…former Agri Minister okayed approvalSome 10,000 acres of Berbice land was indeed granted in the early ‘90s to Presidential Advisor, Odinga Lumumba, the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GLSC) said yesterday.According to the Commission, its records indicate that the then Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Patrick McKenzie, approved the application of Lumumba in 1992.Dr. McKenzie, in letters published in the media, had said that he could not recall that he ever approved the granting of the land to McNeal-Odinga Associates, whose President is Lumumba.GLSC said that it has been approached by Lumumba to authenticate claims that the entity was awarded state lands at Manarabisi, Right Bank, Canje River.“The records at GLSC indicate that approximately 10,000 acres of state lands at Manarabisi were applied for on 1988-06-27. The application went through the process of land selection and was recommended on 1991-11-15. The records further indicate that the application was forwarded to the Minister of Agriculture on 1992-04-22 by the then Commissioner, Mr. A.K. Datadin, through the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Ms Cheryl Gopaul.The then Minister of Agriculture,Wholesale Authentic Jerseys, Dr. Patrick Mc Kenzie, approved the recommendation of the Commissioner on 1992-05-10.”The Commission, in its statement yesterday, said that an approval letter was subsequently issued to Lumumba by E.A. Anderson, Assistant Commissioner of Lands and Surveys, who signed on behalf of the Commissioner.“All documents bearing the relevant recommendation and signature are included in the application file No. 62233/1 of Mc Neal-Odinga Associates and have been verified.”The issue of the land granting came into the spotlight recently after revelations were made that a piece of property, located north of the Chinese Embassy on Mandela Avenue, was sold to Lumumba by government. That piece of land, bought for $1.5M was later resold for more than $30M to an overseas developer.Lumumba, in a letter to the newspapers, in defending his acquisition of the land on Mandela Avenue, argued that in the past, he had given up several pieces of land in the Berbice area, on the request of government and in the interest of Guyana.However, Dr. McKenzie, who held the post of Agriculture Minister around the early ‘90s, denied that he ever did okay the Manarabisi land to Lumumba.
