Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo appears to be highly perturbed that a foreign company was able to secure a lease for 700 acres of land at the now-closed Wales Sugar Estate on the West Bank of Demerara (WBD) to cultivate and process coconuts.
During a recent media engagement, Jagdeo questioned the legitimacy of the deal noting that there was no feasibility study done to determine the way forward with abandoned sugarcane lands when the David Granger-led regime took the decision to close down the Wales Estate.
It was reported that Amazonia Expert Services Incorporated (AESI), which was formed less than two months ago, is headed by former Executive Director of the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI), Dr Arlington Chesney and former Grenadian Ambassador to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Dr Patrick Antoine.
AESI, the Guyana Standard understands, is in joint-venture arrangement with the Extra Virgin Coconut Products (EVCP), which was registered in Guyana in November 2015. It was EVCP that had been for two years negotiating the lease, which was settled in the fourth quarter of 2018 and signed on February 1, 2019.
Jagdeo opposed the granting of the lease, saying that Guyanese should have been given the first-jump. “Guyanese can’t plant coconut trees? They have to get joint-venture with a group from abroad to give away our land in a period like this,”
Jagdeo said that the arrangement will “not stand” since his opinion is that the government is “illegal”. “In fact, these are corrupt acts because these companies know that they’re dealing with a caretaker government, yet they continue to do this,” he said.
The agencies responsible for the facilitating the lease will “face the consequences too”, Jagdeo threatened.
“We’re making it clear now, that we’re not just going to take back these lands, but we are going to file legal action against some of these people for what they are doing now. This government has no legitimacy to give away – especially to foreigners large tracts of lands, at this point of time,” he lamented.
