iceberg with respect to the allocation of lands to comrades of the PNC, both individually and collectively through co-operatives during that era.
At Kuru Kuru on the Linden Soesdyke highway thousands of acres of lands were allocated to comrades of the party to do farming. Some may also recall that front lands at Enterprise used to plant rice were forcibly acquired by the PNC and fiercely protected by a PNC bigwig riding shotgun on a tractor terrorizing those who protested. A co-operative was subsequently formed and those lands were given to the armed services to build houses.
At the same time while lands were allocated to comrades of the PNC many Indians had to preserve theirs by swearing allegiance to the Kabaka. Some of them are still big landowners today. Lands were also distributed to comrades of the PNC for agricultural purposes at the MMA and in Essequibo.
Since this issue has now become public, some investigative journalism can determine what amount of lands were allocated during that period; to whom; what the current status is in terms of ownership, or whether those lands have since been rented, leased or sold, and to whom and for what purpose.
Yours faithfully,
D Sookdeo
