Latest update May 13th, 2024 12:59 AM
Dec 12, 2019 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
Carl Greenidge has turned out to be a Guyanese academic who has written one of the best historical texts on Guyana. Prior to Greenidge’s book, I have always argued that Alan Adamson’s “Sugar Without Slaves” was the most definitive output on the horrible disadvantage the freed slaves faced in their pursuit of ownership of land (my Master’s thesis in Caribbean history is on the political economy of the freed slaves).
Now comes, “Empowering a Peasantry in a Caribbean Context: The Case of Land Settlement Schemes in Guyana, 1865-1985 by Carl Greenidge”. In many ways, this book will engender a furious emotion in you. It will get you angry and it will make you sad.
It argues a case whereby freed slaves who worked the lands of Guyana and made Guyana viable were terribly and deliberately discriminated against in their quest to build a landed economy for themselves.
When I read about the tax accusations against Houston Estates by the Mayor, immediately I thought of writing this column and highlighting Greenidge’s book in looking at the dispute.
Most Guyanese know that the Vieira family had owned almost all of Houston and parts of surrounding areas like Rome and huge chunks of Versailles. Guyanese have grown up to know that the large Vieira family labyrinth is one of the richest in Guyana.
Looking back at the ownership of land by many rich families and situating land ownership in the historical context of what Adamson and Greenidge wrote, you see the glaring historical wrongs done to African Guyanese.
The world moves on. Some Guyanese families own lands larger than some Caribbean islands. No modern government will want to nationalise those holdings (except Jeremy Corbin in the UK who promised nationalisation if Labour wins the UK elections today. I hope Corbin wins; I like him immensely).
Taxes, however, are a totally different matter. Two of the three persons likely to win the nomination of the Democratic Party for the US presidential race next year are Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Both are inflexible about confronting the wealthy classes, which they accuse of cheating on their taxes.
But it is Corbyn who has promised if he wins, a confrontation with big tax evaders four of which he publicly named.
The City Council’s tax allegations against Houston Estates are frightening. The Mayor said when he pulled the Vieira file, it showed an outstanding debt of $144 million. When interests are added, the sum is $400 million.
The Houston Estates owners are disputing the amount though not the fact that taxes are owed. This begs the question why would such a super-rich family owe taxes in the first place.
It is left to the Guyanese people to believe either the Vieira oligarchy or the City Council. No one can prevent a human from expressing a belief or opinion. Once devoid of scurrilous and libel contents, humans have the right to their opinions and beliefs. I have read the emanations of both parties. I believe the City Council.
But here are some numbers that when I read them, Greenidge’s book stirred fiercely in my mind. Just one sale from the Vieira oligarchy is 52 acres. And the family over the past forty years has sold thousands of acres to different buyers. Can one imagine how much land this oligarchic entity owns?
Well, so be it, they own incredibly vast tracks of land and why should one be annoyed at that?
The question is; what do others own, especially those who came as slaves and toiled as unfree people? Then there are those who came as indentured servants and made sugar a post-emancipation success for British capitalist and the British economy.
Some 7000 sugar workers were put out of employment since 2017. Juxtapose the claim by City Council against a family that owns thousands and thousands of acres of prime real estate with the economic desperation of 7000 ex-sugar workers.
Here is an interesting figure from Town Clerk, Sherry Jerrick. I quote her; “It is not only $1 billion. The total sale is over $5 billion. We are just asking for our two cents…”
Isn’t this country one of the tragic lands on Planet Earth? I drive around Georgetown at least (I emphasise, “at least”) three times within the 24 hours that comprise a day and I see how atrocious are the clogged gutters and the parapets on Georgetown that look like forests.
Yet a family is about to collect $5 billion for the sale of just one piece of land and the Mayor is saying that it is refusing to pay its taxes. Let me stay clear of any mention of the GRA in this affair.
Listen how to run an oil country
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