The two brothers who were given just over a week to vacate a plot of land in Industrial Estate, Ruimveldt that they have occupied for the last twenty-nine years say that they have been instructed by the owners of the property not to move.
Glen Grant (left) and Keith Grant cooking in their makeshift home.
The members of the Gibbs family are acting on advice they have received from their lawyer Randolph Eleazar who told them that the land still belongs to them legally. When the lawyer was contacted by this newspaper, he said that there were no grounds for the land to be taken from the family. He suggested that if necessary he would take the matter to the court but at present he saw no reason to do this.
About two weeks ago, two representatives from the National Industrial & Commercial Investment Limited (NICIL) visited the Ruimveldt plot where Keith and Glen Grant resided and told them that the land had been acquired by the government by virtue of the $12M in unpaid taxes. The land has since been advertised by NICIL for sale. The brothers were further told that they had up to last Sunday to remove from the property since the land was about to be sold.
Last week when Stabroek News contacted NICIL, it was informed that the land is still for sale. An official told this newspaper that as far as the company is concerned there is no confusion over the land since it is the property of the government.
When this newspaper spoke to Glen Grant on Monday, he said that a representative from the company had visited them and urged them to move, since their relocation was inevitable.
When the relatives of the now deceased Clarence Gibbs (the original owner of the property) were reached for comment, they said that no one had approached them about buying the land. Joe Gibbs, however, said that the family was not ready to sell the land and they still had plans of restarting their tanning operations there soon.
Meanwhile, Joe Gibbs said that the family had paid the municipality some of the taxes that were in arrears but it was no where near $12M. He, however, declined to say exactly how much was owed.
The land is said to have been given to Clarence Grant by the late President Forbes Burnham in 1979. Gibbs, who managed the company C&M & Sons, set up a tannery on the premises. The Grant brothers, who are family friends of the Gibbs, used to work at the tannery and subsequently chose to live there as caretakers of the property. Even after the production ceased, the brothers still remained on the property with the family’s permission.
It is one thing to live on a property, but you also have to pay taxes. If no taxes are paid, then the Government has the right to confiscate the property and sell it. Too many people in Guyana expect something for nothing. It has to stop. We have to pay our way.
When told to leave the rightful owners would surely have to compensate them for their time as caretakers..
Burnham give dem de land….wha mo yuh wan fuh hear? according to dem wen Burnham give you something yuh dont pay notin….more freeloaders….get out
well said evil, but burnham is no more their god-father, so they have to get out and let the land return to the state and with it taxes due over the years for illigally occupied for twenty some odd years.
Another land grab by some unscrupulous people .. the land does not belong to the government .. let the court decide ..
I cannot understand why there is a problem with the ownership of the land….Who has the deed? If it is claimed to be lost/misplaced/burntup/dog ate it, then there is the Deeds Registrar….get a copy. For those of us who lived through the Burnham era, would know that he was never one to get in details….if he said use the land..whilst he meant it, it was up to the recipient to ensure that the legal side of the arrangement was taken care of.
I don’t understand these brothers, the Gibb’s are using you to prevent the land from selling, the law is the law, if they are so much interested in having yourself and brother remain there, then they (the Gibb’s) should pay the balance of past taxes, in this way, you guys can remain there for another 29 years. When anyone needs a car etc: and cannot buy it outright, a loan is taken out, the car etc:, is not yours until fully paid for, same goes for the Gibb’s, if taxes are owed, the land has a lein holder, therefore, until full payment is made, the land is not owned fully by the Gibb’s, all the Gibb’s has to do, is pay the taxes owed fully. These brothers needs to find another place to live for free, or pay the back taxes. I’m stating again, when a car is not fully paid for, the bank never sends the title, you can’t even sell the car to pay off the balance, to sell a vehicle, you need the title to transfer ownership.