The Jamaat-al-Muslimeen sought help from successive governments to resolve the land issue at Mucurapo but without success. Despite promises by former prime minister Patrick Manning that it would be settled and now by the current administration, Muslimeen member Kala Akii Bua says there is a level of fear of being associated with the Jamaat. He said the People's Partnership was taking a hands-off position on the Jamaat's school and land at the Mucurapo land in St James, because of fear that people would say they were the ones who settled the matter with the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen. He said the members of the Jamaat would fight for the land with their last breath. Akii Bua was responding to questions by commissioner Dr Ali Mohammed at yesterday's hearing of the commission of enquiry into the 1990 attempted coup. It is being held at the Caribbean Court of Justice, Henry Street, Port-of-Spain. Akii Bua said: "Every government, for fear of losing the next election, will promise to assist the Jamaat and then pull away." Mohammed had asked what the Jamaat had done in 1998 and beyond when it found there were discrepancies with the land as stated in the deed. Akii Bua told the commission that losing close to half of the 8.8 acres of land it had leased from the Port-of-Spain City Corporation contributed to the Jamaat's July 27, 1990 insurrection. However, he later said it was the cause and rated it six on a scale of one to ten.
He said the threat to wipe out the Muslimeen was taken lightly and rated it at three. Akii Bua claimed Manning backtracked on his promise of the land because he was not getting support from five members of his Cabinet.
He added: "The closest we got to solving this matter was when former prime minister Patrick Manning made public that he was going to settle this matter once and for all. "The following day... now this came out in the newspaper... "The following day he called the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen and he said 'I am having problems in the Cabinet.' "He said 'I am going to have to change my position but look at the five ministers who are standing with me when I am making this announcement on national television tonight.' "The five ministers were Mr John Rahael, Mr Fitzgerald Hinds, Dr Keith Rowley, deceased Ken Valley and this goodly lady... Camille Robinson-Regis."
Akii Bua said the Jamaat would continue its struggle for the land despite its limited resources. He said for about 20 years the Jamaat had been to the courts and spent "millions," gained through membership, as lawyers "don't come cheap." He claimed many lawyers were afraid to take cases from the Jamaat for fear of losing briefs from the Government. But an area of contention for commissioner Mohammed was that leader of the Muslimeen Yasin Abu Bakr did not state on television on the night of July 27 that the land issue was the cause of, or contributed to, the coup attempt.
Akii Bua said Abu Bakr was the best person to explain why he did not mention the land issue. He said the imam could not list all the reasons for the coup. Chairman of the commission, Sir David Simmons, also sought clarification, saying Abu Bakr spoke about a number of things on the night he took over the television station but never the land. The land was owned by the Port-of-Spain City Corporation in 1969 and Akii Bua questioned "how it changed in May 1990 just so." He claimed the land was surveyed on May 29 and June 7, 1990. In 1998, the Jamaat first saw a deed for the land but it was not for the 8.8 acres, he said. Akii Bua claimed the Jamaat did not make a fuss over it because its attorneys assured it had "a foot in the door." He said Jamaat members saw that as a relief, hence the reason they never questioned it. He said before seeing the deed in 1998, the Jamaat paid taxes to the Valuation Department but when they were given the deed, which was signed by former president Noor Hassanali, they began paying rent. Akii Bua said: "Had we been in possession of the document before 1998, we would have questioned the survey." He claimed each time a survey was done, the size of the land and the boundaries diminished. Simmons said the commission was waiting patiently for Abu Bakr and Akii Bua said he really wanted him to come.