Dear Editor,

Please allocate me, temporarily, a plot of space in your letter pages to seek from the Honourable Minister of Legal Affairs, Mr. Anil Nandlall clarification on a question he posed to Mr. Nigel Hughes, Chairman of the Alliance For Change, during the fourth installment of the seven-part debate series, that centred on the “President’s Benefits and Other Facilities”, being hosted by the National Communications Network (NCN) on corruption in Guyana.

In the debate Mr. Nandlall asked Mr. Hughes what is wrong with former President Bharrat Jagdeo selling his property (a house built on a house lot allocated to him by the Ministry of Housing) and thereafter getting another allocation of two acres (or a size approximating that) from the said Ministry.

In light of Mr. Nandlall’s question, Editor, and as a potential applicant for a house lot from the subject Ministry, I would be thankful if Mr. Nandlall can clarify for all actual and potential land allottees the following: (1) wasn’t former President Jagdeo treated preferentially when, unlike ordinary Guyanese, he was not prohibited from selling before the stipulated time (I think ten years after acquisition) a house lot allocated to him by the Ministry of Housing (MOH); and (2) wasn’t former President Jagdeo treated preferentially, yet again, when, based on Dr. Roger Luncheon’s High Court testimony a call was made to the former Regional Chairman of Region 10 pertaining to a potential allocation of a house lot, far less than two acres, in Pradoville II.

Editor, in light of my second concern, I would be intellectually indebted to Mr. Nandlall (who  claimed that similarly to former President Jagdeo, the other allottees of land in Pradoville II could have also gotten two acres if they had so desired, and that there is no empirical evidence to conclude otherwise), if he can clarify for me, and perhaps all Guyanese, whether the call made to the former Regional Chairman of Region 10, is not tantamount to the empirical evidence he sought from Mr. Hughes in support of the claim of preferential treatment given to former President Jagdeo.

Editor, does Mr. Nandlall want Guyanese to believe that former President Jagdeo was the only one entitled to land in Pradoville II that expressed the desire, and had the financial capacity, to purchase two acres at $5M per acre? Or, Editor, is Mr. Nandlall saying to Guyanese that only former President Jagdeo was entitled to sell, before the stipulated time, a house lot allocated to him by the MOH and then be given another shortly thereafter? And therefore, none of the others entitled to land in Pradoville II could have taken a loan, purchase as many acres as possible (since, according to Mr. Nandlall, it seems that the entitled could have purchase more than they did), and shortly thereafter, quickly resell at market value, and happily repay the loan.

However, Editor, it seems to me that, contrary to Mr. Nandlall’s arguments, the allocation of land in Pradoville II was done not on the basis of market forces (demand and supply through the “invisible hand&rdquo, nor was it done on the basis of demand through the “visible hand”  (the entitled whom Mr. Nandalall seems to claim were not interested in having the same size of land as did former President Jagdeo), but rather on the basis of “preferential supply” through the “visible hand” (the caller/s).

Yours faithfully,
Cindy Sookdeo 
Region Five     
Mahaica/Berbice