President David Granger yesterday ordered that the controversial lease for the historic Red House to the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre Incorporated (CJRCI) be revoked and that the occupants vacate the property by tomorrow.
A release from the Ministry of the Presidency said the President handed down the instructions yesterday in a letter to Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, more than one year after the Coalition Government had engaged the CJRCI on the matter of the lease.
The release said that the engagement included negotiations for Red House to provide a national service by housing information on all of the Presidents of Guyana. Those negotiations proved fruitless and in an invited comment, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams said that after discussions broke down, he sought to determine the legality of the lease agreement.
Having carefully considered the advice of the Minister of Legal Affairs, the release yesterday said that President Granger has concluded that it would be in the public’s interest for the lease issued to the CJRCI to be revoked. He has also directed the Minister of State that the building be assigned to house “The National Trust of Guyana, its staff, stores and equipment”, currently housed in the Valerie Rodway Building on Carmichael Street, with effect from January 1, 2017, where the Trust would be better able to fulfil its mandate to preserve Guyana’s national patrimony and to promote an appreciation for the nation’s heritage, the release said.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Attorney General’s Chambers argued that the Red House lease is void for a number of reasons. The first being that Section 10 (1) of the Lands Department Act chapter 59:01 Laws of Guyana provides that “Government Lands shall only be rented or sold with the sanction of the President and on the terms and conditions determined by him”. The release explained that this means that the President of Guyana must approve the Lease.
“The question is how the President’s sanction of the creation of a lease under the said section 10, is manifested? Government Lands are created when the President issues a grant of State Land to the CL&S and his successors”, the Chambers stressed.
It further said that Section 4 of the State Lands Act Chapter 62:01 provides that “Whenever the President deems it expedient that any State Lands, should be converted into Government Lands, the President may issue a grant of those lands…. to the Commissioner and his successors in office for and on behalf of the State as Government Lands and thereupon such lands shall be held by the Commissioner and his successors in office as Government Lands”.
It was explained that the CL&S is the custodian of all government lands and since by the nature of a lease he would be the Lessor he can create a lease once he has a lessee. It is for this reason, the release said that there must be evidence of the President approving leases under Section 10 of the Lands Department Act Chapter 59:01.
“It is apposite to note that the Land Department under the Lands Department Act Chapter 59:01 and under the state Lands Act Chapter 62:01 are one and the same, as is the Commissioner of Lands”, it said before stressing that due to a lack of evidence of approval by Ramotar the lease was invalid.
Monuments
It was noted too that Red House is established in the National Trust of Guyana Monuments Register (updated October 2016) as a Public Building/National Monument /Heritage Site.
The National Trust, the release said is a body Corporate established under the National Trust Act Chapter 20:03 Laws of Guyana which is an, “Act to make provision for the preservation of monuments, sites, places and objects of historic interest or national importance.”
It was stated that under Section 2 of the said Act “Monument” includes “any building, structure object or other “work of man “or of nature whether above or below the surface of the land or the floor “of the sea within the territorial waters “of Guyana any site, cave or excavation”.
Section 2 of the said Act, the Chamber noted further provides that “the National Monument” means “any monument declared to be a national monument under section 15 and includes any land comprising or adjacent to such a monument which in the opinion of the National Trust, is reasonably required for the purpose of maintaining the monument or the amenities thereof or for providing or facilitating access thereto or for the exercise of proper control or management with respect thereto”.
As such by virtue of Section 3 (1) of the said Act “…The National Trust shall not transfer, mortgage, lease, charge or dispose of any land without the approval of the Minister.”
In this regard, the AG’s Chambers submitted that there is “no evidence of a formal approval by the Minister/President to lease the “Red House” a Public Building/National Monument/Heritage site to the CJRCI. The unsigned draft lease agreement of 2000 suggests a disinclination on the part of the Minister/President to approve such a transaction”.
Terms
Further, the Chambers submitted that the said lease is “invalid for failure to conform to the provisions of Section 13 of the Deeds Registry Act Chapter 5:01 Laws of Guyana relating to a lease for a term of 21 (twenty one) or more years”.
The Section 13 (1) reads “No lease of immovable property expressed to be for a term of 21 (twenty-one) years or more…shall…be good, valid or effectual in law or pleadable in any Court of Justice in Guyana unless passed and executed before the Court in like manner as a transport and filed as of record in the registry.
Sections 13 (3) provides that “every long lease mentioned in subsection (1) passed and executed before the Court and filed as of record in the Registry shall be annotated by the Registrar against the property leased” while Section 13 (2) provides that “failure to file the lease of immovable property as of record in the Registry renders it not, “good, valid or effectual in law or pleadable in any Court of Justice in Guyana.”
The Chambers stated that the lease of 99 years “was not executed in the manner of a transport, that is, advertised and passed before the Court; nor was it filed as of record and annotation made against the Property by the Registrar of Deeds”.
Minister of State Joseph Harmon last year August disclosed in Parliament that the PPP/C administration had granted a 99-year lease of Red House to the private company closely associated with the PPP/C, at a rate of $1,000 per month. Red House holds documents pertaining to the late President Cheddi Jagan. The government had labelled the deal “criminal” and had signalled its intention to investigate it.
Williams, on the instructions of President David Granger had been given the task to look at all the options available to terminate the lease. He was to meet members of a team from the company to further discuss the matter.
