Former President Donald Ramotar yesterday condemned the government’s move to compulsorily acquire land belonging to High Commissioner to Canada, Clarissa Riehl and her husband and denied that the former PPP/C administration had initiated this plan.
“I read in your papers (yesterday) that (Attorney General) Basil Williams said that he was following through from Anil (former Attorney General Anil Nandall) to seize the people’s property for government use. That is such a lie,” Ramotar told Stabroek News via a telephone interview.
“My Attorney General reported to me that he approached the owners and they were not willing to sell and that we should look for other alternatives because he did not see them changing their minds either,” he added.
The former President said that he felt compelled to respond to Williams’ assertions after it was reported in an article in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek that Williams’ defence for government compulsorily acquiring lands own by Riehl and her husband, was mainly because he inherited the plan from the PPP/C administration.
Ramotar was referring to an article titled ‘Ambassador Riehl blindsided by gov’t move to take possession of land- AG says plan was inherited from former gov’t’, where sources close to Riehl told Stabroek News that the move by government to acquire her property has caught her off guard as she had made it clear to Williams that she was not prepared to relinquish it.
Government issued an order to acquire the east quarter of Lot 92 Middle and Carmichael streets under The Acquisition of Lands for Public Purposes Act which was signed by Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson.
According to the Official Gazette of September 24, the land is described 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.”
Patterson has since distanced himself from explaining the use of the land and has said that all queries for its use should be directed to Williams. “Ask Basil,” he said when he was questioned on Friday by this newspaper.
Sources told this newspaper that Riehl is seeking legal advice on the matter and may soon move to the courts to challenge the order.
Compulsory acquisition of land by the state has been a sensitive issue for several decades. It had been employed frequently during the Burnham era leading to great disaffection. The Bharrat Jagdeo administration had also employed the mechanism under a more progressive Act where market-based compensation was paid. Land in Berbice had been acquired for the UG campus at Tain and on Water Street from Toolsie Persaud Limited to house vendors.
‘Produce the Evidence’
A perturbed Ramotar said that he was both shocked and upset by the allegations levelled against his administration by Williams since the current Attorney General has not produced “a shred of proof to back up his statement”. He said that what he finds most bemusing, was the fact that Williams would proudly boast of continuing a PPP/C project when he has criticized all of the plans that the PPP/C government made for the country and turned a blind eye to litigation processes that were already started and could have earned him “brownie points”.
“He has given such a lame excuse for this behaviour saying he inherited it. First let him prove that we had plans to take this or any other land, through force, for that matter. It is not the way I work. My government and I know and understand how people feel about their lands, after working hard and many, many years to acquire them. To take it away would not benefit our country and certainly would not have benefitted me. Who opened lands to the people and under which government did first-time home owners obtain the most opportunities to acquire a plot of land for themselves? Let him answer that and we can continue,’ Ramotar posited.
“What Williams should be following through he did not. We set the ground to collect so much money for the state and he has turned a blind eye to them. He should be following on all the cases that he is settling. Those are things that he should have followed though, not taking someone’s land that they have plans to build a home on and retire,” he added.
Ramotar says that he finds the situation troubling because Riehl is a member of the People’s National Congress Reform and was chosen by President David Granger to be Guyana’s representative in Canada but didn’t know her government was taking her land away.
“If Ms. Riehl is a PNC, she is serving this government and is a diplomatic choice and this how she is repaid, then we can imagine what they will then do to the ordinary Guyanese. This is a very disturbing situation where a government would take your land and shove you a pittance. It is not only disturbing but maybe a sign of things to come. It is troubling to everyone who has personal property, and can be signal of the danger that the government can come and seize it anytime as they please,” he posited.
Nandall has also called Williams out on his allegations.
“The PPP government took no further step whatsoever in relation to compulsorily acquiring land for the AG Chambers. This is because of our respect for the sanctity of private property. Having regard to that fact, I was personally of the view that the public purpose for which the property was required did not outweigh the sanctity which attaches to private property. I maintain resolutely that the extraordinary power that the state has to must only be used in the rarest and, most extraordinary circumstances. I do not believe that the situation with which we were confronted and the need for additional office space satisfied those extraordinary circumstance,” Nandlall stated.
‘Moving the goal post’
Further, he noted, “I am fortified in my view, that the state is abusing its power in this instance, because not only is the public purpose for which this property is being acquired (not so) overwhelming, as to warrant the use of this exceptional power, but also the compensation which the attorney general discloses that will be paid for those lots of land are way below the real market value, for those properties.”
Williams has said that government has acquired the two plots of land for $20M each.
But Nandall argues that any person who has a “mere fleeting acquaintance” with real estate value in Georgetown, more so in the central parts of the capital, would know that $20M is a mere fraction of what the market value is for one plot of those lands.
He said that valuation by government of lands using its valuation officer cannot stand as they give values not reflective of true market value.
“Everyone knows that Minister Patterson knows that more than most people because he is a certified valuation officer and he knows that even the commercial banks do not accept the chief valuation officer’s value for property. Certain commercial banks will direct their customers to go to Minister Patterson for their certificate of valuation. The government is essentially robbing these owners of their property,” he asserted.
And calling the $20M paltry for a prime commercial piece, Nandall said that the public should juxtapose what government is offering the Riehls for the purchase of a transported property as compared to what it is paying for the rental of a bond space in the not so real estate popular, Albouystown.
Pointing to the controversial contract for a Sussex Street property for the use of a bond for the Ministry of Health, the former Attorney General laced into the APNU+AFC administration.
“I would like the public to compare government paying $12.5M, plus VAT, per month rental for a two-storey house in Albouystown and this $20M for a Middle and Carmichael streets land and you get a clear picture of what this government is. They are changing rules and standards to suit its own agenda,” he stated.
