Dear Editor,
I am cognisant that there is a limited amount of land/house lots that the government could offer to an equally limited amount of citizens. For this reason, we have a dilemma with regard to those who are disenfranchised as a result of not being the lucky one. Moreover, the undercurrent of resentment from fellow Guyanese continues to build. I believe every Guyanese is entitled to land if the government has instituted land redistribution. For this reason, I offer the solution of offering land vouchers to every Guyanese who was not lucky to get house lots from the government.
The vouchers would have a dollar value equivalent to the value of the house lots awarded to the lucky ones. The vouchers would be non-transferrable and could be used to pay for house lots in private transactions, including combining several vouchers to build multi-story condo buildings. Government would redeem the vouchers upon verification of the legitimacy of the deed and sale.
The vouchers would remove the optics of bias and cronyism from what smells like a de facto “vote buying scheme.” This in the name of One people, One nation, One nation!
Yours faithfully,
Keith Bernard