Watooka House not for sale

Head of the Privatisation Unit Winston Brassington has denied that the Watooka House in Linden is being sold.

When this newspaper contacted Brassington yesterday, he said the sale of the building was not on the government’s agenda and expressed surprise that such rumours were being peddled.

Recently, it was suggested in another section of the press that the historical site was up for sale. A previous article in the same newspaper quoted Chief Executive Officer of the Roraima Group of Companies Captain Gerry Gouveia, as saying that the government was considering selling the building but that this had been reconsidered. According to the article, Gouveia had said “was very interested in taking the Roraima branding to Linden, pointing out that negotiations for Watooka House were already in train but government subsequently withdrew the offer.” The article also quoted Gouveia as saying he “was optimistic that Watooka House will be up for sale again soon.”

When Stabroek News contacted Gouveia he said that he was unaware of any plans by the government to sell Watooka House and denied saying that he was attempting to purchase the building. He explained that he was interested in leasing, or, if possible, buying the annex of Watooka House..

In a letter published in Thursday’s edition of this newspaper, former Research and Conservation Officer of the National Trust Lloyd Kandasammy expressed outrage that the building was being sold.  According to Kandasammy, following research he had done in 2002, Watooka House had been selected by Dr James Rose and his board to be gazetted as a National Monument, thus ensuring its protection from demolition, sale and or alteration.

When Stabroek News contacted Minister of Culture, Dr Frank Anthony, he said he was not aware if Watooka was the list of sites his ministry had oversight of.  He also said he was unaware of any plans by the government to sell the property.

Anthony said that although his ministry gives some sort of oversight to such structures, it does not own these buildings. According to him, it is really the municipalities and the National Trust body that has direct oversight of these properties.

He said that occasionally the ministry might spend some money in maintaining these structures.  He added that his ministry did place a priority on informing those persons who overlook these buildings of their importance, so as to ensure that they were properly maintained.

Watooka House is located at Riverside Drive, and was started by DEMBA originally as a club and guest house. Queen Elizabeth dined there whilst touring Guyana before we attained independence from Great Britain. Cuban Leader Fidel Castro also reportedly stayed there during his visit to Guyana in 1973.