NICIL official dismisses CMEI group as ‘talkers’

–          Commends Government for retake of lands      –

A senior official working with the National Industrial and Commercial Investment Limited
(NICIL) has commended the government for its action in taking back several lands that were
vested by NICIL to several investors. However, while some companies have agreed and returned
the lands that were vested to them, there are some that have not decided on whether they will be
returning the lands, while there are some who have openly declared that they have no such
intentions.
One group that is not prepared to return the land is President of Caribbean Marketing Enterprises
Inc (CMEI), Edmond Braithwaite.
Braithwaite, while in Guyana for the sod turning of two high end hotels had declared that his
company and a number of others had forged a relationship, which was geared towards bringing
massive investment to Guyana. He had participated in two sod turning ceremonies with pomp
and fare and had attracted a number of senior Government and private sector officials at the time.

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Recently www.aroudtheregions.com learnt that Braithwaite and a few of his colleagues are in
Guyana and they met Friday last with the acting CEO of NICIL, Radha Krishna Sharma.
A source speaking to this media house on the condition of anonymity said that with all the ‘talk’
and ‘excuses’ that Braithwaite continues to express, many are convinced that he is just a talker
and is not genuinely serious about development. “What we have here is a Guyanese who has
lived a major part of his life in the USA and he has returned but feels that he can run circles
around Guyanese. He returned with some money and thought that he had arrived, when in
actuality he hasn’t achieved anything significantly,” the source said.
The source further noted that during the last Government tenure in office, the then acting CEO,
Colvin Heath-London along with the Head of SPU, Racheal Henry kept reminding and literally
was begging Braithwaite and his team to make payments, but it was always one excuse after
another as they never delivered on what they were supposed to. “This guy had upset many of us
at NICIL/SPU, especially those that were integrally involved in the project, as it was always an
excuse after another. As a matter of fact he had boasted about contributing some 45,000.00 USD
and raising thousands more for a PR campaign in seeking to have the former President, David
Granger re-elected and kept talking about how much he was going to do and what the then
President wanted him to do after his re-election,” the source disclosed.
The source noted that detailed background checks should be carried on persons who are posing
as investors. He noted that several persons use the investor image to hide their true political
intentions. As such, the source said that the Government should carry out a complete check to
ensure that people are not coming in to create political mischief through the funding of political
activities. This, he said can be done under the pretext that they are here for investment.

“What was disheartening is that the CMEI group along with its head were deeply involved in
trying to deceive Guyanese and the work at large with their dishonest narrative and thankfully
the PPPC survived their onslaught.  When this man (Braithwaite) can boast about his relationship
with David Granger and Joe Harmon back in the army and further his connections into getting
certain things done by both the judiciary and the police, then what more can you expect,” the
source asked.
Meanwhile, www.aroundtheregions sought to ascertain from a source close to the CMEI Head as
to whether the group intends to return the lands and was told that it isn’t an option for them. The
source close to the group reminded www.aroundtheregions.com that after the USA elections, a
strategy would be developed to address what they dubbed as this government’s wanton retake of
lands that were already vested.
However, pressed as to the fact that the lands were not paid for in full despite it being vested, the
source refused to comment further on the issue.
Other than the two new high-end hotels, Braithwaite had promised to establish a cold storage at
the closed Wales estate.