Former gov’t leased Red House to PPP outfit at $1,000 per month for 99 years – Harmon

- paid staff from state coffers

After being renovated at the cost of millions, the historic Red House was leased by the former government to a private company for 99 years at a rate of $1,000 per month, according to State Minister Joseph Harmon, who said state funds were still used to pay the staff afterward.

Harmon told the National Assembly yesterday that up to 2012, Red House, which was renamed the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre, was state property. He said the national monument, which was once the home of late President Cheddi Jagan, was rehabilitated to the tune of millions of dollars and then leased by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government for 99 years to a private company, Cheddi Jagan Research Inc.

Describing the situation as a “bone” which stuck in his throat, Harmon added that “the people who are the directors it clearly looks like the central executive of the PPP.”

Joseph Harmon
Joseph Harmon

He went on to name several top members of the party hierarchy, including former president Donald Ramotar and late president Janet Jagan as directors of the company. Also named were Geoffrey Da Silva, Nadira Jagan-Brancier, James Rose, Michael Khan, Kellawan Lall, Navindra Chandarpal, Mohammed Sattaur, Hydar Ally and Ralph Ramkarran.

In the face of boisterous heckling from the opposition side of the House and shouts of encouragement from the government side, Harmon stressed that it was not an audit or a Commission of Inquiry which revealed the information but a phone call and visits to the Deeds Registry and the Lands and Surveys Commission.

Harmon further revealed that even after the entity was privatised, the staff at the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre was paid with state funds.

To shouts of “shame, shame” from the government side of the House, Harmon called the arrangement an example of contempt for the law which has led to the present rise in crime being recorded.

“The speakers on the opposition side would wish to convey the impression that Guyana suddenly got bad after the 16th of May. Honourable member [Clement] Rohee would like you to believe that crime suddenly appeared… an aspect of crime is contempt for the law and contempt for the people of Guyana,” Harmon, however, said.

“You take a prime piece of property in the city of Georgetown and paid $1,000 a month for it,” he added.

Though he claimed to be aware of more cases of misappropriation, Harmon said he would leave more revelations to the State Asset Recovery Unit, which will be following the money trail all over the world.

 

‘Respectable service’

Harmon spent the rest of his presentation explaining his government’s plans for the public service. He noted that the former Public Service Ministry has been subsumed by the Ministry of the Presidency, under which it is the Public Service Department.

Noting that Guyana and Singapore gained independence at almost the same time, he highlighted that although Guyana had more physical resources it has not made half the strides Singapore has in development.

According to Harmon, one of the factors that “moved Singapore from a third world to a first world country is the fact that it had a powerful public service that was uncorrupted, that did not take bribes.”

To this end, he noted that his government intends to “make the public service strong, reform the public service so that it reflects the nation’s vision” and that the public is the master.

Towards this end, he said the public service is now undergoing change which will see freshly-trained persons entering from the bottom and they will pushed up.

Public service recruits are to be passed through a six-month training programme at the Public Service Staff College. They will be trained in the geography and civics of the country and then moved to an attachment at various public entities. Within a period of five years, the minister declared, there should be about 500 newly-trained public servants.

The public service, Harmon declared, “will become respectable service.”