In a bid to clear the air on the land it currently occupies at Mandela Avenue, the Guyana Muslim Mission-Masjid Muhammad said yesterday that it made no deal with Presidential Advisor Odinga Lumumba for the land, but instead resolved the issue with government.
Imaam Shaheed Uthman said Lumumba had staked a claim to the land in the mid-90s though “he never occupied it” and after opposition from the Muslim community, the land was awarded to the mission. He said statements by Lumumba in the press about the land were mere speculation.
Lumumba had said in a statement issued on Sunday that around 1994 Cabinet had approved the sale of the land to him. It is located next to the North Ruimveldt Multilateral School. Lumumba said in a statement that before the allocation of the land was formalised, the mission filed a court action “claiming that this plot of land was allocated to them by the late president Forbes Burnham.” Further, he said the case was amicably resolved by the government and while the mission was awarded the land, he was promised another plot of land somewhere to be identified.
The mission held a press briefing yesterday at the Mandela Avenue masjid to speak on the issue in the wake of Lumumba’s statement. Uthman said they were not prepared to relinquish the land to Lumumba because they had occupied it for years and had developed the land, while Lumumba never had a presence there.
He said the mission was forced to approach the courts and later agreed to an investigation into the case led by Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon. He said the issue reached the President and eventually it was amicably resolved. He said the issue was only cleared up because of the intervention of Luncheon and subsequently President Bharrat Jagdeo. “After that investigation, we were given what was given to us even before and that brought a closure to that particular issue,” Uthman said. He said the mission was then referred to the Lands and Surveys Commission, where the paperwork is currently being processed. According to him, during the investigation spearheaded by Luncheon, there was talk of Lumumba being compensated with another plot of land if his bid to secure the land they were occupying was unsuccessful.
The mission was asked by government to pay $10 million over a ten-year period for the land; a sum which Uthman said they are hoping to pay but they are still seeking a reduction. He noted that government had set a price much higher, but later reduced it following appeals by the Muslim community. “This land was given to us because of Dr Luncheon’s wisdom and the President’s kind decision to say it belongs to us, but there was also massive support from the Muslim community in Guyana, particularly from Brother Fazeel Ferouz [President of the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana],” he stated.
Giving a background to the land dispute, Uthman said that in the 1970s during the Feed, Clothe and House project initiated by Burnham, past leaders of the mission acquired the land and later occupied it. He said they developed the land, but failed to formalise the acquisition with the necessary paperwork. “It’s unfortunate that they did not seek the documentation of the land at that point in time,” he noted.
He said then Prime Minister Hamilton Green had attempted to execute ‘Project Dawn’ at the site during their occupation, but they opposed it and Green retreated. He said Lumumba and Green later joined forces politically and it was subsequent to this that Lumumba staked a claim for the land.
The land which the mission occupies is considered a prime spot and had initially been identified as excellent farming land. Uthman said the land is approximately 600+ feet by 160 feet.
