CMEI has no intention of returning lands to NICIL – CMEI President

Recently a delegation from the Caribbean Marketing Enterprises Inc (CMEI), led by its Edmond
Braithwaite recently visited Guyana where they held discussions with several senior government
officials. This is according to an Baithwaite who was part of the delegation speaking to
www.aroundtheregions.com.
Braithwaite said that they were able to engage former government Minister Robert Persaud,
acting CEO of National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), Radha
Krishna Sharma, GO Invest Head Peter Ramsaroop among others. It was revealed that the group
had sought to meet with the President of Guyana, HE Dr Ifraan Ali, but were unable to because
of his pressing schedule. The meeting according to the official who was part of the delegation
sought to provide answers for several questions and concerns of both the Government and CMEI
regarding their dealings with NICIL. The CMEI Head said that while he is cognizant of the
internal challenges being experienced, he is also concerned that such happenings have the
potential of affecting the investment climate.
The delegation spent five days in Guyana, where several meetings were held with the view of
creating more investment opportunities here in Guyana.
“We had several meetings and there were a lot to discuss. While we recognize that the actions
being taken by the new government are not geared towards targeting us (CMEI and Investors)
directly, but we believe that we have been caught in the middle of what is a political war taking
place in this country,” Braithwaite related.
The CMEI President disclosed that while they are being urged by the government to return the
lands, they have no intentions of doing so. www.aroundtheregions.com learnt that CMEI and
their investors intend to rigorously pursue the matter, declaring that the process they used in
securing the land was transparent and legal thus, they feel no obligation in returning same.
“We wanted to meet with NICIL as they had requested from us about a month and a half ago
about giving up the lands. We told the CEO of NICIL no, as this isn’t the way things are done.
We do businesses around the world and don't operate like that. If there is an issue, we discuss it,
we talk about it and you come to a solution,” he declared.
The CMEI President said that he has no intention of fighting the matter in the media. He said that
while they were told that only five persons had given up their lands, it was two months ago,
staying that there are still several others who haven’t given up their lands. He disclosed that they
were recently three persons who had secured lands in the Ogle area and with only five returning
there are eighteen remaining inclusive of CMEI.
“We told the CEO of NICIL what our position is and he understood and he even apologized for
the way the matter is playing out in the media as we do not do business through newspapers and
online auricles. We are very disappointed that such a matter is being tried through the media and
while I am a Guyanese I have lived for over forty years in the United States, thus my style of
doing things is like the Americans, which is very professional,” he said.

Braithwaite said that his group intends to engage both the President and Vice President, noting
that while he understands their position he believes that the political war is negatively impacting
his company views in doing business in Guyana. This, he said, will see many Guyanese being
affected directly and indirectly as in the long run many investors and others would shy away
from Guyanese because the country is perceived to be too politically divided.
“Can you imagine a number of potential investors hearing a lot of Guyana and its oil and other
resources but keeps reading all these negative stories in the press, it will affect everyone
regardless of their political persuasion because investors will not want to come here after a
while,” he opined.
Braithwaite related that he and his team was invited by the NICIL acting CEO Mr. Sharma to put
in an application to build a hotel here in Guyana, which he said that they will do so as their
interactions with the new acting CEO demonstrated a man who has a very professional approach.
“We were impressed with Mr. Sharma as he seems to be very professional and evidently not a
politician and we expressed those views to him. We intend to take up his offer of making an
application to build a hotel, but we are firm on our position that we are not returning any lands,”
Braithwaite posited.